Posted on 10/22/2006 8:17:27 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Two countries separated by a single stretch of river came together Saturday to clean up land along the Rio Grande and beautify the sister cities.The event was part of the binational-turned-international observance of Dia del Rio, which on Saturday joined the two countries in a single purpose: to improve the quality of the Rio Bravo, known locally as the Rio Grande, and its environmental surroundings.
“This part of the river is our river. It belongs to both (U.S. and Mexican) sides, and we feel that it is our responsibility to help clean up for several reasons,” said Gustavo Pantoja of Nuevo Laredo’s Secretaria de Ecologia, which helped spearhead the event on the Mexican side of the border. “Not only to beautify the area, but to protect the quality of our natural water source.”
Border Patrol officials stood by and watched from afar as across the river more than a dozen scouts, middle school students and volunteers cleaned up land and beautified the city.
Students from one of Nuevo Laredo’s technical middle schools, ETI 32, and two scout groups, No. 2 and No. 7, assisted.
Bags of trash and debris could be seen in the distance as the group worked around a patch of riverfront land that the city hopes to one day convert into a park.
The children, who were spotted working on a riverfront area near the Lincoln-Juarez International Bridge, smiled and waved to their neighbors across the river.
Along the trail was litter in the form of bottles, paper cups, store receipts, sandwich bags and a torn-up, type-written U.S. Department of Justice warning to an immigrant who was ordered removed or deported.
On the American side, about 400 volunteers tackled the city’s oldest nature trail, Paso del Indio, located on the north side of the Laredo Community College main campus.
Students, scouts and area volunteers on this side also swarmed a nature trail of their own — lugging rakes, gloves, shovels, gardening tools and trash bags, while others pushed wheelbarrows full of mulch to several sites along the 1.5-mile-long trek.
“We are fighting different perceptions of the river. We are making our last stand, so to speak,” said Tom Miller, director of the Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center.
“Right now, this riverfront is viewed as no man’s land. We are trying to switch around that perception and open up the beauty of the river and promote it as a recreational river,” said Miller.
“For this kind of community project, we need community compliance,” he said. “This is something we can all use.”
The group, which was at the trail from 7 a.m. to about noon, were grateful for the cloudy 80-degree weather that helped protect them from the elements.
When asked why she was there, 8-year-old Miriam Brewster, hard at work planting petunias along the entrance of the trail, said: “We need to clean up the earth. We need to make it clean to make the world a better place to live.”
And according to Miller, that better place to live is not limited to humans, but includes native plants and wildlife in the area.
“I’ve seen a jaguarundi and an ocelot,” Miller said. “These animals are rare in these parts and throughout the United States.
“My dream is that one day this area will become a refuge for all sorts of wildlife.”
Aside from the riverfront cleanup, native plants were also sold Saturday at LCC from 8 a.m. to noon at the science center.
Miller said the plants — which were raised by LCC students participating in an environmental entrepreneurship program during the last three years — were sold in hopes of curbing water usage in Laredo and further protecting the environment.
(Celina Alvarado may be reached at (956) 728-2566 or by e-mail at celina@lmtonline.com)
Los dos Rios Ping!
HURL
: )
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