Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

South Texas Butterfly Sanctuary Threatened By Trump's Border Wall
NPR ^ | December 3, 20185:23 PM ET | Sam Gringlas

Posted on 12/12/2018 10:07:41 AM PST by dennisw

President Trump is pushing for more money to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. The debate could come to a head as Congress nears a deadline to fund parts of the government. Some sections of the border already have a wall. And in many areas, building more wall means cutting through private property. In South Texas, NPR's Cristina Cala and Sam Gringlas visited a place where that conflict is already playing out.

SAM GRINGLAS, BYLINE: We're just looking at dozens and dozens of these red and black butterflies.

CHRISTINA CALA, BYLINE: Like a cloud of butterflies - just one right after the other.

GRINGLAS: The National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas, hugs the banks of the Rio Grande River. It has a visitor center, hiking trails, gardens - all on 100 acres of land at the end of a long dirt road.

MARIANNA TREVINO-WRIGHT: These are queens. And this one right here is a soldier...

CALA: That's Marianna Trevino-Wright, executive director of the sanctuary. She says this part of the Rio Grande Valley has more butterfly species than anywhere in North America.

TREVINO-WRIGHT: Every day I come to work, it's like going on a safari.

GRINGLAS: Right before the midterm elections, the Trump administration announced it had awarded contracts to build six miles of border wall in Hidalgo County, Texas. It will be one of the first new stretches of wall built under President Trump. Trevino-Wright says the wall will be constructed up to a mile back from the river, basically cutting the butterfly sanctuary in half.

TREVINO-WRIGHT: So this is it.

GRINGLAS: So all this land in between here, the river and where we started out by the levee, that's going to maybe be closed off to you.

TREVINO-WRIGHT: It's going to be a no man's land. It's going to be border patrols' enforcement zone. They will clear everything. One agent told me, why would we leave even one bush for someone to hide under?

GRINGLAS: Customs and Border Protection denies that it plans to completely clear-cut the land. It also says that property owners who need access to the land between the river and the wall can have it.

CALA: The Butterfly Center doesn't have a lot of options to stop the law. The federal government can claim private lands for public use through a legal process called eminent domain. The government has used eminent domain many times before to build other stretches of the border while under previous administrations. Trevino-Wright gets that. But she was shocked when last year she found workmen wielding chainsaws, cutting down trees and mowing down brush to survey the land.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: butterflies; butterfly
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-103 next last

1 posted on 12/12/2018 10:07:41 AM PST by dennisw
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: dennisw

photos here——
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/national-butterfly-center-starts-gofundme-to-protect-sanctuary-from-border-wall/ar-BBQO9p3


2 posted on 12/12/2018 10:08:25 AM PST by dennisw
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw; Army Air Corps
NOT THE BUTTERFLIES!!

That is a deal breaker, just let the illegals in.

3 posted on 12/12/2018 10:08:58 AM PST by KC_Lion (If you want on First Lady Melania's, Ivanka Trump's or Sarah Palin's Ping Lists, just let me know.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

For one thing, the wall is not solid.

Another thing, yes, definitely, of course, we should destroy the nation to preserve a butterfly.


4 posted on 12/12/2018 10:09:29 AM PST by odawg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

snort!


5 posted on 12/12/2018 10:09:37 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

Can’t the butterflies choose where to hang?


6 posted on 12/12/2018 10:10:34 AM PST by Glad2bnuts (If Republicans are not prepared to carry on the Revolution of 1776, prepare for a communist takeover)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

It’s not like they can’t get to the other side. How stupid can one be??


7 posted on 12/12/2018 10:11:12 AM PST by Sacajaweau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KC_Lion

Butterflies——trespassers——buttreflies-—————trespassers. So many choices.


8 posted on 12/12/2018 10:11:18 AM PST by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

We can’t keep our country because butterflies. F*** NPR. Defund NPR


9 posted on 12/12/2018 10:11:34 AM PST by mrmeyer (You can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him. Robert Heinlein)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

Like the butterflies can move over a bit?


10 posted on 12/12/2018 10:12:12 AM PST by Fido969 (In!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

Surveyors cutting down stuff?? Me thinks not.


11 posted on 12/12/2018 10:13:19 AM PST by Sacajaweau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

I stepped on a butterfly once.

(The world kept turning)


12 posted on 12/12/2018 10:13:40 AM PST by TADSLOS (I wish Adam and Eve had been Cajuns. They would have ignored the apple and ate the snake.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

Can’t they just adapt for heaven’s sake?! Don’t these butterflies obey the law of evolution? Sheesh!


13 posted on 12/12/2018 10:13:43 AM PST by georgiegirl (Count me Deplorable)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

Butterflies can fly and they are smarter than these dumshits.


14 posted on 12/12/2018 10:14:04 AM PST by Bonemaker (invictus maneoOn Monday, an EU court ruled that Britain could reverse its withdrawal unilaterally be)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

Well that’s t. If people have to die, become sex slaves, or drug addicts so be it. We MUST save the butterflies


15 posted on 12/12/2018 10:14:34 AM PST by McGavin999 ("The press is impotent when it abandons itself to falsehood."Thomas Jefferson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

You mean those butterflies would have to FLY OVER THE FENCE?????

THE HORRORS!!!!

I am glad to see this article- it shows the absolute stupidity of liberals.


16 posted on 12/12/2018 10:14:44 AM PST by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing Obamacare is worse than Obamacare itself.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

“Every day I come to work, it’s like going on a safari.”

“Oh no! That butterfly grabbed Simone! The horror....the horror.....”


17 posted on 12/12/2018 10:14:59 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

For a couple million dollars in federal grant money I’ll teach them to fly. Problem solved.


18 posted on 12/12/2018 10:15:29 AM PST by Billthedrill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

Yep, them pretty butterflies bump right into “Trump’s Wall” and fall down dead.


19 posted on 12/12/2018 10:15:46 AM PST by FroggyTheGremlim ( The following statement is false. The previous statement is true.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

Give them some alternative land, maybe replant around the wall, or simply bring in a few butterfly-eating birds to deal with the infestation.


20 posted on 12/12/2018 10:16:15 AM PST by Reno89519 (No Amnesty! No Catch-and-Release! Just Say No to All Illegal Aliens! Arrest & Deport!y)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-103 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson