Border wall threatens nature tourism industry in South Texas

UPI ^ | January 31, 2019 | by Patrick Timmons

[Oldeconomybuyer]

The $300 million-a-year ecotourism industry in South Texas -- a top birding destination -- is bracing for the arrival of border wall construction crews in mid-February.

The workers are set to begin bulldozing a swath of land 150 feet wide to construct 33 miles of wall near the Mexico border in Texas' Hidalgo and Starr counties. The work was funded last year to supplement the existing 22 miles of wall in Hidalgo County.

Ecotourism thrives in South Texas because of a unique subtropical ecosystem called the Tamaulipan thornscrub forest, and the wall construction poses a significant threat, environmentalists say.

"It is the most diverse habitat in the entire country," said Tiffany Kersten, a biologist and a board member of Friends of the Wildlife Corridor.

The organization opposes the wall's construction as a threat to the group's mission of supporting the national wildlife refuges and their "protection of native and migratory wildlife species that depend on the native habitat."

This threatened habitat sustains more than 1,100 plant species and 700 vertebrate species.

Along with the national wildlife refuges, the region is home to the National Butterfly Center and several state and county parks, all of which bring in tourists.

Aislynn Maestas, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the agency will work with Customs and Border Protection to minimize the impact to natural resources.

To build this section of the border wall, the U.S. government has suspended 28 environmental protection laws, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, using an obscure section of the Real ID Act of 2005, which allows the homeland security secretary to suspend any law to facilitate building border barriers.

[no-to-illegals]

Hey I want me one of them walls. These geese make too much poop 💩

[Leep]

Jyst keep the illegal birds out.

[central_va]

We estimate that hundreds of thousands of birds and bats die every year when they accidentally collide with turbine blades9, 17, 25, 26. Fragile-bodied bats can even succumb to the pressures created when the giant turbine blades pass through the air, a phenomenon known as barotrauma10.

Wind Energy And Birds FAQ — Part 1: Understanding The Threats

[Bishop_Malachi]

Border wall threatens nature tourism industry in South Texas

___________________________________________________

NOOOO! For the love of Christ, NOOOO! /s

[ghost of nixon]

in fact, if a bird can’t fly higher than 20 feet, then they don’t deserve to be in our country

[tet68]

The organization opposes the wall’s construction as a threat to the group’s mission of supporting the national wildlife refuges and their “protection of native and migratory wildlife species that depend on the native habitat.”

One can only note that they oppose the wall’s construction
NOT on the grounds that it will harm wildlife and it’s
habitat. NO, they oppose it as a threat to THEIR mission.

Wouldn’t want that gravy train to dry up.

[onyx]

Typical shrublands.
I think birds can handle the flight over any wall or steel barrier.

[philman_36]

And the next question is...who funds their mission?
Strictly rhetorical, I wasn't looking for you to answer it.

[Texas resident]

Yeah this is all Bullship.

I have been dove hunting down there and the birds don’t care about borders.

As for the other birds, snowbirds, there are a LOT of them that come down from the upper Midwest to spend winters in McAllen. Securing the border will make that area safer and bring down more migrating snowbirds. More money into the RGV economy. Plus there used to be snowbirds that would migrate to Mexico. They would have a safer place to land inside our country.

[gundog]

It’ll keep ostriches out, and I’m good with that.

[Chaguito]

Same line of BS as we heard ad nauseum wirh the Alaska pipeline.

[Nifster]

Too friggin bad

[bert]

It is rea!ly a good park and the birds are real and different

The Border patrol was there, on the job, arresting illegals. I saw it for real

[bgill]

It might cut into that Mexican’s business who rows people back and forth for $5 each way across the river. For real. He’s been on tv several times.

[Alas Babylon!]

I have an idea!

We get a lot of stories about the calamties that will occur due to Climate Change.

How about we take those headlines and replace Climate Change with Border Wall?

So, for example, here’s one from today:

Climate change may increase congenital heart defects

We change it to:

Border Wall may increase congenital heart defects

Fun, huh? And about as honest.

[TLI]

and the wall construction poses a significant threat, environmentalists say.

But these walls are OK...

.

[SpaceBar]

This article is such BS on the face of it. Tourists avoid the border frontier areas precisely because of the rampant criminal activity due to the porous nature of the border.

[VTenigma]

Too damn bad. Build the wall.

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^ This The propagandists are going to turn this into the new “Global Climate Change”. Everything bad is going to be because of the wall.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Well played sir!

[Nailbiter]

Birds fly - not like they cannot get over the wall