Sabal Palm Preserve and the Rio Grande Border Fence - 4/8/2008
Images and text copyright © Phil Jeffrey 2008 Posted on NYSBirds-L on April 8th:
On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 2:35 PM, Phil JeffreyPhil Jeffrey, April 2008.wrote: > Some of you may have noticed written and multimedia articles in the NY > Times recently: > > http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/07/us/07land.html?_r=1&oref=slogin > http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/04/05/us/20080407LAND_FEATURE.html#section1 > > about the plans to essentially wall off the preserve from the rest of > the US. An analogy is made with fencing off Central Park. And from a > birder's perspective this is not far from the truth. Construction of > the fence is being pushed irrespective the usual checks that guard > against pointless environmental destruction. > > I'm fairly sure that many list members will have visited this preserve > and know how special it is, and many also will be aware of the border > fence plans along the lower Rio Grande Valley, at least in outline. > Sabal Palm is probably the single most evident example of the sort of > things that are going on down there, however places like Anzalduas SP > are also slated to be cut off by this fence, along with many other > segments of the Rio Grande NWR. The recent waiver of environmental > reviews (see http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/us/02fence.html?fta=y) > has made the prospect of the fence more immediate. > > Some more enlightened members of Congress are starting to challenge > this decision: > http://borderambassadors.com/wordpress/?p=47 > and many of them are from outside TX - some indeed from NY state. I'd > ask all of you who share my dismay at this fence to write to your > representatives to urge them to play their part, or we may damage and > lose irreplaceable chunks of what is one of the most interesting > birding areas in the country. > > Phil Jeffrey > Princeton, NJ > (For maps, go to: > http://www.borderfencenepa.com/wp-content/uploads/rgv-deis_appendix-f.pdf > )