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[ Additional Contacts: Rob McCorkle, (830) 866-3533 or robert.mccorkle@tpwd.texas.gov; Tom Harvey, (512) 389-4453 or tom.harvey@tpwd.texas.gov ]
May 14, 2007
Texas' World Birding Center Taking Wing
MISSION, Texas -- Ten years after planning began to launch the World Birding Center in Texas' Lower Rio Grande Valley, the ambitious project to restore wildlife habitat and promote birding and nature tourism has taken off and is gaining altitude.
As the WBC Web site notes: "The Rio Grande Valley hosts one of the most spectacular convergences of birds on earth. More than 500 species have been documented in this unique place."
"The managers of the various World Birding Center sites have worked pretty well together when they've needed to share staff and other resources," Fishbeck said. "It's hard to pinpoint the visitation numbers throughout the network, but the sites are really starting to connect with the local customer base through school programs and family nature events."
TPWD's executive director, Robert L. Cook believes, too, in the WBC's educational mission and the Valley's unique natural heritage.
"The World Birding Center," he explained, "is important for wildlife conservation and sustainable economic development, but its lasting impact may come through youth involvement and education.
Harlingen's Arroyo Colorado and hike-and-bike trails connect the Texas ebony woodlands of 55-acre Hugh Ramsey Park on Harlingen's east side to a 40-acre upland thorn forest on the west side. Harlingen's wing of the WBC provides breeding grounds for numerous "Valley specialties" and the endangered red-crowned parrot.
The Old Hidalgo Pumphouse combines preservation of a key part of the Valley's agricultural history with nature conservation through the creation of butterfly and hummingbird gardens, hike and bike paths and birding trails. The site's museum depicts how steam-driven irrigation pumps turned Hidalgo County into a year-round farming Mecca.
Quinta Mazatlan, a Spanish-style, 1930s adobe home just across from McAllen's international airport, serves as headquarters for the bustling city's wing of the WBC that opened in spring 2006. The 6,700-square-foot showplace anchors an eight-acre estate filled with more than 100 species of exotic and native trees, shrubs and flowers that attract scores of birds and other wildlife. Since it opened, more than 20,000 people have visited, many of them attending weddings and other special functions.
South Padre Island and Nature Center bookends the string of WBC sites at the southern tip of the world's longest barrier island. A boardwalk nature trail adjacent to the city's convention center spans a marsh all the way to wildlife-rich Laguna Madre. Interpretive panels and bird blinds enhance the experience. A 10,000-square-foot visitor center, lengthening of the boardwalk and addition of two more bird blinds are on the drawing board.
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