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One Man’s Quest to Reforest the Rio Grande Valley
The Tamaulipan thorn forest once covered 1 million acres on both sides of the US-Mexico border. Restoring even a fraction of it could help the region cope with the ravages of a warming world.
While driving by the facility, which sits in front of a drainage basin, Dale had a thought: Why not also plant a small thorn forest—a shady place that would provide respite from the sun and promote environmental literacy while managing storm runoff? They look a bit weird—a recent project at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge features about 20,000 white cylinders lined up like tombstones—but seedling survival rates shot up as much as 90 percent once American Forests adopted the technique a decade ago. Guayacan and snake eye, two species abundant in surviving patches of the original Tamaulipan thorn forest, didn’t fare nearly as well when planted on degraded agricultural lands and would require careful management, as would wild lime and saffron plum.
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