Valley to get new birding center with $4M in funding

World Birding Center gets $4M funding

By Sandra R. Billingsley Monitor Staff Writer MISSION — Almost $4 million in federal funding has been appropriated to enhance one of the Rio Grande Valley’s favorite tourist attractions — birding. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison secured the funding for building a new World Birding Center headquarters and buying land to expand the Lower Rio Grande Wildlife Refuge. The Department of Interior’s monies for these projects are earmarked for fiscal year 2004. The World Birding Center headquarters, which is being built adjacent to the Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park in Mission, will receive $2 million to help pay for the about 17,000-square-foot building. Construction, which began in 2002, will be completed in the spring. “The headquarters is being built in an old onion field, so we’re having to restore the habitat for the butterflies and birds,” said Collen Hook, marketing director for the center. “The building will have lots of porches and large, open windows to let the outside in.” Another major habitat restoration project is the Lower Rio Grande Wildlife Refuge, which received $1.75 million to buy parcels of land to enhance the wildlife corridor. The corridor includes 114 pieces of property that total 77,000 acres in Starr, Hidalgo, Cameron and Willacy counties. “We’re trying to give wildlife a way to move throughout the Valley by creating a habitat corridor so they can move around in search of food, habitat and mates,” said Patty Alexander, public outreach specialist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife office at Santa Anna National Wildlife Refuge near Alamo. Properties are purchased from willing sellers and native trees, shrubs and groundcover are planted to give provide habitat. Ecotourism is a major contributor to the Valley’s tourist economy, which generates $170 million per year and sustains more than 2,000 area jobs. “Improving the local economy while preserving the habitat of endangered species is a winning combination,” Hutchison said. “The Valley’s diversity is a great resource to our state and we should do all we can to enhance it.” ——— Sandra R. Billingsley covers environmental, health and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4428.

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