Students and adults plant native trees during Rio Reforestation 2023, an annual community thornforest planting event organized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, American Forests and Defenders of Wildlife. In 2023, the event brought more than 700 community members together to plant 12,000 seedlings.

Students and adults plant native trees during Rio Reforestation 2023, an annual community thornforest planting event organized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, American Forests and Defenders of Wildlife. In 2023, the event brought more than 700 community members together to plant 12,000 seedlings.
Photo Credit: Jeremy Inglesi Jr. / American Forests

The Rio Grande Valley of Texas, or the Valley, is a place of special significance to me. South Texas, its people, places and promise, has been home to five generations of my family. Growing up in this splintered landscape, I spent countless days hiking some of the region’s more than 1,000 miles of irrigation canals and farm fields that trace the history of a river delta defined by swells of economic opportunity, rich culture, and the shaping and reshaping of the region’s natural landscapes. 

The Valley’s story is an intersection of ecologies, cultures and shared experiences which have defined the everyday for centuries. The region’s natural heritage provided a foundation for economic development that began with ranching in the 18th century and later created opportunities for irrigated farming, mineral extraction and, more recently, renewable energy production. From the earliest times, trade has further reinforced the relationships that link these livelihoods together.  

The region has seen resilience in the face of dynamic challenges. For example, most of the Valley’s urban centers were founded against the backdrop of open conflict, with frontline violence from the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) temporarily undermining their establishment along what is now the Interstate 2 corridor. In 1968, a walk-out by students at Edcouch-Elsa High School, many of whom were already seasoned farm workers out of necessity, embodied the struggle for dignity and equality that had plagued the region for decades.  

Jon Dale, American Forests’ director of Texas and Mexico, talks to Benito Trevino, an ethnobotanist and native plant nursery owner dedicated to preserving the biodiversity of the Rio Grande Valley.

Jon Dale, American Forests’ director of Texas and Mexico, talks to Benito Trevino, an ethnobotanist and native plant nursery owner dedicated to preserving the biodiversity of the Rio Grande Valley.
Photo Credit: Jack Gordon & James Foguth / American Forests

Recent years have brought their own distinct set of challenges to the Valley. An increasing number of extreme weather events brought on by a changing climate has galvanized policies and investments aimed at conserving dwindling water supplies from the Rio Grande River and transforming the Valley’s century-old drainage system to better address recurrent flooding. 

The region’s biodiverse thornforest ecosystem, which, in the United States, is only found in the Valley’s four counties, has born witness to all these incarnations of regional identity. Originally an extensive forest that extended 100 miles upriver from the mouth of the Rio Grande River, this subtropical evergreen woodland has lost more than 90% of its former range in the past century.

The impacts on wildlife that were dependent on this forest have been staggering, with nearly 45 state or federally listed species facing population declines within all or parts of this ecosystem. While farming claimed much of these early losses, land use trends in recent decades have reinforced a landscape where only isolated forest fragments exist in the sea of residential and commercial development that has replaced many working lands. 

Although several tracts of intact thornforest escaped clearing and were preserved through acquisition by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service beginning in the 1940s, it was clear soon after that habitat restoration would be needed to help recover wildlife and return the numerous benefits of thornforests to the Valley. Beginning in the 1960s and with consistent annual efforts since the 1990s, restoration has evolved to include several hundred acres per year on public lands. 

Today, I’m fortunate to be a part of, and lead, a renewed effort to restore thornforests to the region. For that, I credit my childhood of exploration, as well as my grandparents, who, having known the 1920s Valley prior to development, painted a picture of the native thornforests that had come before, sharing their own close encounters with wildlife. That spark is what sent me into those very forests for a closer look at the region’s natural treasures. 

American Forests and our network of partners are establishing that necessary and visceral link to thornforest for those who don’t have that same backstory to call on. The stories you’re about to read reflect the authentic regional considerations that we’ve strived hard to address while developing a conservation strategy across this unique landscape. I hope that in reading this special edition you come to share and support our goal of restoring this ecosystem. Together, we can catalyze a new chapter of both community and ecological resilience in the Valley. 

Jon Dale writes from Texas’ Rio Grande Valley and serves as American Forests’ director of Texas and Mexico.