Fall Management Board Meeting in Mexico

December 12, 2024 | Posted in General News

Photo By Rebekah Rylander

The Rio Grande Joint Venture Management Board and staff met in the lovely town of Santiago, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, in the Cumbres de Monterrey National Park on September 9 – 12, just as the town and the entire country was preparing for the upcoming 16 de septiembre holiday. Red, green and white bunting, Mexican flags, and festival announcements were everywhere in commemoration of México’s independence from Spain. Host organization Pronatura arranged for a field trip to the beautiful Cola de Caballo falls a short distance from Santiago, as well as the Cueva de los Murcielagos, where a large population of Mexican Free-tailed bats thrives. The group admired the streams of bats leaving the cave at sunset, along with views of an Aplomado falcon hovering near the cave mouth.

RGJV Management board and staff bid a fond farewell to long-time Board Chair Jeff Raasch, who is stepping down as Chair to take on new responsibilities as the American Bird Conservancy’s Southeast Regional Director. Jeff’s leadership helped uplift the Joint Venture community and was instrumental in standing up the Rio Grande Joint Venture in its early days at Texas Parks & Wildlife and then later as an ABC-administered Joint Venture, making it both bittersweet and appropriate that Jeff is now joining the ranks of ABC in a different leadership position. We will miss you Jeff, and wish you all the best in your new job!

Other board meeting highlights included: a discussion about how the Joint Venture can leverage more support for grassland and wetlands projects in México; the unveiling of a new Project Tracking Tool to showcase projects and partnerships throughout the geography; and the formation of a Policy Committee to plan and participate in the Association of Joint Venture Management Board annual visits to DC.

Featured presentations included:

Long-term Vegetation Monitoring Under Rotational and Set-Stock Grazing Management in the Native Prairies of Texas – Philip Boyd, Dixon Water Foundation
MOTUS work in NE Mexico – Salvador Narváez, Pronatura Noreste
CONANP projects in N. MX – José Davila, CONANP
Project work in Laguna de Santiaguillo and Laguna de Bustillos – Eduardo Carrera, Ducks Unlimited MX
Chihuahuan Desert inventory and monitoring program – Sally Hejl, National Park Service

Rosario Álvarez of Pronatura Noreste provided information about Cumbres de Monterrey, the park surrounding the Management Board meeting location, including its importance as the water supply for the city of Monterrey and efforts to implement sustainability programs, such as planting trees and improving distribution systems, in light of the water crisis of 2022 and 2023 when the reservoirs were at very low capacity.