Hundreds of thousands of butterflies pass through the center’s 100-acre sanctuary in Mission every year, including the well-known monarch and endangered manfreda giant-skipper. Two hundred and forty species call the center home for at least part of the year.
But if President Trump gets his way with the wall, the protected habitat of the National Butterfly Center along the Rio Grande is in trouble. Executive director, Marianna Wright, commented that 70 percent of the land would eventually be on the other side the wall, meaning visitors would no longer be able to see many of the beautiful butterflies that populate the area. If the butterflies stay, that is.
“Just like farmers get crop yield in acres and inches, we get butterflies based on what we have planted in acres and inches,” Wright said. “So, having a wide swath of our property bulldozed is going to negatively impact the volume of the species and diversity of the species.”