Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge |
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P.O. Box 450 Rio Hondo, TX 78583 E-mail: Phone Number: 956-748-3607 |
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Visit the Refuge's Web Site: http://southwest.fws.gov/refuges/texas/laguna.html |
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Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge The south Texas landscape is a unique blending of temperate, subtropical, coastal, and desert habitats. Mexican plants and wildlife are at the northernmost edge of their range, while migrating waterfowl and sandhill cranes fly down for the mild winters. This combination makes Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge world famous for its birds, and home to a mix of wildlife found nowhere else. Laguna Atascosa NWR is the largest protected area of natural habitat left in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, an oasis for wildlife with few alternatives. The refuge's 45,187 acres become more valuable with each acre lost to development--valuable to wildlife and valuable to those who enjoy wildlife in wildlands. Get Google map and directions to this refuge/WMD from a specified address: |
Fishing Hunting Interpretation Photography Wildlife Observation Learn More >> Irrigation and drainage have reduced the amount of water flowing into the refuge. Water is trapped in ponds, resacas (old oxbows of the Rio Grande), and the refuge's namesake lake, Laguna Atascosa, to hold freshwater between rains. Many birds are particular about the depths they feed in, so levels are adjusted throughout the year to benefit both ducks and wading birds. The refuge has planted several old farm fields in native brush for ocelot and other brushland wildlife. It may take 20 to 40 years to grow dense brush similar to untouched stands. While working to re-establish brushland where it belongs, the refuge also maintains grasslands for those species that depend on them. Occasional prescribed burns increases the nutritional content of the grass and reduces invading brush. |
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