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Laguna Madre

Site Facts

Country, State/Province/Region:

Binational: United States, Texas, Willacy County; Mexico, State of Tamaulipas

Relative Location:

From Port Mansfield, Texas, to the mouth of the Rio Soto la Marina, Tamaulipas, Mexico

Latitude/Longitude:

Center:  26° 18’ N; 97° 23’ W

Category:

International

Basis for Designation:

Supports more than 100,000 shorebirds, including up to 20% of the world’s population of endangered Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus)

Size:

665,936 hectares (1,645,563 acres) – includes all subsites

Joined:

September 2000 (plus subsites thereafter)

Site Owner/Steward:

Multiple: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; U.S. National Park Service; Martinez family (Mexico); National Commission of Protected Natural Areas in Mexico (CONANP)

Site Partners:

Texas Center for Policy Studies; The Nature Conservancy; Pronatura Noreste, A.C.; Ducks Unlimited de Mexico, A.C. (DUMAC); Autonomous University of Tamaulipas

Contact:

Leo Gustafson
Acting Refuge Manager,
Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Leo_Gustafson@fws.gov

Jim Lindsay
Chief, Resources Management
Padre Island National Seashore
U.S. National Park Service
james_lindsay@nps.gov

Description

The extensive Laguna Madre wetland complex is the first binational WHSRN site, spanning from Port Mansfield in Texas (United States) to the Soto la Marina River in Tamaulipas (Mexico).

This area was first designated a WHSRN Site of International Importance in September 2000, and included the following properties, owners, and acreage:

  • Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge - 45,187 acres (without barrier island)

    U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

    Rio Honda, Texas

  • South Padre Island Preserve - 24,500 acres

    A barrier island formerly owned by The Nature Conservancy, donated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2007 for inclusion in the Laguna Atascosa NWR

    Willacy County, Texas

  • Rancho Rincon de Anacahuitas - 30,000 acres

    Martinez family, private ranch

    Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico

Since 2000, the following two sites within the Laguna Madre have met the criteria for a WHSRN Site of International Importance and have been designated as such. However, like the three sites listed above, they are counted as subsites within the overall Laguna Madre WHSRN Site of International Importance:

  • Padre Island National Seashore (April 2007) - 130,436 acres

    U.S. National Park Service

    A barrier island south of Corpus Christi, Texas

  • Área de Protección de Flora y Fauna – Laguna Madre y Delta de Río Bravo (Flora and Fauna Protected Area - Laguna Madre and Rio Bravo Delta) (January 2008) - 1,415,439 acres

    Municipalities of Matamoros, San Fernando, and Soto la Marina, Tamaulipas, Mexico

Conservation and Ecology

Please visit our GoogleEarth “Interactive Map” online to explore this and other WHSRN sites, and check this page again in the future for a more complete Site Profile.

Special Information

Video showing Biologist Larry Niles of the Conserve Wildlife Foundation and a team of volunteers organized by the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program attempt to capture and band a flock of Red Knots of Padre Island National Seashore.

Contact

Leo Gustafson
Acting Refuge Manager
Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
leo_gustafson@fws.gov

Jim Lindsay
Chief, Resources Management
Padre Island National Seashore
U.S. National Park Service
james_lindsay@nps.gov

 
  
 
Copyright 2008