Over 750,000 people participated in some form of river recreation around Texas last year. Les than 1/10th of 1 percent of them engaged in it on the Rio Grande.
Despite year round warm weather and reliable flow. Despite being home to the greatest avian biodiversity in the United States. Despite the presence of some of the most historic cities in the country, the Rio Grande remains our most overlooked and under exploited river.
For most places through which it flows the Lower Rio Grande is neither dirty, nor dangerous and nowhere is it illegal to enter. The Big River Foundation was created to dispel those misunderstandings and to help people on both sides of the Border make better use of this, the region's original and still singularly most important resource for all who live there.
Because my primary colleague in this effort makes his home in Panama, and because Western Panama and the border with Costa Rica has its own rivers and shared problems, we collaborate on project efforts there as well.
My involvement with Eric Ellman's projects has been deeply gratifying. I have always admired his passion for protecting rivers, the ecology and the environment.
I am proud to support The Big River Foundation's vision to create educational experiences which promote watershed conservation.
“In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we have been taught.” - Baba Dioum, 1968