Project period 1 19 23 1 18 27PROJECT title examination and repopulation of endangered plants impacted by border wall construction in the lower RIO grande valleythis purpose of this project is to grow…

This $455,000 cooperative agreement from the U.S. Geological Survey will support the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in its efforts to examine and repopulate endangered plant species impacted by border wall construction in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Over four years, the university will conduct field surveys; collect seeds; establish a plant nursery; grow thousands of endangered plants from seed; transplant newly grown plants into suitable habitats; monitor transplantation outcomes; and publish reports and research on its findings. The work directly supports the goals of the U.S. Geological Survey's Research and Data Collection program (CFDA 15.808) by examining biological resources and supporting habitat conservation in the border region. Quantitative outcomes include annual reports, scientific publications, presentations, updated species distribution maps, a seed bank, a new plant propagation facility, nursery-grown endangered plants, and newly established or supplemented endangered plant populations.

Project period 1 19 23 1 18 27PROJECT title examination and repopulation of endangered plants impacted by border wall construction in the lower RIO grande valleythis purpose of this project is to grow thousands of endangered plants from seeds collected from endangered plants impacted by recent border wall construction in south texas, and then to strategically transplant the newly grown plants into south texas habitats to preserve threatened populations and increase the overall abundance of endangered plants in the region.activities will include doing in person surveys to measure the health of endangered plant populations that have been impacted by border wall construction, collecting seeds from healthy populations, retrofitting an existing plant nursery for production of endangered plants, planting seeds and growing thousands of new endangered plants, doing experiments to find ways to increase germination and survival after transplantation of endangered plants, assessing different habitats to select the best places to transplant newly grown plants, transplanting the new plants into the best habitats to achieve conservation goals, monitoring the transplanted plants over time, and doing more experiments to find ways to increase the survival and performance of transplanted endangered plants and the resilience of endangered populations.over four years, this project will produce the following deliverables 3 annual reports and 1 final report, 5 peer reviewed scientific publications, 5 professional presentations, new endangered plant population descriptions, updated distribution maps for the focal endangered species, a seed bank (stockpile) of endangered plant seeds, a new endangered plant propagation facility, nursery stock (thousands of young plants) of endangered plant species, a seed catalogue documenting the contents of the seed bank, supplemented or newly created populations of endangered plants, monitoring data on transplantation efforts, and a repopulation database describing all of the transplantation efforts.intended beneficiaries are federal and state agencies managing land or working in the region, including U.S. Fish and wildlife service, U.S. Customs and border protection, and texas parks and wildlife department private landowners with populations of endangered plants members of the public interested in wildlife conservation or south texas ecosystems students and staff employed through this project researchers studying these species or systems and the endangered species themselves.no subrecipients are involved in this project.