McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — Laredo’s once-popular Zacate Creek is getting another infusion of funds to clean up the border trail and waterfall area.
The City of Laredo this week announced that $7.6 million in additional funds from local, state and federal agencies will go to improve the land and access to Zacate Creek, which is located on the banks of the Rio Grande across from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
According to the city, the Zacate Creek cleanup effort was one of 14 projects chosen nationwide as part of the National Park Service’s Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership program.
The federal program matches state and local grants. City officials say grants also come from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, as well as the City of Laredo, Webb County, and private investors.
The City of Laredo has pledged $1.8 million; Webb County has pledged $2 million to meet the required local match of $3.8 million. The National Park Service will match it for a total of $7.6 million.
A visitor enters a trail near Zacate Creek on May 28, 2021. The area is being restored and trails renovated using federal, state and local funds. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report File Photo)
The funds will be used to develop the 22-acre Zacate Creek Green District Corridor, which will include new hike and bike trails, shared-use paths, a new trailhead entrance, parking an open-air visitor center, bike and kayak rental station, a pedestrian bridge, a community garden, as well as restoration of the existing amphitheater.
The mayor’s office told Border Report on Thursday that Zacate Creek restoration is important because of its location on the Rio Grande and will set the framework for future restoration of the border area as part of the city’s binational river park project that is being developed with Nuevo Laredo.
This new infusion of funds comes after $8.6 million was announced last summer for Zacate Creek restoration funds that the City of Laredo, Webb County, and the Department of Interior culled together. This includes some land pledged by the city and $2 million pledged by the county.
Zacate Creek includes a stunning ancient waterfall area surrounded by rocks, but it largely has been abandoned by the public because it is across from a dilapidated sewage facility in Nuevo Laredo that has long spewed toxic waste into the Rio Grande and has fouled the area.
Mexico’s federal government received an $81 million loan from NADBank to repair the sewage facility and Border Report was told that construction repair efforts have already begun.
In August, Laredo City Councilwoman Melissa Cigarroa told Border Report that the Zacate Creek Restoration Project is a “pilot program” for the binational river park project that leaders from both countries are trying to develop.
The nonprofit Rio Grande International Study Center will be helping with the reforestation and revegetation as well as removing invasive species, said Cigarroa, the former board president for the organization that studies the Rio Grande watershed.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
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