Water conservation, maintaining rich vegetation urged amid South Texas drought [Video]

WESLACO, Texas (Border Report) — During a hike around Estero Llano Grande State Park, water and agriculture experts pointed out best practices for planting vegetation to help conserve waterways, and actually clean the environment.

“Wood is good,” Ricky Linex, a retired wildlife biologist from the Natural Resource Conservation Service, told about 50 participants who gathered to learn about water conservation on Tuesday afternoon.

He was referencing woody trees, which he says provide shade to withering rivers like the Rio Grande, which can help to conserve water.

Hidalgo County in the Rio Grande Valley is currently under a disaster drought declaration. That’s partly due to a lack of rainfall, and due to Mexico’s failure to pay an expected annual allotment of water to the Rio Grande, under a 1944 international water treaty.

Mexico technically has until October 2025 to pay the 1.75 million acre-feet of water it owes, but experts agree that is near impossible since …