Courtney Bourgoin, courtney.bourgoin@sierraclub.org
Mission, TX – Veterans from Sierra Club’s Military Outdoors program will be tent camping on the grounds of the National Butterfly Center from March 5th-12th to protest the border wall, amplify stories of residents of the border and take a stand for communities and lands. The veterans aim to bear witness to the injustices being inflicted on the border communities and amplify the perspectives of Rio Grande Valley residents.
National Butterfly Center staff will conduct a conservation photography workshop. Participants will conduct a service project to prepare the National Butterfly Center lands for the spring. Butterfly Center staff will also escort the veteran participants on field trips to places like La Lomita Chapel, Sabal Palm Sanctuary, South Padre Island Nature Center, the Yturria National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) Tract, La Puerta NWR, Roma Bluffs, and Sal del Rey, which are all threatened by border walls.
Reporters are encouraged to join for any and all events. For pictures, video, and quotes, contact courtney.bourgoin@sierraclub.org.
WHEN: Tuesday, March 5th- Tuesday, March 12th, 2019
WHO: Sierra Club Military Outdoors veterans, National Butterfly Center staff, Carrizo/ Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, Residents of the Rio Grande Valley
In anticipation of the event, groups released the following statements:
"The border wall and militarization of border towns is a direct affront to the democratic principles, values, and protection of human rights that the US military is entrusted to uphold. By manufacturing a crisis on the border and illegally declaring this fake national emergency, the Trump administration has chosen to abuse the Constitution, tear through special places like the National Butterfly Center and cause irreversible damage on our own soil-- all for a useless and destructive border wall. As veterans of the United States, we plan to join in solidarity with border communities to oppose the wall and humanitarian atrocities happening on their lands. We continue to side with the people, public lands and values we committed to serve," said Rob Vessels, Senior Campaign Representative for Sierra Club Military Outdoors.
“Our home is not a war zone,” said Marianna Treviño Wright, executive director of the National Butterfly Center. “All day, every day, we get to enjoy this special place in the Conservation Corridor—a place we have worked hard to restore to for the benefit of the wild things that require it. It is also a benefit to every person who lives and visits, here; so, whether we are receiving school children or soldiers who have served our country, it is a pleasure we are honored to share.”
“Part of our purpose here is to bring healing and rebalancing to our Indigenous lands,” said Juan Mancias, chairman of the Carrizo/ Comecrudo Tribe of Texas. “We hope that through the veterans’ participation with us in gathering willow branches for sacred ceremony and in sending out our voices in fellowship with creation in one of the last remnants of the natural habitat of the Rio Grande Valley that they will receive the healing and wholeness of our Mother Earth, which we wish to preserve for all living beings.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.