A place we watch

Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR (Boca Chica)

Timing

Nothing is open on this one today. It is a place the Corps keeps an eye on, so we see the paperwork the day it lands.

What is worth photographing here

On the refuge tracts beside Starbase, photograph the open Palmito Ranch battlefield ground that falls inside the 715 acres being traded away: markers, signs, fencelines, and the undisturbed brush and flats around them.

Why we watch it

A refuge stitched together from more than 100 tracts along the last wild stretches of the Rio Grande, home to ocelots, aplomado falcons, and one of the most biodiverse corners of the country. In June 2026 the Fish and Wildlife Service approved the Boca Chica Land Exchange, handing 715 acres of protected refuge land next to SpaceX's Starbase to the company, including parts of the Palmito Ranch…

How to record it so it counts

01Don’t touch, move, collect or disturb anything. Ever.
02Photograph what you see from where you stand. Don’t dig, brush away or reposition.
03Don’t post these photographs anywhere. Submit them here only; they go into a sealed record.
04Write down what you saw and, if you know, what it is.

What would count

A photograph in the sealed record, with the location held under the confidentiality the law provides.
Nothing public. The public card will say only that a sensitive observation exists.

All of it, with the phone settings, in the field guide

Nothing to answer yet

Nobody is asking you to go here today. We watch this place so that the day a decision opens on it, the people who already know it hear the same week. If you are out here anyway, what you photograph now is worth more later than anything taken after the paperwork lands.

Before you go

Public land only. Plenty of land inside a national forest or park boundary is privately owned, and that is not yours to walk on. A gate or a closure sign means stop. Check the rules for the specific place you are going, because they differ.
Don’t touch survey stakes, flagging, equipment or anything a crew left. Photograph it; leave it.
Don’t approach crews, contractors or agency staff about the project. Don’t interfere with any operation.
Wildlife at a distance. No drones in wilderness or anywhere they’re prohibited. Stay off closed roads and trails.
If you’re not sure, don’t. Weather, terrain, water, fire and people are your call, and yours alone.

More Than Just Parks doesn’t direct where you go or what you do. Terms.