Terlingua Creek Restoration Project

Terlingua Creek, TX

Services Provided

Ecological restoration, land planning, landscape design, riparian restoration, native plant propagation and installation, habitat restoration, restoration planning, plant monitoring, and adaptive restoration strategies.

Collaborators

Big Bend National Park, Commission for Environmental Cooperation, American Bird Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Texas Parks & Wildlife, Fred Phillips Consulting, private landowners.

Restoring Riparian Forests and Wildlife Habitat Along the Rio Grande

The Rio Grande and Terlingua Creek Restoration project focuses on restoring degraded riparian habitat along Terlingua Creek and the Lower Rio Grande River in and around Big Bend National Park. Historically, Terlingua Creek supported a robust, densely vegetated riparian landscape. Mining and agricultural activity, however, contributed to the loss of riparian forest, increased erosion, sedimentation, and channel instability, and helped spread invasive plant species.

Over a four-year collaboration with Big Bend National Park, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, and the American Bird Conservancy, Fred Phillips Consulting developed and implemented four riparian restoration projects along the Rio Grande and Terlingua Creek that incorporated lessons learned from previous restoration efforts.

More than 6,000 strapleaf willows and narrowleaf cottonwoods were harvested and planted along the river and creek systems. These native plantings help capture sediment, stabilize riparian areas, encourage the establishment of additional native vegetation, and improve wildlife habitat for species that historically depended on the riparian forest. The restoration work has produced measurable ecological improvements and increased the resilience of the river corridor and surrounding habitat.