A former staff member at Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park, McGrath worked to restore the native ecosystem to the Mexican American War site
I was laid off from Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park, a piece of land on the border of Texas and Mexico that is the only National Park Service site that memorializes the Mexican American War.
Many battlefields do not experience what Palo Alto does, where habitat restoration activities directly match with the cultural resources of the battlefield.
Restoring the battlefield to native cordgrass and removal of encroaching trees was important, especially to the threatened and endangered species that live in the coastal grasslands of South Texas.
Losing staff, such as myself, really hurts small parks that now cannot get as much of anything done to save critical habitat for species like the Aplomado falcon (Falco femoralis).
What’s more, this loss of staff makes a small park more vulnerable to the urbanization that surrounds it, especially with SpaceX in the backyard.
The SpaceX Launch Facility is not far away from Palo Alto. You can watch the launches from the battlefield. The launches shake the surrounding area, and you can often feel it for miles. There’s an environmental concern for the park due to noise pollution from the rockets but also debris from launch that could get blown in a certain way depending on wind direction.
I came to South Texas to work for what little public land Texas has and to learn more field skills over a long period of time in a new and unique ecosystem. That opportunity was ripped away from me, an early-career professional in an increasingly competitive field.
It is important to have scientists working for the park in order to restore the battlefield and provide access to one of the few free public lands in Texas, which many migrant birds rely on and generates tourism to the region.
Wildlife Vocalizations Lost is a series about how federal job loss in the wildlife profession may impact conservation and wildlife management. It’s a part of our regular series, Wildlife Vocalizations, which is a collection of short personal perspectives from people in the field of wildlife sciences.
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