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If you are looking for outdoor recreation in the Rio Grande Valley, you might consider a relaxing canoe trip down a stretch of the Arroyo Colorado.

Launching their canoes east of La Feira, this group is enjoying a leisurely paddle down the Arroyo towards Harlingen under the guidance of Friends of the Wildlife Corridor.

Bob Powell, Friends of the Wildlife Corridor Board Member, says, "It is relatively untouched. It still offers a nice recreational opportunity for people."

For Ayissa Sandoval of Donna and her friends, it was the first time they had ever canoed the Arroyo Colorado.

Ayissa Sandoval, says, "It was a nice experience to flow down the river and just see what types of things are here in the Valley that most people don't know."

Priscilla Paz, says, "It was peaceful, and it was just a great experience overall."

The Arroyo Colorado begins as an outflow of the Rio Grande near Mission and winds its way thru the Valley past Harlingen and eventually into the Lower Laguna Madre.

Powell says, "This particular stretch has a lot of good habitat which in many ways is good for wildlife, but it is also probably good for the people that live down here in that it keeps the banks of this little piece of river from eroding which keeps it from silting in very much, and it also acts as a little filtration device to get some of those pollutants which are coming in thru the water out of the river before it goes down into the Gulf area."

The International Boundary and Water Commission is proposing to clear portions of the Arroyo near Harlingen for flood control, and on Wednesday, March 23 from 4 to 6pm there will be a public meeting at IBWC offices in Mercedes to discuss this issue.

With your Nature Report I'm Richard Moore.