PRESIDIO — On Tuesday, the City of Presidio and the Big Bend Conservation Alliance (BBCA) announced that they had been awarded $12.7 million by the federal government toward supporting green infrastructure. The grant is the largest ever awarded to a nonprofit in the region and will support a variety of ecological goals in the tiny border city.
“Everything’s Connected in Presidio,” the team’s successful pitch, tackles a wide web of issues: ensuring that folks across town can all enjoy cooling tree cover; building detention ponds to corral floodwater; establishing a solar-powered emergency community “cooling center” for hot-weather months; and monitoring air pollution at the Presidio International Bridge.
Ramon Rodriguez, founder of Project Homeleaf, helped lead the grant application. As part of his long history of local youth-led climate activism, he’s always been interested in planting trees and changing the literal landscape of the city to keep people happier and healthier. “It’s something that the entire community of Presidio will be working on together,” he said.
The most immediately-visible aspect of the project will be the creation of a greenbelt providing shade along the existing network of bike and walking paths in town. Thousands of trees will be planted along this corridor, as well as at private homes and on publicly-owned properties. Other native plants will also be cultivated along the greenbelt to promote biodiversity and community education projects.
Another long-term goal is creating a community cooling center to be used in times of extreme heat. This initiative — which will utilize the existing Presidio Activities Center building — will install solar panels and a battery backup so that local residents can use it as a shelter in case the power goes out during extreme heat.
Perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of “Everything’s Connected” is the creation of an air quality-monitoring program at the Presidio International Bridge. Earlier this year, BBCA conducted an air quality survey, asking local residents their thoughts about the impact of long lines of idling cars at the bridge.
The team discovered that many folks had no idea how to recognize or mitigate harmful air quality. This piece of the grant will require bi-national cooperation with local leaders on the Mexican side of the bridge, and will engage high school students to monitor and maintain sensors.
Rodriguez and the team were concerned that this might be the time to get ahead of a problem for a city that they hope rapidly grows its back-and-forth border economy. “Presidio is overlooked, but with all these little puzzle pieces moving around, we could see a real boom,” he said.