Los Fresnos nature park, hike & bike trail projects going well

Updated: November 19, 2020

By TONY VINDELL
LFN

***These monarch butterflies are already taking advantage of the garden built to attract these beautiful insects.*** Photo: Tony Vindell / LFN

The Los Fresnos Nature Park and its sister Hike & Bike Trail are two projects the city will soon have completed for the benefit of those who enjoy the great outdoors.

After more than two years in the making, the park is nearing completion while Phase One of the inner city 1.75-mile trail is getting off the ground and is set to be constructed by next spring or summer.

City Manager Mark Milum gave an update of the two projects during a Live Symposium hosted by UTRGV Environmental Studies Center on Tuesday, Oct. 10.

He said the $1.5-million plus park has a walking trail, exercise stations, outdoor amphitheater and two bird blinds.

The park’s latest addition is a butterfly garden planted with about a dozen plants and shrubs, including lantanas, milkweed, scorpion tails and white orchid trees, among others.

The garden is already attracting monarchs and queen butterflies flying acrobatically from flower to flower in the search of food.

Funding for the park came from a combination of state and local grants, $728,000 of which came from the Coastal Impact Assistance Program.

***One of the blinds at Los Frenos Nature Park visitors can now use for watching native and migrating birds.*** Photo: Tony Vindell / LFN

Other grant allocations came from the Texas Park & Wildlife Department, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and from the city and the Community Development Corp.

The hike and bike trail is being built also with more than $1 million altogether from Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation and the entities mentioned above.

The trail will ultimately link Los Fresnos with Downtown Brownsville via the Cara Cara Trail under construction along the Palo Alto Historical Battlefield Park.

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