Big Bend National Park

Big Bend National Park in Texas has national significance as the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert topography and ecology in the United States.It contains more than more than 450 species of birds,1200 species of plants,56 species of reptiles and 75 species of mammals.The park is considered extremely popular with other birders and a popular spot with members of the MHSYBS who visit the park every November and spend 3 days camping in the park.Birders come to usually find the Colima Warbler,a species of warbler from Mexico that breeds within the park and is hard to get because birders have to hike 8 miles to find it on one trail

The national park cover 801,163 acres with a variety of Cretaceous and Cenozoic fossils in abundance and artifacts that are estimated to 9,000 years old.Historic buildings and landscapes offer graphic illustrations of life along the US-Mexico border in the 19th century. For more than 1,000 miles,the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo forms the international boundary between Mexico and the United States.Big Bend National Park adminsters 118 miles along that boundary.The park was named after the area,which is bounded by a large bend in the river Because the Rio Grande serves as an international boundary, the park faces unusual constraints while administering and enforcing park rules, regulations, and policies. In accordance with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the park's territory extends only to the center of the deepest river channel as the river flowed in 1848. The rest of the land south of that channel, and the river, lies within Mexican territory. The park is bordered by the protected areas of Parque Nacional Cañon de Santa Elena and Maderas del Carmen in Mexico.