The Gorgas Science Foundation is a nonprofit foundation based in South Texas established to support conservation and education. The mission of Gorgas Science Foundation is to provide the highest quality educational opportunities, to foster greater awareness and understanding of ecological issues, and to encourage conservation of critical natural resources.

History

The foundation was started in 1947 and incorporated in 1983 by

Texas Southmost College Texas Southmost College (TSC) is a public junior college located in Brownsville, Texas. History Early history Texas Southmost College was established in 1926 under the name of The Junior College of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, as a subsidiary ...

biology professor Barbara T. Warburton. The name honors pioneering research scientist Dr. William Crawford Gorgas who served at

Fort Brown Fort Brown (originally Fort Texas) was a military post of the United States Army in Cameron County, Texas, during the latter half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century. Established in 1846, it was the first US Army military ...

in the 19th century.

Rio Grande Valley

In collaboration with the

Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such orga ...

, the foundation operates the

Sabal Palm Sanctuary The Sabal Palm Sanctuary is a nature reserve and bird sanctuary located in the delta of the Rio Grande Valley in Cameron County near Brownsville, Texas. It is noted for being one of the last locations in the Rio Grande Valley with a profuse gr ...

in Brownsville, Texas. In 1994 the Gorgas Foundation produced the 18 volume "Treasures of the Rio Grande Delta" documentary that focused on the history and habitat of the region. In 2010 the foundation published the bilingual Spanish and English ''El Valle: The Rio Grande Delta'' an exploration of the biodiversity and culture of the region.

Hummingbirds

In 2016 the foundation published ''

Hummingbirds Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

'', by John C. Arvin. the first volume of the two volume set book on

International projects

Mexico

In cooperation with the

University of Texas at Brownsville , mottoeng = Cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy. , established = , closed = (merged with UT–Pan American to form The UTRGV) , type = Public State University , presid ...

, the Gorgas Foundation has operated two biology field stations in the

cloud forests A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud ...

along the eastern escarpment of northeastern Mexico’s Sierra Madre Oriental. The foundation's work at

Rancho del Cielo Rancho del Cielo, also known in its English translation as ''Sky's Ranch'' or ''Heaven's Ranch'', is a / ranch located atop the Santa Ynez Mountain range northwest of Santa Barbara, California. It served as a vacation home for Ronald Reagan an ...

and Rancho el Cielito research stations laid the groundwork for the creation of the 360,000 acre

El Cielo Biosphere Reserve The El Cielo Biosphere Reserve (''Reserva de la Biosfera El Cielo'' in Spanish) is located in the Sierra Madre Oriental in the southern part of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas near the town of Gómez Farias. The reserve protects the northernmost ...

Tamaulipas Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entiti ...

India

The Gorgas Foundation supported years of

field work Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct f ...

in the Western Ghats of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

that culminated in a 60-minute documentary by prizewinning cinematographer Sandesh Kadur titled "Sahyadris – Mountains of the Monsoon."

References

External links

* Scientific research foundations in the United States Research institutes in Texas Environmental organizations based in Texas {{science-org-stub