The best documentary ever made about the Rio Grande

Back during the spring of 2018 I had the opportunity to meet the River and the Wall film crew in Austin.  Representing the El Paso Zoo I spent two days with Ben Masters, Hillary Pierce, Austin Alvarado and Jay Kleberg sharing everything I knew about Big Bend National Park and the long proposed transboundary protected area on the US Mexico border.    I was pleased to learn how committed everyone was in telling the story of the Rio Grande and how one of the most endangered rivers in North America is threatened by the border wall.  The film was released last year and takes viewers on a wild adventure through one of the most rugged landscapes in North America.  

The wall threatens not only America’s natural heritage, but also one of the most biologically diverse regions on the continent.  Hopefully the film will not end up documenting the last visuals of the river before a wall is constructed in the area and the Rio Grande is changed forever.

Prior to moving to El Paso I worked in Big Bend National Park, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park and Yellowstone National Park.   During this time I discovered that no park is an island and that the lands protected in parks are acutely connected to the lands around them.  As a result what happens outside a park can have a serious impact on wildlife living in a park as numerous species travel across park boundaries in order to find food, water, habitat and potential mates.   Biologists call these travel routes wildlife corridors. Here in El Paso we can see how every day wildlife corridors are being destroyed by all kinds of new development projects. 

The River and the Wall addresses many of the threats facing the Rio Grande and the US Mexico border and is the best documentary ever made on the subject and the Rio Grande. Most of the nearly three million people living here on the border in the El Paso-Juarez metroplex  can tell you how to get to places like downtown El Paso, UTEP and major shopping centers, but how many actually know what the landscape is like in the West Texas canyon country of the Rio Grande? The River and the Wall does a great job in revealing the true nature of this rugged land while highlighting the beauty and incredible biodiversity of an important part of the Chihuahuan Desert.

When the film premiered last year it was shown in El Paso at the Alamo Theater. If you missed it you can watch it on Amazon Prime or on DVD.

Rick LoBello
Education Curator