Who We Are
In 2010, Gorgas Science Foundation (GSF) reached an agreement with Audubon Texas to lease and operate the Sanctuary, allowing us to reopen this incredible place to the public. GSF was established in Brownsville in 1947 by Texas Southmost College Biology Professor Barbara T. Warburton. In 1983, Mrs. Warburton along with former students and local volunteers formally incorporated GSF as a registered 501(c)3 foundation.
What We Do
For birders and nature-lovers, no visit to South Texas is complete without a stop at the Sanctuary. It is home to many native species of plants and animals that reach the northernmost limit of their Mexican range here and do not occur elsewhere in the U.S. Cradled in a bend of the Rio Grande along the U.S./Mexico border, the Sanctuary harbors one of the most beautiful and critical ecosystems of South Texas and Northern Mexico. Sabal Palms once grew profusely along the edge of the Rio Grande in small stands or groves extending about 80 miles upstream from the Gulf of Mexico. Today, only a small portion of that forest remains, protected on 557 acres of this Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is dedicated to instilling a shared appreciation and sense of stewardship for the natural world through hands-on nature education, citizen science and preservation of the Sanctuary.
