Hundreds join in Valley’s 22nd annual Rio Reforestation

School bus loads of children and hundreds of other volunteers converged Saturday morning on an obscure piece of land south of Harlingen. They disembarked with shovels, gloves and sun screen to join the 22nd annual Rio Reforestation, a project that enlists community volunteers in planting native trees for wildlife habitat.

Brownsville resident Julia Saenz, one of about 800 volunteers from across the Rio Grande Valley, has participated in this project since it began.