Marianna Wright - National Butterfly Center

Jay talks today with Marianna Trevino Wright, Executive Director of the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas. Marianna Wright grew up at a time when Cabbage Whites and Coral snakes were commonplace in south Texas. She is fervent in her desire to protect the special creatures and features peculiar to that area near the Rio Grande. As executive director of the National Butterfly Center, on the U.S.-Mexico border, she currently manages almost 500 acres of land in restoration and preservation on behalf of the North American Butterfly Association. Her fierce determination to protect access to a once-vibrant recreational waterway and the only source of freshwater for 6 million people, along with public and private green space, threatened and endangered species, and the integrity of a critical migration corridor were recognized by the Defenders of Wildlife with their Spirit of Defenders Award for Conservation Advocacy. A graduate of Columbia University and mother of six, she seeks to preserve the beauty and diversity of this land for generations to come. 

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