The Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge protects 90,788 acres of scattered habitat along the lower Rio Grande in southern Texas near the United States–Mexico border. In a valley where most of the original riverside landscape has disappeared and only about 5 percent of native riparian, floodplain, and wetland habitats remain, these fragments preserve exceptional biological diversity. The refuge contains eleven biological communities, from Chihuahuan Desert thorn forest to tidal wetlands, supporting about 1,200 native plant species, 700 vertebrate species, and 300 kinds of butterflies. It is also a major wildlife-watching destination and an important protected area for rare species and notable valley birdlife.