For Rita, the island's nature is the common ground:
She has lived on the island more than 30 years and fishes the bay monthly. Her case: promote fishing, birding, sea turtles, and wind sports year round, because they are what brings visitors year round. In her words, "We have Texas' best beach."
Sea Turtle Inc. on the island runs the largest sea turtle hospital in the world, at more than 15,000 sq ft. The Kemp's ridley, the world's most endangered sea turtle, nests on these beaches, and artificial light can confuse nesting mothers and hatchlings. (seaturtleinc.org.)
The SPI Birding, Nature Center and Alligator Sanctuary covers 43 acres of coastal wetland with three quarters of a mile of boardwalk, five bird blinds, and a five-story tower over the Laguna Madre. (visitsouthpadreisland.com.)
The city's Chapter 22 Beach and Dune Protection rules require permits for work east of the Dune Protection Line, because dunes are the island's buffer against storm surge. The city, the Texas General Land Office, Cameron County, and the Army Corps of Engineers replenish the shoreline with sand dredged from the Brazos-Santiago Pass; the latest program kicked off in October 2024. Conservation partners protected about 25,000 acres of the island in 2000, with 6,200 more since. (myspi.org, GLO, nature.org.)