If you want to spruce up your garden with color, always pick plants that can also benefit pollinators. Without bees and butterflies, there wouldn’t be essential vegetation needed for food and to keep our planet cool.

KSAT 12 visited the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas where the Monarchs will soon be swarming their native vegetation by the thousands.

Over the past few years, several studies have shown that at least 40% of the world’s insects are dying at a rapid rate, and some research shows that 90% of certain species have already been wiped out.

The National Butterfly Center, along the U.S.-Mexico border in Mission, has been the target of conspiracy theorists since 2019.

At the end of 2020, the Xerces Society published a study that said the Western Monarch Butterfly population reached an all-time low. The society says effects of climate change, most notably the historic string of wildfires along the Pacific Coast, have been the main force in the destruction of the Western Monarch Butterfly population. AdTreviño-Wright said the decline in the monarch butterfly species has not been as bad east of the Rocky Mountains, but there are still threats to the insects. But, she says there are ways you can help restore butterfly populations in your own backyard, such as planting native species. KSAT and the National Butterfly Center want to answer any questions you may have about butterflies in Texas.

Anzaldua said he predicts that if the Rio Grande has major floods, what’s left of the adjacent riverbank, possibly the wall itself, and even part of his property, will be swept downriver. “It’s just a matter of time.”Brian Kolfage, who raised $25 million in GoFundMe donations for the We Build the Wall project, said he’s “100% confident” that won’t happen. He said the riverbank has been grated at a gradual downward slope that will have special sod planted to help prevent erosion. He said that’s also why the new wall won’t have a metal plate at the top as an “anti-climb feature," because it could act as a sail in the wind, knocking down the structure. But as for the Anzaldua family’s concerns, Anzaldua said, “We don’t have the money to fight these people until they do the damage.”