In the fall of 2017, Hurricane Maria touched down in Puerto Rico, decimating the island’s housing stock and infrastructure in addition to destroying an estimated 80% of the island's agriculture. The storm’s toll included the El Portal Visitor’s Center, at the gateway of the 29,000—acre El Yunque—the only tropical rainforest in the U.S Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service. Home to over 200 species of trees and plants, as well as a number of petroglyphs (or rock carvings) made by the indigenous Taíno people, El Yunque lies on the slopes of the Sierra de Luqillo mountains on the northeastern coast of Puerto Rico. Known for its rich biodiversity and as a habitat for the endangered Puerto Rican Parrot, the rainforest’s trees and plant life have been slowly recovering from Maria’s ravages. Reconstruction on its shuttered visitor’s center began in the summer of 2019 and was completed this past December. The $18.1 million restoration and redesign by the architecture firm Marvel, along with Interlink Construction, reopened this week.