South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)

In rush forwall, nature is crushed

Contractor­s scar landscape to build US border barrier

- By Anita Snow

GUADALUPEC­ANYON, Ariz. — Work crews ignite dynamite blasts in the remote and rugged southeast corner of Arizona, forever reshaping the landscape as they pulverize mountainto­ps in a rush to build more of President Donald Trump’s border wall before his term ends next month.

Each blast in Guadalupe Canyon releases puffs of dust as workers level land to make way for 30-foottall steel columns near the New Mexico line. Heavy machines crawl over roads gouged into rocky slopes while one tap- tap- taps open holes for posts on U.S. Bureau of Land Management property.

Trump has expedited border wall constructi­on in his last year, mostly in wildlife refuges and Indigenous territory the government owns in Arizona and New Mexico, avoiding the legal fights over private land in busier crossing areas of Texas. Thework has caused environmen­tal damage, preventing animals from moving freely and scarring unique mountain and desert landscapes in ways conservati­onists fear could be irreversib­le. The administra­tion says it’s protecting national security, citing it to waive environmen­tallawsin its drive to fulfill a signature immigratio­n policy.

Environmen­talists hope President-elect Joe Biden will stop the work, but that couldbedif­ficultande­xpensive to do quickly and may still leave pillars towering over sensitive borderland­s.

The worst damage is along Arizona’s border, from century-old saguaro cacti toppled in thewestern desert to shrinking ponds of endangered fish in eastern canyons. Recent construc

tion has sealed offwhatwas the Southwest’s last major undammed river. It’s more difficult for desert tortoises, the occasional­ocelotandt­he world’s tiniest owls to cross the boundary.

“Interconne­cted landscapes that stretch across two countries are being converted into industrial wastelands,” said Randy Serraglio of the Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson.

In the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge near Guadalupe Canyon, biologist Myles Traphagen said field cameras have captured 90% less movement by animals likemounta­in lions, bobcats and pig-like javelinas over the past threemonth­s.

“This wall is the largest impediment to wildlife movement we’ve ever seen in this part of the world,” said Traphagen of the nonprofit Wildlands Network. “It’s altering the evolutiona­ry history of NorthAmeri­ca.”

TheU.S. FishandWil­dlife Service in 1982 establishe­d the nearly 4-square-mile refuge to protect water resources and endangered native fish. Diverse hummingbir­ds, bees, butterflie­s and bats also live there.

Since contractor­s for U.S. Customs and Border Protection began building a new stretch of wall there in October, environmen­talists estimate that millions of gallonsof groundwate­r have beenpumped­tomixcemen­t

and spray down dusty dirt roads.

Solar power now pumps water into a shrinking pond underneath rustling cottonwood trees. Bullfrogs croak and Yaqui topminnows wiggle through the pool once fed by natural artesian wells pulling ancient water froman aquifer.

A 3- mile barrier has sealed off a migratory corridor for wildlife between Mexico’s SierraMadr­e and theRockyMo­untains to the north, threatenin­g species like theendange­redChirica­hua leopard frog and bluegray aplomado falcon.

The Trump administra­tion says it’s completed 430 miles of the $15 billion wall and promises to reach 450 miles by year’s end.

Biden transition officials say he stands by his campaign promise — “not another foot” of wall. It’s unclear how Biden would stop constructi­on, but it could leave projects halffinish­ed, force the government to pay to break contracts and anger those who consider the wall essential to border security.

“Building a wall will do little to deter criminals and cartels seeking to exploit our borders,” Biden’s transition team has said. It says Biden will focus on “smart border enforcemen­t efforts, like investment­s in improving screening infrastruc­ture atourports­of entry, thatwill actuallyke­epAmericas­afer.”

Environmen­talists hope for an ally in Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Customs and Border Protection.

Until constructi­on is stopped, “every day, it will be another mile of borderland­s being trashed,” Serraglio said.

Environmen­tal lawattorne­y Dinah Bear said Biden’s administra­tion could terminate building contracts, which would allow companies to seek settlement­s. What that would cost isn’t clear because the contracts aren’t public, but Bear said itwould pale in comparison to the price of finishing and maintainin­g the wall. Military funds reappropri­ated under anationale­mergency declared byTrump are now funding thework.

Bear, who worked at the White House’s Council on Environmen­tal Quality under Republican and Democratic administra­tions, said she wants to see Congress set aside money to repair damage by removing thewall in critical areas, buying more habitat and

replanting slopes.

Ecologists say damage could be reversed in Organ Pipe CactusNati­onalMonume­nt, where thousands of tree-like saguaroswe­re bulldozed, withsomere­portedly replanted elsewhere.

They say keeping floodgates open could help ease damage done by damming the San Pedro River, which runs north from just below theMexican border through the central corridor of the SierraMadr­e’s “SkyIslands.”

These high mountains have ecosystems dramatical­ly different from the desert below, with 300 bird species, including the yellow-billed cuckoo, nesting along what was the Southwest’s last major free- flowing river. The white-nosed, racoon-like coatiandth­e yellow-striped Sonoran tiger salamander also live there.

In the nearby Coronado NationalMo­nument, scientists are using cameras to document wildlife as crews prepare to start building. Switchback­s have been slashed into mountainsi­des,

but30-footpostsa­ren’tyetup. The government plans to install the towering pillars

4 inches apart where there are now vehicle barriers a couple of feet high with openings large enough to allow large cats and other animals to cross tomateand hunt.

Biologist Emily Burns of the nonprofit Sky Island Alliance said constructi­on will hurt elf owls, the world’s littlest at less than 5 inches tall. Thebirds are too small to fly over the fence and likelywoul­dn’t knowto squeeze through.

“This kind of largescale disruption can push a species to the brink, even if they aren’t threatened,” said Louise Misztal, alliance executive director.

 ?? MATTYORK/AP ?? Crews construct a section of borderwall in San Bernardino National WildlifeRe­fuge earlier this month. Constructi­on of the barrier has led to environmen­tal damage and the scarring of unique desert and mountain landscapes.
MATTYORK/AP Crews construct a section of borderwall in San Bernardino National WildlifeRe­fuge earlier this month. Constructi­on of the barrier has led to environmen­tal damage and the scarring of unique desert and mountain landscapes.

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