Bryan Bird, Defenders
of Wildlife
September 2017
A border wall offends our core American values – freedom, equality, justice
and the preservation of our natural heritage. For wildlife in the
borderlands, a wall would set back decades of conservation success in the
region.
We are the guardians of these imperiled animals and at Defenders we are
fighting to make sure they have a voice and can continue to recover and
prosper in our country. The illicit and secretive actions by the current
administration would have disastrous consequences for wildlife.
PLEASE TAKE ACTION: Tell CPB and the administration that you oppose any border wall construction that would destroy vital wildlife habitat on our national wildlife refuges and public lands.
The Trump administration pushes forward with plan to wall off wildlife.
While the president continues his bombastic border wall talk and the
administration and Congress argue over funding for this monstrosity,
construction equipment is already moving in, land is being cleared and
people and wildlife are being displaced in the borderlands of California and
Texas.
By Hook or by Crook
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has already waived a host of environmental and other laws in order to expand the border wall along a 15-mile stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego, California. Defenders, along with a coalition of national conservation groups, sued to stop this unlawful overreach of the authority provided by Congress in the Real ID Act of 2005.
Ocelet - Image © Ana Cotta, Defenders of Wildlife
Similarly, in Texas the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Customs and
Border Protection (CBP) have started clearing land, taking soil samples and
conducting tests in areas where they plan to build new border wall – often
without even notifying the landowners or the public of their actions. This
was the case when the managers of the National Butterfly Center in Mission,
Texas, discovered industrial mowers stripping vegetation from their land and
imperiling more than 200 species of butterflies.
Now, CBP is trying to conceal efforts to build a 60-mile extension through
the area that includes two national wildlife refuges and important habitat
for the endangered ocelot and jaguarundi.
In a letter recently sent to a select group of stakeholders earlier this
month, CBP requested comments on the proposed construction of 60 miles of
border wall that would cut through parts of the Santa Ana National Wildlife
Refuge, the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, the National
Butterfly Center and the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. The letter
appears to be a dubious ploy to claim that the agency is fulfilling its
obligation to “seek public comment,” while not actually making the public
aware of their plans. Perhaps even they realize what a terrible idea it is
to construct a barrier through these sensitive habitats and critical
wildlife corridors that support countless species of wildlife, including
more than 500 species of birds, 300 butterfly species and 1,200 plant
species.
A Tale of Two Refuges
Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge - Image © Bryan Bird, Defenders of
Wildlife
Few places in the Western Hemisphere exhibit such a diversity of flora
and fauna as the lower Rio Grande Valley in south Texas, home to the Santa
Ana National Wildlife Refuge. While small in size, the Santa Ana Refuge
contains an abundance of neotropical songbirds, raptors, mammals and
reptiles, including the nine-banded armadillo, Texas tortoise, Mexican
free-tailed bat. It is also home to more than 400 bird species, more than
300 species of butterflies –half of all butterfly species found in North
America – and more than 450 varieties of plants.
The refuge also provides habitat for at least eight species protected under
the Endangered Species Act, including the highly-imperiled ocelot and
jaguarundi. With fewer than 50 left in the United States, the refuge is
essential to ocelot recovery.
Comprising several units along the Rio Grande, the Lower Rio Grande Valley
National Wildlife Refuge helps protect a crucial link between coastal and
river wildlife corridors. The various refuge units are located at the nexus
of four climate zones – tropical, temperate, coastal and desert – and at the
confluence of the Mississippi and Central flyways, making the region one of
the most diverse conservation areas in North America. The Lower Rio Grande
Valley is home to more than 700 vertebrate species, 300 species of butterfly
and at least 18 threatened or endangered species, including the
highly-endangered ocelot and jaguarundi.
The Lower Rio Grande Valley refuge complex conserves Mid-Delta Thorn Forest,
a rare forest type that provides habitat for an array of small mammals and
birds and serves as a key hunting ground for the ocelot. As the thorn forest
has continued to diminish over the years, ocelots have been forced to cross
open fields and been exposed to more dangers from vehicular traffic and
predators. Further degradation of this crucial habitat from wall
construction could prove devastating to the dwindling U.S. population of
ocelots.
A Decisive Blow to Wildlife
The construction of an impenetrable wall through these refuges would
fragment riparian habitats, block migration corridors for rare migratory
birds and imperiled species, degrade and destroy habitat, and disrupt
nesting, breeding and foraging by countless birds and other wildlife. Levee
walls, which are proposed for at least 28 miles along this route, can trap
wildlife and drown animals during severe flooding events.
Both refuges serve as important migration corridors for animals like the
ocelot and jaguarundi, who travel back and forth from Mexico to the U.S.
These rare cats would be cut off from crucial habitat affecting their
dispersal and their potential to establish new resident populations in the
U.S. The noise from increased vehicle traffic and lighting along the border
wall could also greatly impair these animals’ ability to hunt and alter the
behavior of their prey.
No Longer the “Land of the Free” for Wildlife
A border wall offends our core American values – freedom, equality, justice
and the preservation of our natural heritage. For wildlife in the
borderlands, a wall would set back decades of conservation success in the
region.
We are the guardians of these imperiled animals and at Defenders we are
fighting to make sure they have a voice and can continue to recover and
prosper in our country. The illicit and secretive actions by the current
administration would have disastrous consequences for wildlife.
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