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 Editorials | Environmental | October 2007 
River Treasure vs. U.S. Security
 Brady McCombs - Arizona Daily Star
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| | Crews work on the border fence between Naco and the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. The Department of Homeland Security wants 2 miles of primary fencing on the banks of the San Pedro and a few hundred feet of vehicle barriers in the riverbed. (Jill Torrance/Arizona Daily Star) |
Palominas, Arizona — The San Pedro River is a thin, quiet stream as it cuts north across the U.S.-Mexico border about 3 miles south of this Arizona town.
Tucked out of sight from the rest of the border by towering cottonwood trees that line its banks, this spot's only sounds are the wind rustling through the leaves and birds chirping above. The international border is marked by barbed wire and cable strung between two trees that hover above the water.
The tranquility, though, may soon be replaced by bulldozers, cement trucks and construction workers.
This stretch of border, part of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, is smack in the middle of the latest showdown between environmentalists and the Department of Homeland Security over a proposed border fence.
Homeland Security plans to erect barriers across the approximately 2 miles of border in the conservation area. The proposal calls for 2- to 6-foot high vehicle barriers made of old railroad rails in the riverbed and washes and 12- to 14-foot high pedestrian fences along the rest of the conservation area.
This would extend 30-plus miles of nearly continuous barriers that begin east of Douglas in one of the nation's busiest corridors for illegal border crossings and drug smuggling.
Construction had already started on the eastern edge of the conservation area but was brought to a halt on Oct. 10, when U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle issued a temporary restraining order in response to an appeal submitted by a pair of environmental groups.
Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club argued that the San Pedro Riparian Conservation Area is an irreplaceable national treasure that would be irrevocably damaged by the fencing. They say that Homeland Security failed to carry out an adequate environmental impact statement.
Now Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is considering the use of the agency's trump card — a waiver that exempts the department's border construction projects from any law.
He's used it twice before to move ahead with fence construction: in 2005 in San Diego, and in January of this year on the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range in Southwestern Arizona. Invoking it for the San Pedro would be a first for Southeastern Arizona.
If he opts not to use the waiver, he'll put the decision in the hands of a federal judge.
At stake is a critical corridor for both wildlife and national security.
National treasure
Home to hundreds of species of birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles, and the last remaining free-flowing river in Arizona, the San Pedro has earned international recognition as a rare treasure.
In 1988, Congress established a 40-mile stretch of the upper river as the nation's first Riparian National Conservation Area.
It has been recognized by the American Bird Conservancy as the first "globally important bird area," by the Nature Conservancy as one of the eight "last great places" in the Northern Hemisphere and by Birding magazine as the world's best birding area.
"It is such a special area for Southern Arizona," said Sean Sullivan, executive committee member of the Sierra Club Rincon Group, which covers Southeastern Arizona. "Hopefully that has an effect on whether the feds decide to use a waiver or not."
It is key habitat for endangered species such as the jaguar, Mexican spotted owl, cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, Southwestern willow flycatcher and Huachuca water umbel.
Environmentalists say the construction of barriers and roads will disrupt the ecological continuity of the river.
"The riverbed and channel itself where the vehicle barriers are going to go is just one component," said Greta Anderson, a Tucson environmental activist. "Most of the wildlife species rely on the continuos riparian corridor."
Seeing "walls" go up anywhere along the border is disconcerting but having one on the San Pedro would be "heartbreak," she said.
"I wish they would weigh the significance of the ecological integrity and real national treasure that the San Pedro is against this symbolic gesture of Homeland Security," Anderson said.
But to Homeland Security officials, it is far more than symbolism — fencing is a key part of their national strategy to slow illegal immigration. They also refute the dire predictions from environmentalists. Chertoff has said the fence would protect the environment by cutting down on foot traffic and trash.
The agency has the backing of U.S. Fish and Wildlife, which studied the potential impacts and determined there was "no significant impact." The Bureau of Land Management, which manages the San Pedro, also signed off on the construction.
The report said that by putting temporary vehicle barriers in the riverbed that will be removed each monsoon, the water flow and migration patterns would be unaffected.
Walt Kolbe, the owner of the San Pedro River Inn, agrees, calling the appeal from the environmental groups a "sickening, false argument" from bleeding heart liberals and pro immigration groups.
"What migrates?" said Kolbe, 72, who has owned the inn for 13 years. "Birds, and they can fly over the damn thing."
Key smuggling corridor
The San Pedro River's recognition for its biodiversity isn't its only distinction. Since the late 1990s, it's also become notorious for being one of the busiest stretches along the U.S.-Mexican border for illegal border crossings and it has a longer history of drug smuggling.
An influx of Border Patrol agents in the region has helped push some of the traffic elsewhere but hundreds still cross daily, say officials and local residents.
The Border Patrol's Naco station, which covers the San Pedro River, has been the fourth- busiest of the eight stations within the Tucson Sector for the past two years, with an increase in apprehensions this year, figures from the Border Patrol show. The Tucson Sector has registered the most apprehensions along the southern border every year since 1998.
"It's a major corridor into the United States," said Glenn Spencer, who owns 100 acres of land along the border west of the conservation area. "They are flooding across that location; we've seen this for years. They are trampling that area."
Between 100 and 300 people, including some armed drug smugglers, cross through the area daily, said Spencer, who is president of the American Border Patrol, a non-governmental organization that keeps tabs on the Border Patrol.
Illegal border crossers still use the river because it provides cover, water and a guide north, Kolbe said. "They can go along the river with less fear of being caught," he said. To him, a fence is a no-brainer.
"The fencing is not going to stop illegal aliens from coming across but it sure as hell is going to slow them down," Kolbe said. "Anything we can do to slow them down is great."
Kolbe, Spencer and Orin Witt share a common concern: that terrorists could use the same routes as illegal border crossers to sneak into the country.
"My basic concern is national security," said Witt, 60, who has lived about three-eighths of a mile from where the river crosses the border for 15 years. "If I were a judge, I would tell them there's not much you can damage with a fence."
What's next?
For now, the only fence construction being done near the San Pedro is happening east of the conservation area boundary.
Granite Construction workers are busy drilling holes, welding steel poles and beams together and attaching sheets of steel mesh to a new fence.
Whether they'll be doing the same a few miles east in the San Pedro River could be resolved as soon as this week.
Homeland Security officials didn't return repeated calls from the Arizona Daily Star for this story, but spokesman Russ Knocke told Capitol Media Services the week before that Chertoff was considering invoking the waiver. That announcement would end the legal wrangling in one stroke.
If the agency doesn't invoke the waiver before Wednesday, a U.S. District Court judge would set up a conference call to hear both arguments, said the Sierra Club's Sullivan. It's likely that the judge would extend the restraining order another 10 days until a final decision, he said.
Contact reporter Brady McCombs at bmccombs@azstarnet.com. |
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