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U.S. Customs and Border Protection is seeking bids for new border wall construction projects across nearly 25 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, including the San Rafael Valley south of Tucson, Arizona, one of the most biodiverse regions in the U.S. Wildlife advocates and biologists who study the borderlands region worry that filling these gaps could destroy some of the last, best habitat in the region.
“This is a crucial wildlife corridor,” said Eamon Harrity, wildlife program manager for the Sky Island Alliance, an Arizona-based conservation organization. “Large predators and other animals move freely through this landscape," Eamon said, adding, “That [movement] won’t happen once the wall is complete.”
Sixty-three percent of the border in Arizona has already been walled off and the remaining open sections are critical for wildlife. The San Rafael Valley contains one of the last intact expanses of Sonoran desert grasslands in the state, and the Huachuca and Patagonia mountains offer a range of habitats, food sources, and water for animals, serving as stepping stones across a harsh desert landscape.
“I have seen deer and wild turkey moving along the wall and unable to cross,” Harrity said. “When you see it in person and you see the panting and the running back and forth, looking for a way to cross and ultimately failing, you recognize that wow, this animal is trying to survive, and there’s this giant thing in its way that’s causing a lot of grief and stress.”
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Sadly, I think the true cost of these walls will be felt by generations to come. The continent has never seen a barrier of this magnitude in ecological history.”
