ARIZONA
As part of a
sweeping new initiative to fight illegal immigration and drug
smuggling, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is pushing to
give the U.S. Border Patrol regular motorized access to more than
330,000 acres of wilderness along the Mexican border.
The
Border Patrol wants unlimited cross-country access by motorcycle,
the ability to build four roads, and permission to use off-road
vehicles on trails illegally created by smugglers in Organ Pipe
Cactus National Monument, 95 percent of which is officially
designated wilderness. The initiative also affects Cabeza Prieta
National Wildlife Refuge and the San Pedro Riparian National
Conservation Area.
Kevin Fitzgerald, the chief ranger for
the National Park Service’s Intermountain Region, agrees that
the hundreds of miles of illegal trails accessed by armed smugglers
create significant environmental and safety issues. In August 2002,
a park ranger was shot and killed in Organ Pipe as he pursued a
Mexican national who had driven through a border fence (HCN,
4/1/02: Wheels still open after desert lockdown).
Still,
Fitzgerald says, “The amount of access the Border Patrol is asking
for is unprecedented,” and so he has sent Park Service employees
scrambling to address a smorgasbord of requests. The required
environmental assessment for the initiative could be completed by
the end of August, he says, but the Border Patrol wants to move on
the plan immediately.
Tim Mahoney, a legal consultant for
the Campaign for America’s Wilderness, says the Wilderness
Act allows motorized access for addressing emergency
land-management issues, but permanent roads or structures in
wilderness would be illegal. He says that even when it comes to
matters of national security, the law gives the environment due
process.
“All agencies involved are legally required to
work together to find the ‘minimum tool’ available for
solving this problem,” says Mahoney.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Border Patrol wants motorized access to wilderness.
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