Thread: {SOB}Border fence would doom nature preserves

I like animals as much as anyone but I'm getting really sick of this rhetoric. BUILD THE FENCE!!!

Border fence would doom nature preserves
By Christopher Sherman / Associated Press
Article Launched: 04/04/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT


BROWNSVILLE, Texas -- The announcement this week that the federal government would waive a host of environmental protection laws for the border fence spelled almost certain closing for two nature preserves that support a growing ecotourism business in a struggling region.
"We'll have to close," said Anne Brown, executive director and vice president of Audubon Texas. "Basically you've moved the border."

The entire Sabal Palm Audubon Center and most of The Nature Conservancy's Lennox Foundation Southmost Preserve would end up in the no-man's land between the fence and Mexico.

The Audubon Center attracts 10,000 visitors -- primarily birders -- annually to its 557 acres east of Brownsville. Trails wind through more than 30 acres of rare sabal palm forest.

Between the Audubon and The Nature Conservancy's sites, as well as some neighboring National Wildlife Refuge land, the last native groves of a sabal palm forest that once blanketed thousands of acres along the banks of the Rio Grande will be ceded to the Mexican side of the fence.

Fence planners have suggested they could add an access gate for its property, but the Audubon Society has dismissed that as unworkable once the preserve is behind a steel fence.

The 1,000-acre Southmost Preserve has a large stand of the native palms and cultivates other native plants for habitat restoration projects elsewhere in the Rio Grande Valley.

Southmost Preserve Manager Max Pons lives on the site. His home would be behind the fence, raising security concerns for The Nature Conservancy.
"If I can't stay here, then I'm sure the conservancy would close the place down," said Pons, who started visiting the property in 1980 in college and began working for the conservancy in 2002. Someone needs to be there to monitor the pumps that draw water from the Rio Grande to the more than 400 acres that are still farmed. The tenant farmers would have to traverse the fence constantly throughout the day, moving equipment from one field to another, Pons said.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced Tuesday he would bypass more than 30 environmental laws and regulations that could impede construction of the fence, designed to stop illegal immigration and smuggling.

Chertoff said the bypass was necessary to avoid unnecessary delays and litigation, but he promised to be a good steward of the environment.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_8803701

These environmental extremists A-holes are the reason our gas prices are out of control! Build the refineries-Build the fence!

There are ways of doing both that can help make everyone happy-including the animals!

We must have Spanish classes for the spotted owl.

The trash that they leave behind is what is killing the environment. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by agrneydgrl

The trash that they leave behind is what is killing the environment. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good point! Even worse is the "rape tree". Revolting!

If they were really concerned about the environment, they would put a quick stop to this disgrace!

Arizona illegal alien lay-up area before the monsoon rains washed over 50% away this past July....

GoodOleDays Welcome to Alipac

Welcome GoodOleDays...you sure know how to come in with a "bang"! Great picture...great point!