Published: 10.12.2006

Stretch of wildlife refuge closed due to border violence
By Brady McCombs
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
A five-mile stretch of Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge on the U.S.-Mexican border has been closed to protect visitors.

Violence from smugglers and bandits has increased recently and the area is bustling around the clock with illegal entrants trying to cross, Border Patrol agents chasing after them, and National Guard troops providing back-up for the agents, said Mitch Ellis, Refuge manager.

Refuge officials had been contemplating the decision for some time and said the cumulative effects of a decade of traffic prompted the decision rather than one incident, Ellis said.

"That's the border today," said Ellis, who has been at the refuge for more than two years. "It's a dangerous place and some places are more dangerous than others."

The number of Border Patrol agents in the Tucson Sector increased by about 300 from last year and about 1,100 National Guard troops have been in the sector supporting the Border Patrol in administrative duties and by spotting illegal crossings since June.

That contributed to a decrease in apprehensions and border deaths in the Sector in fiscal 2006 but the sector remains the busiest on the southern border with thousands crossing daily.

The National Guard erected one mile of chest-high, criss-cross welded steel vehicle barriers in the refuge that stop vehicles from crossing, but allow people and wildlife to pass. Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, located west of Buenos Aires, has vehicle barriers along 30 miles of international border. The Monument has closed a third of its 331,000 acres because of public-safety concerns.

The 3,500-acre closed area, which covers from the border one mile north along a five-mile stretch east of Sasabe, accounts for 3 percent of the 118,000-acre refuge. It shouldn't effect visitors because the border area is not frequently visited, Ellis said.

The closure, which went into effect Oct. 3 and will continue indefinitely, should help agents, he said.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/150841

Published: 10.12.2006
Strip of refuge closed by border battles
Buenos Aires seeks to keep hikers from being caught in crossfire of 'criminal activity'
CLAUDINE LoMONACO
Tucson Citizen
First came the illegal immigrants. Then came the U.S. Border Patrol to chase them. Then came the National Guard to back up the Border Patrol agents who were chasing the illegal immigrants.
All of it has proved too much.
Administrators of Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge have decided they need to close the heavily trafficked southern strip of the refuge to protect the public.
"You've got well-armed bad guys and well-armed good guys, and we don't want the public down there in the middle of all that," said refuge manager Mitch Ellis.
The closure will affect around 3,500 acres of semidesert grass land of rolling hills and mesquite trees that border Mexico. It is the first closure in the park's history due to illegal immigration, Ellis said.
Illegal traffic in southern Arizona has decreased for the first time since 2000 and Ellis attributed the decline to the U.S. Border Patrol and National Guard troops.
He praised their efforts, but he said he no longer felt safe letting the public in the heavily patrolled area.
"If you have a bird watcher or a hunter or somebody down there enjoying their public land and they get crossways in this border situation . . . somebody could get hurt," Ellis said.
Biologists at Organ Pipe National Monument began making similar closures three years ago. Today, about 20 percent of the 330,000-acre monument is closed to public due to illegal immigration, including the Quitobaquito Spring area, which is one of the few water sources in the monument.
Another 30 percent of Organ Pipe is closed for at least part of the year to protect pronghorns.
The phenomena is unique to the national parks along the border, said Organ Pipe Chief Ranger Fred Patton.
He said parks around the rest of the country have other concerns.
"Bears, lightning, avalanche danger," Patton said. "But I think you'd been hard-pressed to find closures anywhere else in the country because of criminal activity."
The closures at Buenos Aires went in effect Oct. 3 and will remain in place indefinitely.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/29106.php


Why the &*$# doesn't the Sierra Club speak out against illegal immigration?