Thread: Another poor excuse against a border fence

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Article Launched: 08/13/2006 12:00:00 AM PDT

Environmental effects feared
Critics say wall will harm, migration survival of bighorn sheep
Chuck Mueller, Staff Writer

If a proposed 15-foot-tall triple barrier is built between the United States and Mexico, illegal immigrants may have to take a tip from "The Odyssey" to get across.

That's assuming measures are taken to safeguard the crossing of the endangered peninsular ranges bighorn sheep, whose survival could be threatened by the wall.

In Washington this month, a legislative rider attached to the 2007 defense appropriations bill by Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., calls for spending $2 billion to construct the 370-mile-long wall.

The bighorns, which inhabit parts of the San Bernardino National Forest and thrive on Mount San Jacinto, migrate across the border to mate with herds in Baja California. It fortifies the gene pool and enhances survival of the breed.

"If the California herds are isolated from herds in Mexico, repopulation and genetic flow in both herds will be affected," said Daniel Patterson, desert ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity.

"It caught many people by surprise," said Melissa Waage, legislative director for the biological center. "A lot of people are concerned about fragmentation of wildlife habitat in the area."

Attempts to reach Kyl's staff spokesmen in Washington this week were unsuccessful.

The proposed steel barrier would block critical migration routes for other wildlife, including the cactus pygmy owl, Sonoran pronghorn, flat-tailed horned lizard, Mexican gray wolves and the secretive and elusive jaguar, Patterson said.

The U.S.-Mexico border is a political line that divides what is essentially one environmental region that occupies large areas of both nations, the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife said in a report on border activities.

"Many activities, including illegal immigration and U.S. border enforcement have enormous impacts on the region's wildlife, landscape and economy," said Jamie Rappaport Clark, the organization's executive vice president.

"National security comes first," she added. "But proposed border construction projects, including large-scale fence building, have the potential to severely harm wildlife...

"Lawmakers advancing immigration and border proposals can and should take into account the effect of these proposals on our nation's wildlife, parks and refuges and work to minimize any damage."

Clark said innovative designs for projects should be used to lessen their environmental impact, new legislation should consider the need to protect the region's natural heritage, and activities of the Border Patrol should include environmental safeguards.

Jane Hendron, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said it is too early to speculate about the potential impact of a border wall on wildlife migration.

"Agencies proposing projects like this are required to consult with us to find ways to minimize and offset any impacts on wildlife," she said. "If it's determined the project will affect listed species, we will look at ways to minimize these impacts."

In 1998, Fish and Wildlife

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listed the peninsular bighorn as an endangered species after their numbers dropped from 2,400 in 1971 to 280 in 1997.

"They are slowly recovering and now number about 700," Patterson said. "They range from Mount San Jacinto through the Santa Rosa Mountains to the south end of the Coachella Valley. If the herd is isolated from sheep in Mexico, their recovery will become more difficult."

About 845,000 acres, extending from the San Bernardino National Forest to the Mexican border, was designated in 2001 as critical habitat for the peninsular bighorn, Patterson said.

"But with the proposed wall, their very survival is threatened," he said.

Michel Finkelstein, executive director of the biological center, said these creatures need to cross their borderland habitat and that construction of the wall would crush their ability to survive.

Calling the barrier "a new Berlin wall," he said President Reagan admonished Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall in 1987, but now American legislators have launched a move to build a similar barrier along the Mexican border.

Said Patterson, "The only living things the wall won't stop is people. It's a moral low point for America when the government moves to destroy nature and wall us off from a friendly neighbor."

Through the Endangered Species Act, the peninsular bighorn is recovering in numbers, he said, and "we don't want to see it set back."

One may ask what all this has to do with "The Odyssey."

One of the perils faced by Odysseus and his men returning from the Trojan War was their capture by the Cyclops, a one-eyed monster who imprisoned them in his cave.

Wanting to get home to the wife and kids, Odysseus blinded and tricked him. When the Cyclops let his sheep out to graze, his captives clung to the undersides of the woolly animals as the sightless monster only touched their backs.

Today, Defenders of Wildlife calls for setting aside funds for environmental programs within the Border Patrol as a part of efforts toward immigration reform.

"The shared environments of the United States and Mexico require effective and coordinated cross-border management of wildlife and other natural resources," the wildlife group said in its report on border protection.

So if the way is cleared for wildlife crossings, would-be human immigrants unable to gain legal entry had better start perfecting their sheep-hanging skills.
http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_4175003

"It caught many people by surprise," said Melissa Waage, legislative director for the biological center. "A lot of people are concerned about fragmentation of wildlife habitat in the area."

This is a surprise. I'll have to see that Mexican herd that hasn't been roasted though.

"It caught many people by surprise," said Melissa Waage, legislative director for the biological center. "A lot of people are concerned about fragmentation of wildlife habitat in the area."

Then why don't these people address the litter that is left behind??

I'm sure the wildlife habitat has already been distrubed by the immigrants traveling and leaving all their garbage.

What about our ranchers that have had their cattle killed and eaten by these illegals?

They didn't have anything to say when illegals set the whole place on fire.

sippy said -

Then why don't these people address the litter that is left behind??

I'm sure the wildlife habitat has already been distrubed by the immigrants traveling and leaving all their garbage.

That is exactly what I was thinking as I was reading this article. The hug-a-tree people jump on their high horses whenever it suits them but they won't say anything about the mess along the borders and it is a huge mess. Everything imaginable is there and I'm sure many animals have been affected.

They did`nt address the litter because "it`s not in their back yard".

They make it sound like all of the wildlife is going to stop a the wall, stand there and die. As nature goes, they will adjust.