Man vs. Nature

Jimmy Paz has wandered through the dense brush of the Sabal Palm Audubon Center in Southmost for more than 50 years. He watched as three miles of serpentine trails were carved between trees and brush, as the number of visitors increased to more than 4,000 annually.

Now, the Sabal Palm Audubon Center - one of Texas' last sabal palm groves - is in danger. Its 557 acres lie on the path of the proposed border fence. On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced that the federal government will not be bound by environmental laws in its attempt to construct the fence.

In an irony not lost on local environmentalists, much of the land that stands to be damaged, even condemned, receives funding from the federal government.

DHS will suspend more than 30 laws and regulations in an effort to build 670 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border by the end of this year, leaving environmental activists little leverage in their fight against the government.

"With this waiver, I don't know what to expect," said Paz, now the manager of the center. "It could be really bad. It leaves us with no way of holding back construction."

Sabal Palm Audubon Center and the nearby Lennox Foundation Southmost Preserve are two of the largest conservancies in Brownsville. Both are maintained thanks largely to federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act and National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act, two pieces of legislation DHS plans to suspend.

That the Lennox Foundation Southmost Preserve receives substantial federal funding creates additional complications.

"They are violating laws that protect their own entities," said Max Pons, the preserve's manager. "It's hard to understand what Homeland Security's thoughts are."

The recently issued waivers pit federal agencies, like U.S. Fish and Wildlife, against DHS, the third largest cabinet in the U.S. government. According to Pons, U.S. Fish and Wildlife funds farming and conservation projects on about 90,000 acres in the Rio Grande Valley. Local environmentalists expected that, if nothing else, the government would protect its own investments.

DHS initially promised to conduct a thorough environmental review before beginning construction along the Rio Grande. But to Pons, Tuesday's waivers were proof that environmental concerns are unlikely to be addressed.

Both he and Paz point to several ways the fence might contribute to environmental degradation: cutting off the migratory paths of coyotes and ocelots, clearing 100-year-old trees to create an easement for border patrol trucks.

"This validates our fears," Pons said. "It shows that potential environmental damage is not on DHS' radar."