Making way for a border fence

National wildlife sanctuaries along the Rio Grande Valley are on the fast track to receive the first sections of the border fence to be constructed along the Mexican border, according to an e-mail shown to The Brownsville Herald.

Border agents informed U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials on Friday that wildlife refuges in Starr, Hidalgo and Cameron Counties would be the first areas tapped for construction since they are federally-owned lands, according to the e-mail from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to local conservationists.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife official who wrote the e-mail confirmed its validity but would not comment on it. While it remains uncertain when construction would begin or how much of each refuge would have to be destroyed to make way for the security barrier, details of the project in the e-mail include 82 miles of fencing at least 150 feet wide with a road suitable for agents to travel up to 50 miles per hour.

The FWS was given a matter of days to respond to the announcement, after which they will not be consulted further. So far, there haven't been any studies to determine the impact a fence could have on wildlife, but environmental groups are bracing for the worst. Calls to the Department of Homeland Security were not returned.

"This is bad with a capital B," said Karen Chapman, a wildlife analyst with Environmental Defense. "There is no place you could put a fence down here and not have a significant impact on the environment. We should all be opposed to this, whether you're an environmentalist or not.� Earlier this year Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff angered environmentalists when he waived environmental rules to allow for the border fence to be constructed.

The move circumvented laws, such as the Endangered Species Act, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department lists dozens of rare and endangered species found in the Rio Grande Valley corridor. Plans for other wildlife sanctuaries in the area are still unknown, but conservationists, such as Jimmy Paz, director of Sabal Palms Audubon Center and Sanctuary, have been anxiously awaiting word.

"I have contacted the local DHS office several times but have not been able to get any official information on the fence in the sanctuary area," Paz wrote. "(On Friday), I was told that a representative is supposed to contact me to get our input and give us information, but (I) could not find out when."

After months on the backburner, the proposed border fence was thrust into the spotlight a few weeks ago when Border Patrol agents gathered landowners near Roma for a meeting about how the fence might impact their property. The issue gathered steam last week when the Associated Press released a map revealing government plans to build 370 miles of fence along the border, including 153 miles in Texas.

The news shocked and angered many Rio Grande Valley residents who had previously received assurances that the river would remain accessible to wildlife and farmers. Deborah and Leonard Loop own property along the river east of Brownsville. Border Patrol agents visited their home two weeks ago to gather their input about the fence.

"I told them not only no, but heck no," Leonard Loop said. "Something needs to be done (about immigration), but you have to live here to understand what (a fence) will do to the people. Right now, we don't know what they're going to do. (The agents) didn't even know."

Additional information: Sabal Palm Audubon Center The 557-acre wildlife sanctuary hugs the southernmost tip of the Rio Grande in Brownsville and is home to many native species of plants and animals that reach the northernmost limit of their Mexican range here and do not occur elsewhere in the U.S.

The center harbors one of the most beautiful and critical ecosystems of South Texas and Northern Mexico. Sabal Palms once grew profusely along the edge of the Rio Grande in small stands or groves extending about 80 miles upstream from the Gulf of Mexico. Today, only a small portion of that forest remains protected in this Audubon sanctuary.

Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge

This 2,088-acre refuge between Brownsville and McAllen was established in 1943 for the protection of migratory birds. Considered the jewel of the federal refuge system, this isolated thorn forest habitat is home to nearly 400 different types of birds and a myriad of other species, including the indigo snake, malachite butterfly and the endangered ocelot.

At an ecological crossroad, Santa Ana is strategically located where subtropical climate, gulf coast, great plains and Chihuahuan desert meet. Thousands of birds from the Central and Mississippi flyways funnel through the area on their way to and from Central and South America.

This small patch of riparian woodland is also habitat for about one half (300) of all butterfly species found in the United States. With more 95 percent of the original habitat in the Lower Rio Grande delta cleared or altered, Santa Ana is a reminder of the semitropical thorn forest that once dominated the area.

Source: www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/texas/santana.html

Source: http://tx.audubon.org/Sabal.html