On The Border

Photographers document the ecological impact of the barrier going up along the U.S.-Mexico border

By Kim Castleberry

Labels: Locations

This Article Features Photo Zoom

The borderlands between the United States and Mexico contain some of the richest biodiversity in North America. In January, the International League of Conservation Photographers sent a team that included photographers, writers, filmmakers and scientists to document the ecological effects of the border wall. Road cuts through the 18,500-acre Otay Mountain Wilderness Area to facilitate wall construction east of San Diego, Calif.

As she watched a herd of bison jumping over a barbed-wire fence to cross between its habitat in the United States and Mexico, Krista Schlyer’s plan for a photo expedition began to take shape. The photographer had been on assignment in New Mexico doing a story about the transboundary bison herd, which spends time in both countries. Aware of how the wall going up along the U.S.-Mexico border was harming wildlife, ecosystems and local communities, she decided that to draw more attention to the issue, she’d enlist the help of the International League of Conservation Photographers.

For more than a year, the organization has conducted Rapid Assessment Visual Expeditions (RAVE) to advance conservation around the world. The concept is that a group of photographers, writers and filmmakers go out for short periods of time to document an area and return with a thorough portrait of the issue or threat. In this case, the team included award-winning photographers like Pulitzer Prize winner Jack Dykinga, Kevin Schafer, Wendy Shattil and Roy Toft. In total, there were 13 photographers, three filmmakers and two biologists who went on the three-week trip.

“Most of the damage the wall is causing isn’t obvious,” explains Schafer, who helped create the RAVE concept and visited some of the fence areas in Texas last year. “We didn’t see animal carcasses all around, but we did see roads being carved through established wilderness areas and physical impact on a massive scale. I was aware that border fence construction was well underway and that if there was any hope of affecting policy, especially the abrogation of existing environmental regulations, we had to move quickly.”

What Schafer is referring to is one of the project’s goals, which is to reverse the REAL ID Act that passed in 2005 to speed up construction of the border wall. Under that legislation, the Department of Homeland Security was able to waive dozens of federal and state regulations, including such core environmental laws as the Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, if they interfered with construction. In April, members of the RAVE group went to Washington, D.C., to debut an exhibit of their work and meet with legislators to show their support for the Borderlands Conservation and Security Act. If passed, the bill would revoke the authority that Congress gave and would require any future building to follow those environmental laws.

Along the wall in Sonoita, Arizona.

The massive fence, intended to deter illegal immigration, runs through wildlife refuges, national monuments and other federally protected areas. It will start just outside of San Diego and run, with breaks, to Brownsville, Texas. One chunk will cover nearly 350 miles, or nearly the entire length of the California-Arizona part of the border. Of major concern to many environmental groups is the effect it will have on wildlife that depends on open migration corridors for survival. For instance, the wall will divide an ocelot population in Mexico from a small, inbred ocelot community in Texas that conservationists say needs fresh blood to survive.

Schlyer, Schafer and others had already been to fence areas in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona and had seen the effect of the barrier on migratory and endangered wildlife species. While many people in the U.S. may envision the border as barren, Schlyer says it’s anything but, with habitat and migration corridors for hundreds of endangered species, including the jaguar, Mexican gray wolf and Sonoran pronghorn.

“This is such a special location because it’s a subtropical area, which a lot of people don’t know,” Schlyer says. “Many of the species there don’t exist anywhere else. One of our main goals is to get people to see how amazing and incredibly biodiverse this region is by giving them a better picture of it, along with the damage being done from the construction.”

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Tom Vullo makes this comment

Monday, 21 September 2009

The one-sided article is one of several that I have read on the subject of the border fence. There is nothing more ecologically destructive than millions of trampling feet running across our southern border, damaging the fragile soils and plants, disrupting wildlife, and also littering the landscape with tons of garbage in the process. I am a strong conservationist, but noting is more incompatible with nature than the mobs that upset it. The only reason that some of the species named in the article have become endangered is due to human encroachment. Build the wall and keep the real culprits out. It is about time that our government stopped supporting illegal immigration at U.S. taxpayers expense!
Ray makes this comment

Saturday, 05 September 2009

I read Outdoor Photographer for entertainment and to learn photographic techniques. There was no mention in this article about cameras, lens etc. It was pure political propaganda. Why OP wants to irritate a large portion of their readership is a mystery to me. I love your magazine but keep it up and you will lose a subscriber.
DrRichy makes this comment

Thursday, 27 August 2009

part 3 I have had neighbors who worked in construction who have lost their jobs and homes due, forcing them out of business due to competing contractors who are not abiding by the law and radically undercutting reasonable bids, affordable due to their illegal crews. So we build fences? The problem is not the fences it is the apathy of American CITIZENS who passively complain and yet do nothing. When a building catches fire and all the alarms sound, simply turning off the alarm does nothing for the fire!
DrRichy makes this comment

Thursday, 27 August 2009

Part 2 As we wander through this labyrinth of subterfuge and outright lies assaulting us daily from the media -- from Congress -- and from the White House itself, let us firmly latch onto this one fact: The employers they ask us to subsidize by permitting the invasion of our country are hurting the poor man's economy far, far more than the illegal aliens are. Now the poor man is asked to share social security benefits with the aliens because Congress, obviously in a last ditch effort to persuade other illegals to stay home and convince most of the ones already here that it is time to leave, have voted full social security benefits to the aliens. So we build a fence? I personally have seen 60+ hospital closures during the recent years due to insolvency caused by non paying illegal immigrants. You the CITIZENS of this nation are paying the price with much higher taxes and insurance premiums.
DrRichy makes this comment

Thursday, 27 August 2009

Part 1. I have subscribed to this magazine for many years. I guess that will soon end. Photography has been an escape for me, now the publishers appear to be going political with environmental news. Way too many Americans get mad at illegal aliens for invading our country. THEY are not the ones to be angry at. It is our American businesses that hire them, our Congress, our police, our President and our judges that we need to be angry at. THEY are the ones aiding and abetting this invasion! So we build a fence?
Shirley P makes this comment

Monday, 24 August 2009

It is proven that if you want to help third world countries you must help them in their country. Helping them outside their third world country ie: USA or elsewhere only drags down the country helping. So sad that it is happening right in front of us and nothing being done. Our lawmakers do not listen anymore and the people all are apathetic.
Denden makes this comment

Friday, 21 August 2009

I travel the Texas part of the border several times a year. I know the area is a crossing for drugs and illegals and needs to be stopped. At the same time there is a need to protect the wildlife with also transit this area. If congress would force enforcement of exsisting immigration laws as well as implement laws of citizenship varification to work in U.S. and put a stop to anchor baby citienship much of the problems of illegal immigration would correct itslef. Studies have shown when illegals can not get work they will leave. Stop the free lunch programs as well. As for the drug problem, that has been an issue for many years. There are many different sides to finding solutions that problem. The fence is a bad mistake with all the other alternatives available. But something must be done to stop illegal immigration or our state is going under just like California has.
Krista makes this comment

Friday, 21 August 2009

To Mike's comment--both the current and past secretaries of the Department of Homeland Security have stated that the wall will not stop people. At best it will slow them down a couple of minutes. The surest way to protect the area is to deal with the root causes of immigration and drug trafficking--which is demand for work and demand for drugs.
Mike Wargel makes this comment

Thursday, 20 August 2009

I've camped many times at Organ Pipe and have watched more than half of the park be closed off to casual visitors due to the security issue. Prior to this, I saw first hand and via arial pictures the trashing and utter destruction illegal trafficking and its effect on the area. Let's also not forget our Border Patrol and park security who are murdered by these traffickers. Building the wall will be the surest way to protect this area.
ken rager makes this comment

Thursday, 20 August 2009

kim, even though the article shows a printer icon, I can only get the first page to print. Any ideas? thanks, Ken
Krista makes this comment

Wednesday, 19 August 2009

Great article Kim! Thanks for covering this important ecological issue!

Locations

On The Border

Photographers document the ecological impact of the barrier going up along the U.S.-Mexico border

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