A Border Wall through Big Bend National Park is a really bad idea.

The needless sacrifice of this scenic and cultural heritage....

In 1943, intense pressure fell upon the leadership of the National Park Service (NPS) to authorize logging of old growth Sitka spruce in Olympic National Park for the construction of airplanes for WW2. Similar calls for logging to support the War targeted Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah National Parks. Fortunately, many citizens voiced their opposition and the NPS leadership resisted and spoke to the heart of the matter:

The needless sacrifice of this scenic and cultural heritage during the war would deprive the American people of some of the most potent symbols of their national greatness... pride and love of country. NPS Director Newton Drury (1940-1951),

Fortunately, even when our nation was engaged in a World War, our national parks were spared the logging impacts that would have left a lasting impact. Now, the Trump administration has argued that we are again at war, this time with immigrants who seek safety and asylum at the border between the USA and Mexico. Using the “war” analogy, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has waived 28 environmental and historic preservation laws to allow the border wall and its accompanying roads and infrastructure to be constructed in Big Bend National Park, Texas. One could argue that a wall will help stem the flow along open and easily accessible lands that characterize much of our border with Mexico. But that is not the case in Big Bend National Park. I can think of a long list of logical reasons building a wall through Big Bend National Park is a very bad and wasteful idea.

· Big Bend NP is in the middle of nowhere and statistically, very few immigrants cross in the park, because the conditions are very harsh. Just this past November, park rangers and border patrol rescued an immigrant family that called 911 when they ran out of water and food in the park.

· The area of Mexico south of the border at Big Bend National Park is remote, rugged and a very long drive on bad roads to the nearest city.

· Those seeking to cross to the US avoid Big Bend NP because it is part of the Chihuahuan Desert, one of the most inhospitable environments on the planet with blistering daytime temperatures, below-freezing temperatures at night and few sources of water.

· In this park, nearly every plant has thorns, every insect bites, it is home to scorpions, tarantulas, poisonous centipedes, and venomous Western Diamondback, Black-tailed, Mojave, and Mottled Rock rattlesnakes.

· As local residents know, the park already has a wall: canyon walls: In many sections of the Rio Grande river, it is bounded on both sides by vertical 1000 ft cliffs.

· While we see the Rio Grande river as a border, wildlife do not. Black Bears, mountain lions, desert big horn sheep, javelinas, mule deer, foxes and even an occasional ocelot or ringtail move back and forth across the river. A border wall will block that migration, isolating populations and curtailing genetic diversity.

· The desert is an unrepairable environment when impacted. A bulldozed road in the park will be seen generations from now.

· Last year, over 560,000 visitors explored Big Bend NP and contributed over $56 million dollars to the local economy. Visitor spending supported over 500 jobs in the local communities. They come for the natural quiet, the starry skies, the feel of old Texas, and a chance encounter with wildlife. A border wall will change that experience and the impact will be felt by the gateway communities.

· Many visitors come to visit the only town in the Mexican border across the river, Boquillas Del Carmen, population 400. The town has enjoyed a long relationship with Big Bend NP, inviting tourists to travel across the river by row boat to enjoy a bit of small town Mexican hospitality. A border wall will halt this relationship.

· Border wall construction has been reported as costing $25 million per mile on level ground. Big Bend NP is a complex landscape of river canyons and with 118 miles of border, it will take over $3 billion to build the wall through the park.

Building a border wall through this extraordinary National Park makes no sense economically, environmentally, or for the reported purposes of homeland security. But I am guilty of applying logic to this decision, a value that is often lacking in the decision making of the Trump administration. Perhaps instead, they should look at our national parks as something inherent in patriotism. As Drury stated during the pressure of WW2, we must protect our national parks because they are “some of the most potent symbols of their national greatness... pride and love of country.

At this point, the people who could stop the desecration of Big Bend National Park are the Texas republicans. I hope their love of country and their national park will bring the administration to its senses and spare this priceless source of American pride.

The US border Patrol and the National Park Service Law Enforcement Rangers at Big Bend NP have a long history of a supportive partnership. A much less expensive and more effective alternative to a wall would be to increase the funding for Big Bend park rangers, who, in partnership with Border Patrol, conduct frequent backcountry patrols along the border and the river. An increased ranger presence will deter those few who venture into this harsh environment and save those who try.

Jonathan B. Jarvis, 18th Director of the National Park Service

Former Frijole District Ranger, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas