Those advocating no wall project construction in Big Bend National Park were shocked two days ago when video footage on social media showed a large excavator ripping rock and dirt from atop a hill east of Mariscal Mountain in the park and dumping it off the side of a hill. At least one bulldozer accompanied it, plowing through dirt to make a new road.
The recent brazen work — following construction of a new road and bulldozing of a wide swath of vegetation near Sant Elena Canyon — were described by anti-wall activists as Customs and Border Patrol contractors shooting a big middle finger to everyone fighting the project. Both Santa Elena and Mariscal canyons are viewed by many as representative of the soul of the park, the former being the most-visited destination by tourists and the latter a symbol of towering beauty found in one of the most remote areas of the park. There were no 30-day notices as promised by CBP in a recent court case, or an official announcement from the park itself, just the sound of machines working and branches breaking.
“I spent my day watching the place I love more than anything in the world be irreversibly destroyed for no reason,” said Laiken Jordan, with the Center for Biological Diversity, in a Facebook post. Jordan was on the scene filming the work. “All of this destruction has been inflicted in just two days. You can’t pick a flower or take home a rock you find in a national park. But somehow, for no justifiable reason, in a place where nobody crosses the border, CBP contractors are gouging their way deeper into this great American national park.”
Today, that work came to a halt as CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott last night ordered a halt to all park construction until he assessed the situation himself with a trip to the Big Bend. Scott is expected to meet with local officials and law enforcement tomorrow in a series of meetings followed by a plane tour of the park.
The announcement followed a previous statement he released last week clarifying something — that media outlets have already reported numerous times — that a 30-foot steel wall would not be built in the park but still stressing the need for patrol roads, added surveillance technology and vehicle barriers.
“What people are seeing right now is survey and design work — NOT construction of a wall through the park,” he wrote, although he didn’t address new road construction for patrols. “We are working to preserve the landscape and protect the access visitors and local businesses depend on.”
Scott’s statement also peppered in language that made it seem like the park is a dangerous place prone to cartel violence, which currently is false, since there have been no cartel-related arrests in the park for years — unless he was talking about smuggling facilitated by cartels, which still is rare in the park. “These improvements will help our agents detect illegal crossings, respond faster, and assist visitors in danger,” he stated. “As we strengthen the border across the Southwest, we will not leave Big Bend as an opening for cartels to exploit by shifting their routes and tactics. We are securing this park to protect its legacy — keeping it safe, secure, and pristine so American families can enjoy the beauty of our country, free from cartel activity and without fear, for generations to come.”
Former national park archaeologist Thomas Alex has been keeping track of construction near Mariscal Mountain, which clearly showed road construction, and he outlined a path with photography that showed the road heading southeast down the river. “It’s pretty obvious that this scar on the landscape is not designing and planning,” he posted on Facebook.
It’s unclear why Scott made the move to halt construction and visit personally, although the bulldozing at Sant Elena Canyon spurred a renewed flurry of national coverage, accompanied by more politicians, including Republicans, at least urging caution in approaching anything on new infrastructure in the park.
The Texas Tribune reported that Gov. Greg Abbott had made a statement that exceeded his previous stance on the border wall, that he supported President Trump’s efforts to secure the border. Abbott said on Monday that he had spoken with Department of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin about the project.
“I was told by the secretary that there would be no construction of any type of barrier in Big Bend National Park,” Abbott said at an unrelated news conference. As reported by The Tribune, “He said that Scott’s announcement on Monday ‘seems to be a consequence of my conversation with the secretary this weekend.’”
A Sunday park tour reveals more contractor footholds
Big Bend Sentinel reporters visited the park on Sunday and discovered new contractor camps not seen two weeks ago and an expanding man-camp site north of Terlingua.
The staging area and man camp on Highway 118 north of Terlingua, near Agua Fria Road, had extensive new levels of construction equipment, along with dozens of pickup trucks for Kiewit Construction. Its subsidiary, Southwest Valley Constructors, has the $1.7 billion DHS contract for the border wall and barrier project in Big Bend Sector 4, which includes the national park.
At Cottonwood campground in the park near Santa Elena Canyon, a gash over 200 yards long was drawn parallel to the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive by bulldozers. Stakes with obscured sequences of numbers and the words “working limit” formed a line of pink dots into the mesquite and on nearby ridges.
Right outside Santa Elena Canyon, a similar gash opened up, blocked by a rope barrier and a sign that said, “Restricted access, authorized personnel.”
A drive down River Road East inside the park revealed new activity not seen three weeks prior, a staging area with offices, ice machines, and contractor trucks just off of Park Road 12. A couple of miles down the road sat several “frac tanks,” big metal trailers, which can be used to store water. Each trailer can hold 21,000 gallons of water, which is necessary for road construction to more easily grade rock and hard earth and helps compact soil.
One contractor, a Kermit, Texas, native and former Alpine resident, stopped to chat and was open about answering questions about what he knew. “It’s not a big deal,” he said. “We’re just building one road,” possibly referring to a contiguous line of road indicated on DHS maps for construction. He downplayed the 17 miles of vehicle barriers — 4-foot and 6-foot posts connected by steel rails that would line the river. “No, I don’t think they will stop river access,” he said, although he added that this was his personal observation and he had no details of internal CBP plans and how the barriers might limit access.
