Trump Wants a New Border Wall. It Would Block a Key Wildlife Corridor.
'A barrier here would block species movement, destroy protected habitats, and inflict irreversible damage on critical ecological linkages,' the report said.
Wildlife cameras have photographed 20 species of wildlife moving freely across the border in this area — including black bears, mountain lions and mule deer — movement that would be sharply curtailed by the planned 30-foot-tall wall, researchers say.
This part of the borderlands, which includes the San Rafael Valley and the Patagonia and Huachuca Mountains, also contains critical habitat for endangered jaguars, at least three of which have been recorded in the area over the past decade. At least 16 other threatened and endangered species are found there.
'It's a good perspective of what's going and what's going to happen,' Gerardo Ceballos, an ecologist and a senior researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said of the report. If this wall and a few others are built, he said, 'there will be no jaguars in the U.S. soon.'
The homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, cleared the way for construction on this stretch of wall in June by issuing waivers that exempt contractors from more than 30 federal laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act.
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