- By Roger Di Rosa

The third largest National Wildlife Refuge and largest refuge Wilderness in the lower 48 states, the Cabeza Prieta lies deep in the desert on the Arizona – Mexico border. Here temperatures soar above 100 degrees from May to September, yet life thrives. Rock basins in the mountains, known as tinajas, collect moisture, providing water for stately bighorn sheep, grey fox, ringtails and other wildlife. Spring wildflowers bloom among the creosote and mesquite, dwarfed by towering saguaro cacti. Cabeza Prieta itself means “dark head,” a reference to a lava-topped, white granite peak holding sway over the valley floor. There is little doubt that the Cabeza is one of our most magnificent Wildernesses, the extremity of its conditions commanding respect, the beauty of its landscape inciting awe. Sadly, it is also one of our most troubled Wildernesses, facing complex challenges unimaginable in other regions of the country.

The Refuge encompasses 860,010 acres, more than 90 percent of which was designated as Wilderness by the 1990 Arizona Desert Wilderness Act. Cabeza Prieta’s 56-mile shared border with Mexico has been called the loneliest international boundary in the country. Yet for such an isolated area, there is a surprising amount of traffic. Sensors along the border indicate that 4,000-6,000 illegal immigrants a month may cross the eastern portion of the refuge each spring. The neighboring Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Wilderness estimates that 300,000 illegal individuals cross in a year’s time.

The thousands of undocumented immigrants crossing into the United States take a heavy toll on wildlife habitats and the species that live in southern Arizona, especially on our most critical wild lands. While definitive studies on the quantitative and qualitative effects of illegal border activities on wildlife and habitat haven’t been done, there is plenty of documentation regarding these impacts. Natural water tanks are often polluted, drained dry, or receive so much human activity that wildlife cannot or will not use them. In the Cabeza, drug and illegal immigrant smuggling activities caused the abandonment of one of four known maternity roosts (caves) of the endangered lesser long-nosed bat in the United States. Endangered pygmy ferruginous owls have also abandoned nest sites due to increased illegal activity.

High amounts of illegal cross-country vehicle travel lead to extensive surface destruction of fragile desert soils, changing drainage patterns and creating areas of extensive erosion. Illegal activities impact the critically endangered Sonoran pronghorn on the Cabeza and Organ Pipe, hampering recovery efforts for the species. The degree of impact is difficult to determine, but it is believed to be potentially significant in high stress periods of the summer and extended droughts. Each spring and early summer significant areas of the Cabeza, Organ Pipe and adjacent BLM lands are closed to public use to help control disturbance to pronghorn during the fawning season. However, the closure does nothing to reduce the flow of illegal traffic and its impacts, which are of much greater significance than the limited level of legal public use.

In response to the escalating environmental damage and safety risks to staff and visitors, Organ Pipe has commenced building a vehicle-proof (foot traffic will not be hindered) barrier along its 36-mile international border at a projected cost of $17 million. It is almost certain that the barrier will increase pressure on the Cabeza, despite its greater size and the increased logistical difficulties for drug smugglers and illegal immigrants seeking to cross the border. Law enforcement and search and rescue actions will likely increase as well, escalating the environmental damage and effects on wilderness character. In order to counter the increasing threats to the Cabeza’s integrity the Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed a vehicle barrier of its own at a projected cost of approximately $24 million. It is hoped that funds for the project will come from other sources, such as the Department of Homeland Security, instead of from the already inadequate budget of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

The destruction of habitat and disturbance of wildlife are only part of the problem. Illegal crossers leave behind large amounts of litter, such as empty water jugs, old clothes, cans, bottles, and paper. Some border areas look like city dumps. Estimates made on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation that borders Mexico for 73 miles indicate that approximately 8 pounds of trash is left by each immigrant and drug runner who crosses border lands, including the Cabeza. The scattered and accumulated trash in Arizona border Wilderness and other public lands amounts to a staggering 2 million pounds (a conservative estimate) each year.

Compounding the problem, large amounts of human biological waste accumulate in staging areas and pickup points, especially near riparian zones. The resulting pollution of streams and riverbeds presents risks to legitimate users and creates a major concern for land managers who are suddenly faced with biohazard sites that must be treated accordingly for cleanup. The cleaning of trash heaps and waste sites provides only short-term relief, as they soon return to pre-cleanup levels due to the large number of immigrants crossing the border.

At any given time one can find 20-25 broken down or abandoned vehicles left by smugglers in the Wilderness portion of the Cabeza. Staff efforts to remove the vehicles cannot keep up with the accumulation, and the method of their removal further damages refuge resources.

Approximately 180 miles of illegal roads have been created on the Cabeza in the last 4 years. The impacts of these roads are compounded by the needs of law enforcement personnel who must engage in the interdiction of drug and people smugglers and conduct search and rescue operations by both ground and air. Efforts are made to keep off-road travel to a minimum and maintain wilderness character, but too often there is no other alternative than cutting across Wilderness lands, especially when lives are at stake. Sadly, this is often the case in these remote desert areas where summer temperatures reach 115 degrees and higher.

Already, there have been a large number of rescue operations and unfortunate deaths on the Cabeza. The Department of Interior is currently being sued for $42 million by lawyers for families of 11 out of 14 illegal immigrants who died as a group while attempting to cross the Wilderness in 2001. The lawyers contend that the refuge should have had water stations (tanks) situated in remote areas of the refuge as life saving measures.

The unique threats suffered by border Wildernesses create tension between resource managers and border law enforcement agencies. There is a perception among certain politicians that environmental laws and regulations impede the full function of law enforcement agencies such as Border Patrol and U.S. Customs. Border Patrol officials have expressed the need for greater operational flexibility by seeking potential exemptions from environmental laws within a two-mile corridor along the border. They also wish to reduce or eliminate restrictions on off-road travel (travel for emergency situations is currently allowed), and be able to establish structures such as buildings, towers and beacons with little restriction in Wilderness and other natural areas for law enforcement purposes.

It is a Catch 22 situation. While Border Patrol operations can substantially impact Wilderness resources their presence is essential to its protection. The budgets and staffs of the border natural resource management agencies are too inadequate to address the border problems. Furthermore, their operational missions are very different from that of the Border Patrol. While allowing increasingly damaging activities to occur may ultimately save some Wilderness resources, it is equally possible that they may not. Management at the Cabeza has tried to find progressive solutions, weighing the priorities of law enforcement and saving human life with protecting natural resources and wilderness character. A lot of what has been done on the border would not be acceptable in other Wilderness areas, but the Arizona border is embattled like no other area in the nation. It is a highly unique and problematic situation requiring difficult and unique solutions.

Edward Abbey waxed eloquent about the solitude and vastness of the Cabeza, but today his footprints would be among those of thousands of illegal immigrants, their trash and hundreds of miles of illegal tire tracks.

Roger Di Rosa is the manager of the Cabeza Prieta Refuge. He has seen the good, the bad and the ugly of the Cabeza having worked there from 1979-1985 when it was a remote and rarely visited refuge and de-facto wilderness.