Hey Reader,
I'm not going to open a debate on U.S. border security. This is a National Park planning newsletter designed to inspire you and help you plan your next trip.
But I am opposed to destroying sections of a National Park to build border infrastructure where it makes very little sense.
Right now, construction is moving forward in Big Bend National Park as part of the border wall expansion.
And if you've ever been to Big Bend, you know just how remote this part of the country is.
Big Bend protects more than 800,000 acres of Chihuahuan Desert, mountains, canyons, and 118 miles of the Rio Grande. And that doesn't count the 300,000+ acres that make up Big Bend Ranch State Park.
Both parks anchor the Greater Big Bend International Dark Sky Reserve. At more than 9 million acres, it is the largest International Dark Sky Reserve in the world.
There's a reason this area has skies that dark.
The largest city in the region has only about 6,000 residents, and there is essentially nothing for hours on the Mexican and Texas sides of the border. Just more desert, mountains, and incredibly rugged country.
That remoteness also makes this an incredibly low-crossing section of the border.
Yet we're going to bulldoze roads, clear land, install barriers, and add more infrastructure through a landscape that we've specifically set aside to protect.
That's the part I can't get past.
This isn't an argument about whether the United States should have a secure border. It's an argument about whether damaging Big Bend National Park is actually necessary to accomplish that.
National Parks are supposed to be places where we decide that some landscapes are worth protecting.
We shouldn't be waiving numerous federal laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, National Historic Preservation Act, and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, to rush a construction project. I don't care what project it is.
βOnce you destroy habitat, you can't simply put it back the way it was.β
If we're going to damage a National Park in the name of border security, there should be an extraordinarily compelling reason to do it.
I don't see one here.
If you'd like to help or learn more about what's happening, visit No Big Bend Wall for more information.
And if you've never been to Big Bend, I highly recommend putting it on your list. It's a huge park, and it's worth giving yourself more than a couple of days to explore it.
I put together a full itinerary from my time exploring the park:
π How to Spend an Epic Week in Big Bend National Parkβ
Big Bend is a special place. I hope we can keep it that way.
Happy Adventures,
P.S. Are you trying to visit all 433 NPS units? Get your National Park Unit Milestone Stickers to start tracking your progress.
