We are back at Big Bend National Park, this time visiting with Jack. This picture is moonrise over the Sierra del Carmen range in Mexico as seen from our campsite at Rio Grande Village RV Park. I am having a very hard time writing this post as so many emotions are swirling through me.
It is wonderful to be back in this vast, wild land. We have not been in such wildness since the north shore of Lake Superior. Places like this feed my soul.
But I just learned that this great National Park is now in danger.
On February 17th the Department of Homelamd Security “set aside” 28 laws to clear the way for border wall construction in the Big Bend region. According to the Texas Monthly these laws included “the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Clean Water Act, the Migratory Bird Conservation Act, the Clean Air Act, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and the Historic Sites, Buildings, and Antiquities Act”.
This morning Jack and I hiked the Ernst Ridge Trail. Bud dropped us off at the Hot Springs historic site where the sand has drifted enough to almost bury the picnic tables.
What will happen to this place and its palms that were probably planted in the 30’s?
What will happen to the Hot Springs,
where Jack enjoyed a morning soak?
What will happen to the horses that freely range across the river?
What will happen to this beautiful trail?
I was happy to show Jack a trail he had never taken, there aren’t many.
Will this beautiful trail even exist in a few years?
And what about this plain with the Rio Grande Village campgrounds?
But surely, the plans don’t include an actual wall in the park.
Well if you look at this map, a physical wall is planned running right through Rio Grande Village, the Hot Springs and over 100 miles more of Big Bend.
To quote the Texas Monthly:
“The idea of a border wall in Big Bend was once unthinkable.
The far West Texas region is one of the most remote, unpopulated places in the continental U.S.—a hot, arid landscape that defies human existence. Few migrants bother to cross the border here, for the same reason few people have ever called this part of the Chihuahuan Desert home. Summers are deadly hot, water is scarce, and any trek by foot will be long, arduous, and dangerous. Much of the Rio Grande is sheltered by steep, unscalable canyons—some as deep as 1,500 feet—that are far more effective in deterring illegal crossings that any man-made fence could ever be. The Big Bend sector of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which encompasses nearly a quarter of the U.S.-Mexico border, typically has the fewest crossings of any of the agency’s nine sectors. In fiscal year 2025, there were just 3,096 apprehensions of migrants across 517 miles. The border here has never been open, not really.”
So what will the billions we spend on a border wall do?
According to Kristi Noem there is “an acute and immediate need to construct additional physical barriers and roads” along the U.S.-Mexico border. She describes the Big Bend as an “area of high illegal entry,”
Those who live here and visit here don’t see it. Again, according to the Texas Monthly, “There is virtually no support for a wall in the Big Bend region. Every local elected official—Republican or Democrat—who has spoken on the issue has rejected it.” Here the illegal entry that would be stopped…
is the folks from the village of Boquillas del Carmen, who set up makeshift stands in trafficked areas of the park to sell their handcrafts on the honor system. Also stopped would be the wildlife; coyotes, bobcats, and more that range in the park and come to the river for water. They can’t advocate for themselves,
but the people from Boquillas can.
They want you to know what’s happening, and so do I!
Just remember, the desert doesn’t recover. This railroad bed in Seminole Canyon State Park is still visible after being used for just 10 years over 130 years ago.
The damage we do to Big Bend will be permanent.
It makes me sick!
It makes it hard to see this beauty.
On the Roam Again 
It really IS so beautiful there! It would be a shame for a wall to run through it! Does the river form part of the boundary of the park as well as the TX Mexico border? Maybe there will be enough push-back that another plan will be devised so there won’t be a wall built there! Did you sign the petition?
LikeLike
I did. Yes, the river is the southern park boundary as well as the border.
LikeLike