WildEarth Guardians

Monday, April 25, 2011
Conservation groups oppose "Scorched Earth" Border Patrol plan for Rio Grande

Mowing Plan Would Eliminate Wildlife Habitat Along 91 Miles of the Rio
Contact: John Horning (505) 988-9126 x1153

Two conservation groups are calling on the Border Patrol to scrap its plans to increase clearing of vegetation along 91 miles of the Rio Grande below El Paso, and find more wildlife-friendly ways to do its job.

The Border Patrol (BP) is proposing to mow vegetation along the river—up to four or more times each year--to keep plants from growing more than 24” in height. The floodway is currently mowed by the International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S. Section (IBWC), but only as needed for flood protection--no more than twice annually, and in some places not at all. BP says it needs to keep plants short to catch illegal border crossers, despite the recent construction of an 18’ steel mesh pedestrian border fence and installation of high intensity lighting along much of the same reach of the river.

The conservation groups say BP’s plan would harm wildlife by destroying important habitat. “Streamside habitats are critically important to wildlife,” said Kevin Bixby, Executive Director of Southwest Environmental Center (SWEC), one of the groups objecting to BP’s plan. “These habitats make up less than two percent of the region, yet more than half of our wildlife species rely on them for their survival.”

Bixby noted that more than half of all wetlands nationwide including streamside habitats have been lost, and the figure was higher in the Southwest. “If we want to have wildlife in the future, we should be protecting and restoring streamside habitats, not eliminating them as Border Patrol wants to do.”

The groups also say that BP’s proposal would harm the southwestern willow flycatcher, an endangered bird species that occurs in dense stands of tall shrubs and trees along streams, and is occasionally found along the Rio Grande below El Paso. “Like all endangered species, the southwestern willow flycatcher is a canary in the coalmine,” said John Horning, Executive Director of WildEarth Guardians, the other group opposing BP’s proposal. “Their presence or absence reflects the overall health of the river system. As their streamside habitats have disappeared, so too have willow flycatchers.”

Horning added that federal law requires federal agencies to do what they can to conserve endangered species like the southwestern willow flycatcher. “The law is clear. They can’t just turn the Rio Grande into a border war zone. Like all other federal agencies, BP has a duty to help restore southwestern willow flycatchers, not push them closer to extinction as they are proposing to do,” he said.

The groups say that BP’s plan would worsen the impacts of IBWC’s already destructive mowing practices, by increasing the frequency of mowing and allowing mowing during the bird-nesting season (March 1 through September 15), currently not permitted by IBWC. “The Rio Grande is tremendously important for birds,” said Bixby. “More than 300 bird species—most of them migratory—use the river corridor for nesting, feeding and resting. Mowing during the nesting season will cause direct killing of groundnesting birds, such as burrowing owls—a species already on the decline throughout the U.S.--or cause so much disturbance that birds will abandon their nests,” said Bixby.

Bixby added that BPs proposed mitigation measures, such as relocating nests, are of dubious effectiveness. “If BP wants to avoid harming birds, it’s simple: don’t cut down their habitat and don’t mow during the nesting season.”

The groups said that BP has not considered other alternatives that would not cause harm to wildlife, such as installing additional observation towers or allowing patches of vegetation to remain in the floodway. They called on BP to prepare a more comprehensive environmental impact statement to look at these alternatives and address the full range of impacts of its proposal.

The groups submitted their comments to BP in response to a draft environmental assessment which can be read here.