But the crap the illegals leave behind is good for the wildlife I suppose.
Posted on 03/15/2009 7:31:35 AM PDT by SandRat
It could take years to fully comprehend the environmental toll of border fencing, but critics say it is bound to create problems for the land and wildlife.
The attempts by environmentalists and public-land managers to address their concerns were brushed aside early on by former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who invoked a provision of the 2005 Real ID Act that allowed a waiver of environmental and other federal regulations for border projects.
And it wasn't long after that problems began cropping up.
In testimony last year, Tohono O'odham Chairman Ned Norris Jr. told a House subcommittee that near Douglas and Naco, construction workers dug up fragments of human remains in Tohono O'odham ancestral lands.
He also noted that during the construction, some birds died when they got stuck in 12-inch-diameter steel pipes.
The Gila woodpeckers were confused by the pipes, which looked enough like a saguaro cactus that the birds flew into the open ends and became trapped, said Jeffrey Brooks, who worked as an archaeological and ecological construction monitor for a private company in the spring of 2008. The exact number that died is unknown, but it was probably as high 100, he said.
Now anecdotal evidence is showing that the fences are harming wildlife, said Matt Clark, Southwest representative of Defenders of Wildlife, a group that works to protect endangered species.
"They are encountering the wall, hesitant at the wall, being deflected away from the wall, in some cases hitting the wall or getting stuck in the bollards," Clark said. "Indications are that it is having the sorts of impact that we anticipated."
Those concerns include fragmentation of habitat; increase of wildlife disturbance by motorized vehicles that now have more access; and severing of migration and dispersal corridors for animals such as the jaguar, ocelot, black bear, cougar and coatimundi, all species that require large amounts of habitat, Clark said.
And there are other problems attributed to the fencing, including flooding at Nogales and Lukeville during the 2008 monsoon that was caused, or at least compounded, by border fences.
Border Patrol officials say the fencing is beneficial to the environment and wildlife because it is cutting down on the trash left behind by illegal immigrants.
Clark and others argue that a real assessment of the border fence's adverse impact will have to await the completion of a formal study by a neutral agency. So far, however, nothing like that has been started.
"We have models and predictions of what some of the impacts might be, but we don't have very much in the way of hard data," Clark said.
Border fences make critics fear for the area’s wildlife — Not this again!!!!
That is one dumb peckerwood.
And the trash that is the illegals themselves.
No surprise here. Wildlife is more important than the constitution.
In other places of the desert, such as southern Nevada, other cavity-nesters (such as the ash-throated flycatcher) often get caught in the PVC air tubes on mining claims.
What this article DOESN'T say is that there is an easy solution for this: cap the tubes. In Nevada, these tubes are getting capped (if not in use) or modified to prevent birds and other animals from getting stuck in them. They can easily do this at the border wall too, but the enviros won't tell you this.
This article also DOESN'T mention that animal corridors can be created at the wall to allow for animal movement or migration (such as pronghorn).
All said and done, this article is total left-wing environmentalist propaganda that seems to support illegal immigration.
But that doesn't surprise me. These people are always dishonest and never tell the whole truth.
Not one mention of wildlife adapting to their environment or, in this case, changes to their environment. The silence that speaks volumes.
Priorities. Do we focus upon Woodpeckers, or do we focus upon Border Security?
Perhaps we could train the Woodpeckers as “Assault Woodpeckers”, but then anything “Assault” must be banned according to Democrats, but then if the Woodpeckers are banned there won’t be any to hinder construction of the Border fence. It’s a win-win.
That’s logic.
Boy you got that right. I hike often down here in Southern Arizona and you should see the garbage these people leave not to mention human waste. Talk about endangering the wildlife!
Something needs to be done period.
But the crap the illegals leave behind is good for the wildlife I suppose.
That’s logic.
___________________________
Environmental Nazis are devoid of all logic and common sense.
Grrrrrrrrrrrr!
It boils down to the fact that it’s either us or the wild life. Wild life will adjust, just as they have done when we build cities. We should not have to tell families that they have to adjust and learn to live with the border crossings.
I guess that hundreds of thousands of people coming across the desert leaving diapers, water bottles, baggies, paper and other trash is good for the environment. Maybe we could solve the problem by locating "green" solar powered trash receptacles next to signs that say "It's your desert now, keep it clean!"
Life always fins a way to adapt, well except humans I guess.
The “land and environment” recovered from the building of the Great Wall of China, and, with seriously much less problem, so will the American southwest recover from border walls and fences.
The wildlife is what we are trying to keep out.
The biggest threat to the environment is from the illegal aliens themselves....if these EnviroFascists would address this issue....but they won’t because many of the EnviroFascists themselves are pro-illegal/anti-American
They are watermelons - Green on the outside and Red on the inside.
Exactly! In the vast majority of pieces by enviros, animal rights activists and enemedia that support them they don't tell the whole story, they cherry pick and magnify (lie) about their side of the story.
Thanks for your info and the ping, good post.
BINGO!
“Not one mention of wildlife adapting to their environment or, in this case, changes to their environment.”
Maybe the critters are taking Spanish classes at night. :)
Ping!
The Terry Anderson Show...
Tonight Terry will rant about the stimulus for illegal aliens..
Agree??? Disagree ????
Call Terry LIVE 9-10 PM PST at (866) 870-57521
LIVE stream at http://krla870.townhall.com/
http://www.republicbroadcasting.org/index.php?cmd=listenliv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2207248/posts?page=5#5
/s
Of course this was not mentioned it would ruin their cause. Most wildlife can and do adapt to their environment.
Maybe some brave media outlet will start showing pictures like the one that you posted. I think that for many it would be an eye opener.
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