Image: Texas Parks & Wildlife
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) doesn’t usually make its views about the plans of federal agencies, like Customs and Border Protection (CBP), public knowledge. But in documents obtained by the Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter through an open records request per the Texas Public Information Act, TPWD’s opposition to one particular segment of the proposed border wall is pretty clear.
In a letter from TPWD Executive Director Carter Smith to Mr. Paul Enriquez of the U.S. Border Patrol Headquarters dated July 27, 2018, Carter noted that the mission of the TPWD is to “manage and conserve the natural and cultural resources of Texas and to provide hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation opportunities for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.” In the letter, Smith makes it clear that one of the important properties “stewarded” by TPWD is the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park (Bentsen), land donated to Texas back in 1944.
As part of ongoing efforts by the Trump administration to build more border walls, one particular section proposed for the Rio Grande Valley is a 25-mile section that would literally cut the park in half, and according to Smith, “substantially disrupt park operations, wildlife habitat and public visitation at the site.” Smith also noted that the agency, through multiple correspondences and visits to the park, has discussed with Border Patrol the “deleterious impacts” of the levee-border wall, and that the communications “reflect the preferred position TPWD has repeatedly conveyed to CBP that the state park property can be adequately secured using tools and resources other than the proposed wall.”
Border Patrol has yet to respond to Smith's July letter.
In related documents, the TPWD noted that “the proposed placement of the wall would separate the state park’s Headquarters and Visitor and Education Center from the majority of the park property, including staff residences and other facilities. The entire habitat preserve would be south of the wall, creating a barrier to public access and use.”
Bentsen was created back in 1944 through a gift by Elmer and Lloyd Bentsen Sr., with the deed stipulating that the land be used “solely for Public Park Purposes.” The park has since expanded and attracts some 30,000 visitors a year, many of whom come because the site is the headquarters of the World Birding Center, a network of nine sites in the Rio Grande Valley. More than 340 bird species have been sighted in the park, according to TPWD.
The Sierra Club is opposed to expansions of the existing border wall for many reasons, from the militarization of our border communities to the disastrous impacts on wildlife migration. In the case of the proposed levee-border wall cutting through Bentsen, so is the agency that runs our state parks.
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