Terlingua
Tensions are high in South Brewster County as federal contractor Southwest Valley Construction, a subsidiary of Nebraska-based Kiewit, moved heavy equipment into Big Bend National Park on Tuesday morning. Over the past few weeks, observers on the ground have spotted survey crews on roads along the river and staging areas popping up north of the park — but officials still don’t have straight answers for many of the questions anxious locals have.
In May, Southwest Valley Constructors was awarded $1.7 billion — at the time, the largest-ever up-front contract for border wall construction in U.S. history — for a project called Big Bend 4. Per the Department of Homeland Security’s website, that project entails hundreds of miles of “patrol roads” and 17 miles of “vehicle barriers” in some of the park’s most remote canyon country. The price tag raised a lot of eyebrows, particularly among those who follow the chronically underfunded National Park Service — the project is slated to cost at least two thirds of last year’s budget for the entire agency, all in the name of “national security” on a stretch of the border that sees fewer than 0.045% of illicit cross-border traffic.
The same morning, a group of more than 140 outfitters and business owners across the country penned a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott and Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn to advocate for transparency and technology-based solutions. The letters point out that the vehicle barriers planned by DHS cut across practically every campground and boat launch in the backcountry, severely limiting public access. “Big Bend has been called ‘Texas’ Gift to the Nation’ and generations of Texans have built their lives on this river,” the group wrote. “We are asking you, our elected representatives, to protect our livelihoods, our river, and one of our state’s most treasured landscapes from needless and permanent destruction.”
Big Bend National Park is big business, and generates, by the park service’s own estimates, around $63.7 million annually in revenue for local businesses. Around a quarter of that business is directly tied to access to the Rio Grande through river tours and camping trips.
DHS has also not yet responded to a series of formal inquiries by members of Congress about plans to blast Mariscal Mountain, which forms the distinctive bend in the river the park is named for. Current maps show a “patrol road” cut along an existing hiking trail on the mountain, a steep and infrequently-accessed route that climbs about 1,200 feet to the canyon rim. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Laredo assured constituents last week that he’d been assured by CBP leadership that the project would not require any dynamite blasting, but some of Cuellar’s colleagues in the House were not convinced.
Twelve members of the House penned a letter Friday requesting detailed plans for the project, which included concerns about a potential to impact the flow of the Rio Grande, which is regulated by treaty with Mexico. They pointed out that Southwest Valley Constructors had previously used dynamite in wilderness areas in Arizona — a project that also spurred a lawsuit after local ranchers claimed that “car-sized boulders” ended up on their property in the wake of blasting. “This road is destructive, highly unnecessary and will cause tremendous controversy for DHS and CBP,” the Democratic reps cautioned. “It can all be avoided.”
Monday morning, park leadership hosted a meeting for local outfitters and concerned citizens to discuss the National Park Service’s guidelines for First Amendment expression. Protests of more than 25 people require permits, but protests of any size must comply with park regulations and cannot block roadways. Filming of contractors in public spaces is permitted, and official closures will be logged in the park’s official daily report, which non-outfitters can access online at the Big Bend Natural History Association.
Outfitter Charlie Angell, an outspoken critic of the wall, was disappointed that no one from Customs and Border Protection or Southwest Valley Constructors was present at the meeting, but was grateful for an open line of communication with the park. “They answered most of our questions,” he said. “But it does sound like the contractors have changed the location of where they plan to start working.”
Michael Ryan, a former river ranger, was also in attendance and planned to record contractor activity in the park over the coming weeks. Dozens of federal laws protecting natural and cultural resources have been waived for this project, meaning that monitoring and mitigation work typically written into large government contracts isn’t required. “Now that they’re in the park, all we can really do is document all of the damage,” he said.
