Enviros knock plan to carve Border Patrol road through protected land near Nogales

The Center for Biological Diversity sharply criticized U.S. Customs and Border Protection plans to build through a section of the Coronado National Forest near Nogales, Ariz., arguing a required environmental review failed to meet federal standards. 

The Holden Canyon Connector Road Project seeks to “improve, repair and construct” nearly 13 miles of unpaved road, as well as decommission nearly 4 miles of unpaved roads in Pima and Santa Cruz counties. Officials argued the environmental impact of the project was negligible, and some impacts would be “completely mitigated with the implementation of standard best management practices.”

In November, CBP and the U.S. Forest Service published a draft environmental assessment and asked for the public to weigh in. 

The Tucson-based environmental group submitted their comments, telling officials “the impacts of the proposed action are insufficiently disclosed and inadequately analyzed, falling short of NEPA’s requirement for agencies to take a ‘hard look’ at potential environmental consequences.” 

In a 41-page letter, the nonprofit group said the draft environmental assessment “presents factually incorrect information about the presence of endangered species—even failing to acknowledge the recent presence of an endangered ocelot near the project area—and downplays impacts to wildlife.” 

Federal officials said the road would have no effect on Sonoran pronghorn, as well as several birds. In addition officials said the project could affect, but “is not likely to adversely affect” the northern jaguar, ocelot, the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, Mexican spotted owl, and several other species.

Further, they said road is not expected to “jeopardize the continued existence” of the monarch butterfly. Officials added there may be some minor beneficial impacts after the closure of 18 road segment, which will close access to about four acres of potential habitat for wildlife, migratory birds, and USFS sensitive species.

However, the center argued the draft plan “erroneously asserts” the new road will have minimal effects on endangered species and critical habitats, even “while acknowledging a clear likelihood of harm to species like the Chiricahua leopard frog.” 

“The agencies have neglected to provide essential information, thereby obstructing stakeholders from offering well-informed input,” the center said. They added the draft plan “fails to analyze cumulative impacts, including those arising from past, present, and foreseeable CBP and USFS activities in the area, such as cattle grazing and border wall construction.” 

In their letter, the group noted through 2020 and 2021, CBP contractors working at breakneck speed to finish their wall projects “dynamited mountainsides and built access roads on the Coronado National Forest” near the proposed roads. While the Biden administration pushed to remediate the landscape in 2021 and 2022 “many of these locations remain at serious risk of erosion or in danger of complete collapse.” 

Despite “clear warnings about the dire habitat loss and destruction, and existing safety hazards neighboring” the project, the draft plan “failed to mention, much less meaningfully analyze, the cumulative impacts of the proposed action in relation to the widespread and still-prevalent harms caused by nearby border wall construction.” 

“Without this analysis, the EA does not adequately assess the combined pressures these projects exert on the environment and wildlife in the region,” the group added. 

They also criticized the reason for the wall, arguing the draft plan “contains unsubstantiated claims about the purported benefits of road construction” and said there is “substantial evidence suggesting that Proposed Action could increase rather than decrease illicit cross-border activities, such as smuggling.” 

CBP built an all-weather road in the San Bernardino Valley in 2008 and  “smugglers began using it within three days.” In a report from the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge, officials said smugglers “quickly exploited the new road, leading to a notable increase in drive-through smuggling incidents.” 

They also argued the agency’s failed to assess whether alternative measures, including aerial surveillance, sensor systems, or shifts of BP’s patrols “could achieve the same objectives with less environmental harm.” 

Future of Holden Canyon project unclear

While federal construction projects have to follow a series of federal laws regarding the environment and cultural artifacts, the secretary of Homeland Security can waive these rules under the 2005 act, this includes the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. 

Following the law’s passage, then-Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff used the authority at least five times from 2005 to 2009 to “waive in their entirety” more than 37 federal laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, to build more than 550 miles of border wall and roads along the southern border.

Chertoff, and his successor under the Obama administration Jeh Johnson, waived the environmental impacts of new construction and border enforcement throughout the southwest, including protected federal lands like Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Big Bend National Park.

However, the Trump administration’s round-robin of Homeland Security secretaries used waivers at least 29 times, and as late as April 2020, DHS was issuing new waivers for construction for around 15 miles of border wall in the Rio Grande Valley.

It remains unclear whether projects like the Holden Canyon Road would be fast-tracked under the incoming Trump administration. However, throughout the Trump-era, the Center for Biological Diversity launched a salvo of lawsuits against border wall projects, and the Trump administration’s attempt to raid Defense Department funding to build additional border barriers. 

CBP relies on ‘few uneven, difficult-to-maintain, unpaved’ roads in area

Last year, the agency sought public comments about the proposed construction. The Nogales Ranger District in cooperation with CBP prepared the environmental analysis of the proposal, officials said.

Officials said the 12.43 mile project will connect two road between Holden Canyon and Warsaw Canyon near the U.S.-Mexico border, about 60 miles southwest of Tucson. Along with the road, construction workers may also install shoulder reinforcements, drainage systems, and pipes to deal with low-water crossings.

The new work would disturb around 15 acres of land, officials said.

Officials said the Border Patrol road will include improvements to current trails, and the effort would carve around 3.75 miles of new road in undeveloped areas. CBP will fund the effort, and the Forest Service is responsible for final designs and construction.

The agency said they would also decommission around 3.57 miles of Forest Service road segments that are no longer needed for patrol or access. Officials said decommissioning of these road segments “would offset the development” of new roads “so there is no overall net increase of road miles within the Nogales Ranger District.

The proposed decommissioned road segments are in Santa Cruz and Pima counties, officials said.

The road will be carved out of a section of rolling hills covered with grasslands and rugged canyons known as the Tumacacori Ecosystem Management Area about 10 miles southeast of Arivaca. Currently, the area is only accessible from the north by two Forest Service roads.

“Currently, there are no available east/west roads that connect the two canyon areas,” the Forest Service said. “The limited east/west road access north of the border in the Holden Canyon area has constrained agents’ abilities to safely and efficiently respond to this area.” 

CBP officials said the “few uneven, difficult-to-maintain, unpaved, ranch roads in the area” make it difficult to detect and intercept people. The new road would also give the Forest Service improved access to respond to fire and rescue events in the rugged canyon terrain. 

Officials added the proposed road “would help to improve rancher relations” because Border Patrol agents wouldn’t need to travel north to get around the backcountry gap.

CBP agents must drive nearly 24 miles and this takes nearly an hour, the agency said. And, to patrol the area, agents must continue on foot. “This extended response time requires additional resources, additional manpower hours, and hampers agent effectiveness as they are delayed,” the agency said.

The agencies said they will also decommission 18 unimproved road segments, totaling about 3.57 miles to offset some new road construction for Holden Canyon. Fencing or boulders would be installed to prevent access, and the roadway will be tilled and seeded, officials said.

“Decommissioning of these roads would contribute to the reduction of vehicle noise and impacts to sensitive resources, and increase the opportunities for quiet recreation, as emphasized in the forest plan,” the agency said. Officials said the road will include improvement and repairs to about 8.7 miles of current roads, including Mojonera Canyon Road, Sierra Canyon Road, Saucito Tank Road, Sentinel Peak Road, and some currently decommissioned road and trail segments. A new maintenance road, running for around 3.75 miles will be built in an undeveloped area.

Decommissioned roads offer ‘little value for habitat connectivity or ecological recovery’

The center criticized this effort in their letter, arguing the plan “significantly overstates the purported benefits of proposed road decommissioning which the EA alleges will somehow mitigate for the damage inflicted by new road construction.” 

“Many road segments identified for decommissioning lie along already degraded areas adjacent to the border road and wall, offering little value for habitat connectivity or ecological recovery,” the group said. They added that other segments are “hardly roads at all, some of which have clearly not been operable for years or even decades.” 

“As such, the purported ‘beneficial’  impacts of road decommissioning in the Proposed Action are misleading or largely false, and must be accurately disclosed,” they wrote. 

They also accused CBP and USFS of failing to meet their obligations for public outreach under federal law. In their letter, the Center said the agencies did not hold public meetings, hearings, or information sessions, excluding the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Pascua Yaqui and the counties “majority-minority populations” from “meaningful engagement.” 

“To remedy this, CBP and USFS must host public meetings in areas directly impacted by the project including Arivaca, Sasabe, and the Tohono O’odham Nation, and ensure stakeholders have access to detailed and accurate and updated project maps,” the Center wrote. 

The draft plan was available online, and copies were left at the libraries in Arivaca and Nogales, federal officials said. 

Officials said the proposed Holden Canyon Connector Road would be open to public, but require high-clearance vehicles. They expected traffic to be low, with just two or three patrols per day, and some public use “consisting primarily of hunters and all-terrain vehicles.”

The construction, as well as road decommissioning would take six months from next October 1 through March 30, once the plan is approved. 

The Nogales District Ranger is responsible for the Forest Service’s decision.