Federal officials said Monday that border walls are no longer being planned for a stretch of Big Bend Ranch State Park in West Texas, a shift from earlier indications that walls could be built along the Rio Grande on the park’s western edge.
A spokesperson for the Border Patrol’s Big Bend Sector told Marfa Public Radio on Monday that there are “currently no plans for border wall construction” within the state park.
The news comes after federal authorities briefed Big Bend area officials on border wall plans at multiple meetings in recent days. The update about the state park no longer being targeted for border wall building was first relayed to Presidio County Commissioner Deirdre Hisler by Big Bend Sector Chief Patrol Agent Lloyd Easterling on Sunday evening.
The change had not been reflected on the Trump administration’s map of “Smart Wall” projects planned across the U.S.-Mexico border as of midday Monday. In an interview, Hisler said that Easterling told her it might take a couple of days for the section of wall in the state park, a 5.6 mile stretch, to be removed from the map.
A physical wall in the state park would have cut off access to the popular Hoodoos Trail and jeopardized river access for local outfitters.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Physical border walls are still being pursued across the Big Bend region, including from the towns of Ruidosa to Redford. It’s not clear whether the removal of wall plans in Big Bend Ranch State Park is final, as the Smart Wall map has continuously changed in recent weeks without advanced notice.
Federal border authorities have over the past week met with officials in Presidio and Brewster counties for a briefing on the project. As of a Friday morning meeting in Presidio County, wall plans for the state park were still on.
A spokesperson for the Border Patrol’s Big Bend Sector told Marfa Public Radio on Monday that wall construction in the region could begin as early as June.
Hisler said Chief Easterling, who led the briefing, told officials border wall plans are still in development, and that if locals are opposed to the plan, it’s important they make that known to Gov. Greg Abbott as well as state and federal lawmakers.
“ Chief Easterling made it clear that this is a fluid process — that things can change quickly,” Hisler said.
The recent briefings mark the first communication federal border agencies have had with local officials on planned border wall construction since news of the plans surfaced late last year.
Hisler said, as far as she is aware, no public meetings on the project will occur, and public officials will not be briefed again unless there are major updates on the plans.
Alpine Mayor Catherine Eaves was among those who attended last week’s Brewster County meeting. In an interview, Eaves said the Big Bend Sector Border Patrol personnel in the room – including Chief Easterling – indicated they themselves were not in favor of physical walls in the region and were pushing their higher-ups in Washington, D.C. to pursue surveillance technology instead. The mayor said that during the briefing, Easterling offered advice on how local officials could most effectively oppose the wall plans when speaking to the lawmakers.
“This is their job, their livelihood, that’s how they feed their families, and still they were telling us how we should go about fighting this,” Eaves said.
Still, Hisler said that during the Presidio County meeting, the chief described physical walls as a useful tool in strategic areas, like in heavily populated border areas such as Presidio, Texas and Ojinaga, Mexico.
According to notes Hisler took during the meeting, CBP is “employing biologists, archeologists and other scientific subject matter experts to conduct various environmental assessments” even though environmental laws have been waived to expedite the project. CBP is also considering the use of infrared lighting in dark sky areas, she wrote.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is set to arrive at the Presidio County courthouse next month to locate deeds and establish land ownership for parcels in the proposed areas for wall construction, Hisler said.
The International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) is also being consulted about the best possible location for a wall along the Rio Grande in the Big Bend region, Hisler said. She said environmental studies focused on flooding need to be conducted given that Presidio County lacks a current flood plain map.
The Presidio Municipal Development District (PMDD), a local economic development group, sent letters to the IBWC, CBP and the USACE on March 17 demanding information on how border walls will impact the town’s federally-maintained levee system that parallels the river.
"No one has told this community what is being built, where it will go, or what it will do to the levee that stands between our community and the Rio Grande," said John Kennedy, Executive Director of PMDD, in a press release.
Marfa Public Radio’s Travis Bubenik contributed reporting.
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