Opponents of a planned border wall through parts of the Big Bend region and other barriers through Big Bend National Park found a receptive audience at a meeting of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission in Austin on Wednesday.
Protesters, including former high-ranking Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials, law enforcement officers and former state officeholders, came to the hearing to urge commissioners to keep border construction out of state parkland and the entire Big Bend region.
"I personally, and the commission collectively, agree with the comments that we're hearing," Commission Chair Paul Foster said during the public hearing. "Our objective is to minimize damage to the ecosystem out there and to the beauty of not only the parks but the whole area and so we generally agree."
Foster said Texas Parks and Wildlife is working with the governor's office and with the federal government.
The hearing comes just two days after Rodney Scott, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner, announced a pause in border barrier construction within the national park while he visits to "do a personal evaluation" and "talk to some stakeholders."
The prospect of a border barrier through the scenic and remote Big Bend region has sparked opposition from Democratic and Republican state leaders, and from West Texas conservationists, ranchers and some law enforcement officials.
Opponents to the barriers say they are not needed in a part of the state that sees relatively few unauthorized border crossings.
"We don't have a problem," former Republican Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson told the Parks and Wildlife Commission. "This is a very expensive solution looking for a problem that doesn't exist."
Across West Texas, residents say construction will damage the region's environment, economy and natural beauty.
Patrick Zuberbueler, whose family has owned and operated ranches in Val Verde County since the 1800s, said he came to the hearing to raise awareness of the practical problems a border barrier would create.
"The way the vehicle barrier system looks at this point, it could close off points of the ranch that's close enough to the Rio Grande that it makes it not workable for livestock purposes," he said.
Zuberbueler, a lifelong Republican, said he also worries about how the project will threaten archeological sites in Seminole Canyon State Park — land which once belonged to his family's ranch.
"For whatever it's worth, I sent President Trump an email and invited him to come visit," he said. "We're the government, they work for us, and for me to play possum would be tragic."
The pause in construction in Big Bend National Park came after photos of bulldozer activity in the park went public late last week.
On Monday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott took credit for the break in activity in the park, saying that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had told him there would be "no construction of any type of barrier at Big Bend National Park."
Organizers of Wednesday's protest say the pause in construction is good news, but it does not change their message.
"That's only a pause in the national park as I understand it," said Hillary Pierce, a spokesperson for the group No Big Bend Wall. "We are advocating for no border infrastructure in the entire region."
According to an online mission statement, TPWD "is responsible for protecting, interpreting and managing cultural and natural resources of statewide significance."
Protesters argue the commission has failed in that duty by allowing crews access to state land for the construction of border barriers.
"If an energy company, a mining operation, or a private developer sought to construct permanent infrastructure of this kind inside any TPWD-managed park, the agency would apply every procedural and legal tool at its disposal," reads a petition circulated by No Big Bend Wall. "A federal agency seeking access to state park land should be subject to the same standards as any other applicant."
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