TUCSON, Ariz.— A report published today by the Center for Biological Diversity exposes how the Trump administration’s plans for new border wall construction in southeast Arizona pose dire and immediate threats to the San Rafael Valley — one of the last remaining jaguar corridors between the U.S. and Mexico.
The report documents the valley’s importance as a vital movement corridor for endangered jaguars and ocelots. More jaguars have been documented in the San Rafael Wildlife Corridor than anywhere else in the U.S.
“The beautiful and isolated San Rafael Valley is one of the ecological gems of the American Southwest and it provides a critical lifeline for endangered jaguars,” said Russ McSpadden, Southwest conservation advocate at the Center. “Walling it off will prevent wildlife from moving between the U.S. and Mexico and could lead to the ultimate elimination of jaguars from their rightful home in Arizona. That would be a tragedy for the state and a painful blow for beautiful big cats that once roamed the Grand Canyon.”
In June the Department of Homeland Security awarded a $309 million contract to build new 30-foot-tall steel bollard-style walls across the San Rafael corridor. Construction is being fast-tracked using a sweeping waiver of environmental laws, bypassing the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act and National Environmental Policy Act.
The expansive grassland valley between Arizona’s Huachuca and Patagonia mountains provides habitat for jaguars, ocelots, black bears, pronghorn, puma and other species to move between protected areas in Sonora and Arizona. At least 17 large wildlife species have been recorded using existing openings in vehicle barriers and cattle fencing along this stretch of the border.
The corridor is also home to 17 threatened and endangered species and contains the headwater of the Santa Cruz River and the San Pedro River watershed — two of the Southwest’s most ecologically important waterways.
The proposed wall could also bring high-intensity industrial floodlighting to one of the darkest remaining regions of the Arizona-Sonora border, disrupting migratory birds, nocturnal pollinators and mammals dependent on natural light cycles.
“Trump’s border wall is an ecological assault on one of the most important wildlife corridors in North America,” said McSpadden. “Congress has a narrow window to stop this destruction. If lawmakers don’t act immediately, or if the Department of Homeland Security doesn’t change its plans to provide for wildlife permeability, the San Rafael Valley will become another dead end for wildlife, threatening iconic species like jaguars, black bears and pronghorn.”
The report outlines the San Rafael Valley’s unique role as a transboundary corridor, the species it sustains, and the irreversible damage that would result from walling it off. It calls on Congress to rescind all border wall funding and permanently protect the region’s last wild corridors.
