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The Missing Piece
Dream of a Giant Park on
the US Mexico border breathes new life
Will the dream of a giant park on the
border be revived after Obama’s visit to Mexico?
El Paso
Herald Post in 1936
Rotary
The Missing Piece
Dream of a Giant Park on
the US Mexico border breathes new life
Will the dream of a giant park on the
border be revived after Obama’s visit to Mexico?
El Paso
Herald Post in 1936
Rotary
The Missing Piece
Dream of a Giant Park on
the US Mexico border breathes new life
Will the dream of a giant park on the
border be revived after Obama’s visit to Mexico?
El Paso
Herald Post in 1936
Rotary
The Missing Piece
Dream of a Giant Park on
the US Mexico border breathes new life
Will the dream of a giant park on the
border be revived after Obama’s visit to Mexico?
El Paso
Herald Post in 1936
Rotary
The Missing Piece
Dream of a Giant Park on
the US Mexico border breathes new life
Will the dream of a giant park on the
border be revived after Obama’s visit to Mexico?
El Paso
Herald Post in 1936
Rotary
|
Boquillas Crossing to Re-Open in 2012
January 7, 2011
Big Bend Officials exploring ideas for increased cooperation with Mexico
By Marlys Hersey, Editor, Big Bend Gazette
Reprinted with permission, copyright 2010.
In meeting called with just over a week’s notice by
officials from Big Bend National Park, approximately 40 persons showed
up at the Kokernot Lodge in Alpine on the evening of September 22, 2010 to
“explore ideas for increased cooperation between the park and the nearby
Mexican protected areas, including the Maderas del Carmen, Ocampo, Rio
Bravo del Norte, and Cañon de Santa Elena,” as the invite said.
“What we’re here for tonight is to get thoughts and
ideas from you,” said Park Superintendent Bill Wellman at the start.
“Largely though, we don’t know what we’re going to do yet.”
It seems Wellman and his Big Bend counterparts have been given little
guidance on the aims of soliciting public input on the matter, nor is
anyone entirely sure what the actual end goal is. Citing some key
moments in a long history of “considering” a binational park—or “area of
binational interest,” as President Obama has so unsexily dubbed the
notion of late—Wellman said that the most recent statement from the
Obama Administration is that they are “ ‘going to do more’—and that’s
exactly the amount of detail.”
A few minutes into the meeting, Wellman responded good-naturedly
to someone asking who he was, and then introduced himself and the other
four Big Bend National Park staff members in attendance: Bill Wilson,
Chief of Science and Resource Management; Raymond Skiles, Park
Biologist; David Elkowitz, Chief of Interpretation; and Alan Etheridge,
Chief Ranger. Skiles was busy taking notes on the meeting.
“I don’t quite know what to tell you,” Wellman continued. This could
turn into something really good and go a long way, or it could fizzle
out…. We still think it’s worth talking to Mexico and coming up with
some realistic goals. You can suggest anything you want, and that’s fine
with us.”
Yet aside from Calderón’s joint statement with Obama, Mexico’s level of
interest in such a “binational area of interest” and participation in
the process of getting there remains very unclear to Big Bend park
officials. “Hopefully, similar meetings are taking place in Mexico,”
offered Wellman, “and somewhere we’ll get together and see if we have
some magic….”
Wellman also pointed out that it’s taken “quite a while to even get to
the point” at which the Park Service is having meetings asking for
public input on the matter. And, he cautioned, “This could be a long
process—though I’ve been wrong before…. I don’t want to raise people’s
expectations too high.”
Referring to a map on the wall behind him, Wellman clarified that the
large chunk of turquoise-colored protected land depicted on the Mexico
side of the Rio Grande (larger than the purple-shaded Big Bend National
Park, it’s worth noting) is largely private land. For this reason,
Wellman said, it would be “almost impossible” to create something here
that resembled the binational park of Glacier-Waterton International
Peace Park, established 78 years ago on the U.S.-Canada border where
Montana and the Canadian province of Alberta meet.
Nevertheless, interjected Park Biologist Raymond Skiles, for a few
decades now, there have been cooperative agreements to allow American
scientists into the protected areas in nearby Mexico to study bats,
amphibians, grasslands, etc.
Billy Pat McKinney, former resident of the Big Bend and current employee
of Cemex S.A.B. de C.V., illuminated how unclear this goal is, at least
from the standpoint of his employer, which owns 400,000 acres of the
protected area just across the border in Mexico, and the Adams Ranch in
Texas. “We have heard nothing from the Mexican government on what their
plan is,” said McKinney, who works in the Maderas del Carmen in Mexico,
adding that both he and Cemex are in the dark about how such a
binational area of interest might affect: private property, access to
the protected areas, the company’s $200 million investment, and his and
other Cemex researchers’ work. “Certainly we couldn’t handle unlimited
public access. Our main concern is that our conservation work goes
forward.”
Further, McKinney said he’s seen at least three attempts of this kind in
his lifetime, but conceded that this one “seems to have more momentum.”
Rick LoBello, founder of “Friends of a U.S.-Mexico Giant Park in the Big
Bend Region of Texas & Mexico” who traveled from El Paso for the
meeting, also articulated the momentum and enthusiasm he senses from “a
lot of people out there” who want make a binational park a reality here,
suggesting that the main catch is a “lack of leadership,” and implying
that the National Park Service should take that role.
What’s more, said LoBello, is there are templates for such projects
already. “There are international transboundary ecological areas all
over the world. Look at these,” he urged the Park Service, “see what
works, make recommendations. It’s important for the National Park
Service to educate our public about transboundary issues, focus on the
positive aspects.”
Further, said LoBello, “If it hadn’t been for World War II and FDR’s
death, we probably would have had this [binational park] happen
already.”
Alpine City Council member Julian Gonzalez spoke up to mention the Sept.
28 waste management workshop to be held in Ojinaga (and presided over by
the mayor of Ojinaga) as an example of ways in which the U.S. and Mexico
can and already do work together. “And this was put together by the
E.P.A.,” added Gonzalez.
Jürgen Hoth, from the World Wildlife Fund’s Mexico Program Office in
Chihuahua City, also urged the need to keep the momentum going, and to
“make sure this good will gets consolidated into a structure.” According
to Hoth, 64 percent of the protected area on the other side of the river
from Big Bend is “socially owned,” by ejidos (farming cooperatives—in theory,
anyway), whose members are likely to be favorable to such a proposition
since it could mean work opportunities for members, striving to be “part
of the solution, to be better [land] managers.”
Recently retired Big Bend National Park Ranger Marcos Paredes,
who worked on the Rio Grande for nearly twenty years and now lives in
Terlingua, suggested that a binational area of interest was too lofty a
goal. “When we say ‘international park,’ that gets the bar way above our
heads. I like the idea, but—” said Paredes. He suggested the mission
start small, by first focusing on “that common thread” of the river
itself. “We need to come up with a plan to manage the Rio Grande
together,” said Paredes.
Artist James Evans, of Marathon, was emphatic that the best way to get
to such a goal was with a different approach: reinstate our ability to
cross back and forth here over the river to go to Boquillas, San
Vicente. By cross-training Park Service rangers as Customs agents,
visitors from both sides could once again go back and forth, said Evans,
similar to the access allowed in the area prior to May 2002. “It would
show good will to the communities all along the Rio Grande,” said Evans.
Tourism would increase and there would be “eyes on the other side” to
enhance security. “Give us back what we’ve had taken away,” Evans
concluded.
“When was the last time the National Park Service talked about
re-opening the crossings?” asked LoBello.
“Last week,”
responded Wellman. LoBello pointed out the need to push Obama and
Calderón to do something about this now, while the momentum is there,
and before they leave office, or else a border wall will be built here
in the next couple of years, he insisted.
“What gets lost in this whole equation?” interjected Rawles Williams,
wildlands firefighter of Marathon who spent “twelve winters” in
Boquillas, “We tend to forget, in policy and politics, the people
in Boquillas, Santa Elena…. The only people left there are those with no
other opportunities. A lot of bad choices made in those ejidos are made out
of economic desperation. Anything we can do to help the people
economically is the way to go.”
In 2005, in the U.S., said Hoth, tourists spent $20 billion on
nature-related activities in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. But all
that nature-related tourism stops abruptly at the Mexico border, he
noted. Why? “One: lack of clean toilets. Two: insecurity.”
Longtime river runner from Desert Sports and Terlingua resident Jeff
Renfrow was measured but incisive in his question to Wellman. “So,
you’re gathering information, and [the Mexicans] are, and at some
nebulous point in the future, you all will talk? My suggestion would be
that y’all call each other up and have a meeting.... It seems like
you’re coming at it from an obtuse angle.”
“Say this ‘binational area of interest’ were established tomorrow,”
asked this reporter. Given that the land on the Mexico side is privately
owned, what kind of recreational or other opportunities would visitors
have there?
“That’s what we’re asking,” responded Wellman. “What do you want to do?”
Still, maintained Hoth, “We are there right now. We really have to seize that
[momentum for a binational park]. Let’s be bold!”
Speaking in Spanish, and allowing her daughter
(Marisol Fuentes de Faz) to translate afterwards, Graciela Gonzalez de
Fuentes, land owner on the Mexico side of the La Linda bridge, said she
really hopes the binational area will happen, and urged everyone to “not
give up hope, to be patient.”
In a post-meeting email exchange with the Gazette, Marisol Funetes de Faz, a U.S.
citizen raised in Mexico, wrote, “My parents live in Mexico, my siblings and I in
Texas. We are in pro of opening a port of entry at the Boquillas
or La Linda; my family is the owner of the Mexican side. Negativity
can’t win. We are honest and hardworking people. Mexico is not
represented by a few bad influences; Mexico is much more. We have
values, dreams, and the vision to materialize them with effort and
enthusiasm.”
Comments, suggestions, and the like about a binational park of
sorts in this region are welcomed by the National Park Service.
“The sooner the better,” said Wellman, “but anytime is fine.” Send your
comments in writing to: bill_wellman@nps.gov.
Obama and Calderon announce plan to recognize Big Bend – Rio Bravo
Map of area
July 28,
2010. Earlier this year on May 19 when they met in the White
House, President Barack Obama and President Felipe Calderón reaffirmed
the strategic partnership between the United States and Mexico and
underscored their commitment to improve the lives of all citizens in
both our countries, building upon our deep ties, and working with mutual
respect and mutual responsibility across a broad arc of issues.
The Presidents discussed a wide range of bilateral, hemispheric, and
global issues that affect our two countries and reaffirmed the shared
values that guide our approaches to economic competitiveness,
environmental conservation, clean energy, climate change, nuclear non
proliferation, and the safety, social and economic well-being, and
security of our citizens.
In noting the long history of bilateral cooperation in the conservation
of natural and cultural resources they recognized that Big Bend National
Park and Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River in the United States and the
Protected Areas of Maderas del Carmen, Cañon de Santa Elena, Ocampo, and
Río Bravo del Norte in Mexico together comprise one of the largest and
most significant ecological complexes in North America. In doing
so, they recognized that increased cooperation in these protected areas
would restrict development and enhance security in the region and within
this fragile desert ecosystem.
To preserve this region of extraordinary
biological diversity, they expressed their support for the United States
Department of Interior and the Secretariat of Environment and Natural
Resources of the United Mexican States to work through appropriate
national processes to recognize and designate Big Bend – Rio Bravo as a
natural area of binational interest. The Presidents underscored
their commitment to manage the region in a way that enhances security
and protects these areas for wildlife preservation, ecosystem
restoration, climate change adaptation, wildland fire management, and
invasive species control.
This historic step represents the first time in
nearly 66 years that the Presidents of both countries have publically
supported the original plan to establish a international protected area
on the border of the US and Mexico. The last time was on
October 24, 1944 when President
Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote a letter to His Excellency General Manual
Avila Camacho, Presient of the United Mexican States stating that "I do
not believe that this undertaking in the Big Bend (referring to the
establishment of Big Bend National Park on June 12, 1944) will be
complete until the entire park area in this region on both sides of the
Rio Grande forms one great international park."
President Camacho responded a month later on November 30 to President
Roosevelt's letter stating that he agreed with Roosevelt and how he had
instructed the Department of Foreign Relations and that of Agriculture
and Formento to pursue as actively as is suitable studies that would
lead to the creation of the Mexican Section of the said Park.
Next Steps
Negotiations between the two countries at this
time are being held behind closed doors. Stay tuned for
more information on important next steps that will need to be taken to
see this dream finally come true. In the meantime contact your
representative in Congress in both the House of Representatives and the
Senate with phone calls and emails supporting this effort.
Rick LoBello,
rickllobello@cs.com
July 28, 2010
Salazar and Rodriguez
highlight Recovery Act Projects at Big Bend National Park, encourages
International Conservation Partnership with Mexico
March 12, 2010. BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK, TX –
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Congressman Ciro Rodriguez today
highlighted more than $10.4 million in projects that are creating jobs at Big
Bend National Park under President Obama’s economic recovery plan.
During a tour of the park, Salazar and Rodriguez also strongly supported
expanded international cooperation between Mexico and the United States in
conserving and managing the unique natural areas on both sides of the border,
including the potential establishment of a Big Bend/Rio Bravo International
Park.
“The investments at Big Bend under the President’s economic recovery plan are
paying off both in terms of getting Americans back to work and upgrading the
facilities at one of our great national parks,” Salazar said. “Thanks to the
work being done here, visitors will enjoy a better park and a more enjoyable
experience.”
“I am honored to host Secretary Salazar during his visit to one of the greatest
natural treasures in the 23rd Congressional District,” said Congressman
Rodriguez. “I’m proud to represent this area and look forward to having a
dialogue with the Secretary about how best to preserve and enhance the Park
using Stimulus funding and other resources.”
Investments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed last year by
President include:
--$9.2 million to perform preservation
treatment on 123 miles of roads in the park.
--$619,000 to clean up and repair campgrounds
damaged by floods in September 2008
--$418,000 to rehabilitate historic law
enforcement quarters to allow for year-round occupancy.
--$199,000 to improve visitor safety by
rehabilitating trails.
Salazar and his Mexican counterpart Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada
also are considering a proposal first put forward by
Franklin Roosevelt and then-Mexican president Manuel Ávila
Camacho more than 70 years ago to establish an international
park along the U.S.-Mexican border. In the decades since, the
National Park Service and its Mexican counterpart, the National
Commission for Natural Protected Areas, have worked closely to
coordinate management of the area.
Added to the Santa Elena and Maderas del Carmen Protected Areas,
the recent designation of the Ocampo Protected Area and the
Monumento Natural del Rio Bravo form a Mexican complex that,
together with. Big Bend National Park and the designation of the
Rio Grande as a "Wild and Scenic River," comprise one of North
America's largest and most important conservation areas.
"The United States and Mexico are neighbors sharing a beautiful treasure,”
Salazar said. “Our two nations could and should engage in an even higher level
of cooperation to conserve this remarkable area and its wildlife while providing
more opportunities for visitors to enjoy it.”
“In particular, this would help us better
address key issues to the area such protection water and air
quality, control of invasive species, and management of wildland
fire,” he said.
Salazar noted that each country would
maintain management responsibility for their side of the border,
similar to the relationship between the United States and Canada
at the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.
Salazar key to US Mexico international
park in the Big Bend region
by Mark Glover. Reprinted with Permission. Courtesy Big Bend Sentinel.
January 21, 2010.
Alpine - Linking private and public lands on both sides of the Rio Bravo/Rio
Grande to create an international park at the big bend of our border with Mexico
has vexed politicians for seventy five years. But last summer those efforts got
new life when U.S. Dept of Interior Chief Ken Salazar and his Mexican
counterpart Juan Elvira discussed the project during the North American Leaders
Summit held in Guadalajara.
Although an agreement was not reached, a letter of intent was signed to pursue
the matter and perhaps negate President Franklin D Roosevelt’s angst depicted in
a letter he wrote to Mexican President Manual Avila Camancho in 1944, “"I do not
believe that this undertaking in the Big Bend (referring to the establishment of
Big Bend National Park) will be complete until the entire park area in this
region on both sides of the Rio Grande forms one great international park."
In today’s arena of cartel wars, drug smuggling and a closed border the
international park idea seems improbable but Salazar’s determination may make
the difference.
“The deciding factor may be whether Secretary Salazar wants to take a personal
interest in the negotiations,” said Big Bend National Park Superintendent Bill
Wellman.
Salazar, who grew up in the San Luis Valley, the headwaters of the Rio Grande in
southern Colorado, knows the river and the desert. He was raised in an adobe
home without electricity or plumbing and his family relied on the high dry
terrain for food. Salazar mentions his love for the desert in almost all of his
speeches.
And he’s not alone in support of the international park. Congressman Ciro
Rodriguez energized the act by initiating House Resolution 695 last year that
calls for discussions on the international park at high levels. According to the
Congressman’s Press Secretary Rebeca Chapa, “Congressman Rodriguez is actively
pursuing way to make this unique park a reality.”
In the post 9-11 age of increased US border security, the Department of Homeland
Security headed by Secretary Janet Napolitano will be a significant factor in
the negotiations.
“In principle, they (DHS) don’t have a problem with it,” Wellman said. “We have
to come up with a reasonable proposal that works.”
“Secretary Salazar is reaching out to Secretary Napolitano to push this plan
forward,” Courtney Lyons-Garcia Executive Director of the Friends of the Big
Bend, said last week after returning from a trip from Washington DC where she
met with members of the National Park Service, the Department of Homeland
Security and the Department of Interior on the matter.
They’re looking to get a practical plan moving forward, get it on the table, a
plan that is sustainable over the next 10 to 15 years, that not only encompasses
an international park but also works as a conservation effort to control
invasive species, protect native species and to work out flood control,”
Lyons-Garcia said.
Should the International Park with Mexico succeed, it would be the second such
arrangement the US has with another country. Waterton Glacier International
Peace Park lies on the border with Canada straddling the states of Montana and
Alberta.
“The big difference there is that on both sides of the border the land is
government owned,” Wellman said. “In Mexico we’re dealing with both government
and private landowners.”
To facilitate nearly three million contiguous acres of public access, three
areas, privately owned, but federally protected parcels are part of the Mexican
side of the international park plan: Sierra del Carmen (owned by CEMEX – one of
the world’s largest cement producers, Canon de Santa Helena and the Maderas del
Carmen. The big bend reach of the Rio Bravo was recently acquired by the Mexican
government.
“The way we manage and the way they manage protected lands is quite different,”
Wellman said.
On the US side of the proposed international park the Big Bend National Park,
The Wild and Scenic River reach of the Rio Grande, the Texas owned 103,000 acre
Black Gap Wildlife Management Area and the near-by but not contiguous 314,000
acre Big Bend Ranch State Park may all be part of the plan.
Boquillas, across from Big Bend National Park’s Rio Grande Village is likely to
be the access point to the Mexican side of the park. Prior to 9-11, before the
border with Mexico was closed, Boquillas served as an unofficial international
aside for visitors to the Big Bend National Park.
“If they’re going to allow tour access, Mexico will have to provide some
infrastructure, probably at Boquillas,” Lyons-Garcia said.
Amid almost daily headlines of drug-smuggling, murder and corruption charges,
the border region could use some good news.
“Both countries would like to have a success,” Wellman said.
NPS signs Memorandum of Understanding on
Cooperation for Wilderness Conservation
November 7, 2009. WASHINGTON – International wilderness conservation
received a major boost on November 7th at the World Wilderness Congress in
Merida, Mexico.
Representatives from Mexico, Canada, and the United
States signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) creating a framework for
future cooperation and coordination between the three nations for wilderness
conservation.
“This is a historic moment for the National Park
Service and one that is long overdue” said Jon Jarvis, Director of the National
Park Service.
“Wilderness provides outstanding opportunities for
increasing our understanding of global climate change, ecosystem adaptation and
resiliency. As some of the least manipulated environments left, wilderness
provides connectivity and wildlife migration corridors amongst other values.
This MOU reaffirms the National Park Services’ commitment to conservation and we
look forward to moving forward with our two closest neighbors and other federal
partners on implementing this framework.”
The MOU provides for the development of an
intergovernmental committee that is comprised of agency heads or their
designated representative to facilitate collaboration. Topics of mutual
interest include examining wilderness conservation and management with a special
concern for understanding climate change, fire, and invasive species as well as
exploring broader trans-boundary conservation initiatives.
US Mexico
International Park Update
by Rick LoBello
October
1, 2009. Earlier
this month I spoke with the National Park Service Office of International
Affairs in Washington and learned that the NPS is working with the National
Council of Protected Areas of Guatemala (in Spanish: Consejo Nacional de Areas
Protegidas, CONAP) on a shared vision for the US Mexico protected areas in the
Big Bend National Park region. In addition to a shared vision they are also
trying to come up with the best name for the international region that reflects
its association with Big Bend National Park and the relationship between our two
countries, something like in the name Amistad (friendship) National Recreation
Area in Del Rio, Texas and Acuna, Coahuila.
If any of you want to suggest names for what you believe the international
protected area should be called please send them to me and I will pass them on.
One top priority at the moment is coming up with a way to minimize the hassles
park and protected area managers have to go through in getting across the
border. For example, currently Big Bend National Park staff have to drive all
the way to Del Rio to cross into Mexico just to meet with their colleagues in
Mexico.
If you would like a copy of the resolution the City of El Paso recently adopted
in support of the US Mexico International Park send me an email to
rickllobello@cs.com. Please encourage others you know to help with resolutions
from other communities and organizations in the region. The resolution is also
being sent to the Secretary of the Interior and the Director of the National
Park Service.
Also be sure to invite your friends to join this group.
Rick LoBello
915-474-1456
rickllobello@cs.com
Editorial from the San Antonio Light, 9.30.09
By Suzanne Dixon - Special to the Express-News
In the next few weeks, Americans around the country will be digging out family
photo albums gathering dust in the back of the closet. After watching Ken
Burns's new documentary, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," how could we
not yearn to relive trips with loved ones to Big Bend, Yellowstone, Guadalupe
Mountains, and the San Antonio Missions? This time, instead of simply reminding
us of the national parks we love, those photos should inspire us to save them
for our children and grandchildren.
Regrettably, Big Bend National Park, San Antonio Missions National Historical
Park, and others are not as protected as we remember, and as they approach their
100th birthday in just seven years, they need our help. Many of the challenges
facing our parks 80 years ago still plague the system today, including federal
funding shortfalls, air and water pollution, invasive plants and animals, and
encroaching development.
Moreover, national parks now confront the added threat of global climate change.
For instance, non-native, invasive animals and plants are degrading Big Bend
National Park. Hundreds of Barbary sheep, also known as Aoudad, threaten the
recovery of native desert bighorn sheep. Feral hogs have begun rooting and
wallowing at water sources, and were recently documented in the Chisos
Mountains, where they compete with the small and tenuous black bear population
for food.
In total, more than 25 non-native animals now inhabit Big Bend.
Big Bend and other national parks endure because American citizens for
generations have fought for the protection of national parks big and small
around the country. National parks have a special place in the hearts of the
American people. In a 2006 Harris Poll measuring citizen support for federal
government programs and services, national parks topped the list. Today, tens of
thousands of us help our national parks by sending letters to our elected
officials in Washington, D.C., supporting local park friends groups, and
volunteering for activities such as clearing trash from the beach at Padre
Island, leading tours for visitors to the San Antonio Missions, and maintaining
trails and removing invasive weeds from Big Bend.
Congress and the White House also have a responsibility to preserve our national
heritage. Last week, a bipartisan commission offered recommendations to enhance
the National Park Service itself and its ability to protect our breathtaking
landscapes and historic and cultural treasures; and provide opportunities for
all of us, especially young people and diverse communities, to connect with our
shared national heritage, and be involved in protecting it.
This is our chance to renew our promise to America, to ourselves, and to the
generations that come after us. Together, we can dust off our old albums, flip
through faded family photos of Old Faithful in Yellowstone and bears at Big
Bend, and do what is needed to protect America's best idea for our descendants.
Filmmaker Ken Burns has created a sweeping documentary film about our national
parks. The National Parks: America's Best Idea, a six-episode series, now
showing on PBS stations. Learn more about the film and how you can help protect
our parks — visit www.npca.org/bestidea
Suzanne Dixon is the Texas regional director of the National Parks Conservation
Association.
U.S. and Mexico decide to strengthen conservation
cooperation in Big Bend Area
August 11, 2009. Washington, D.C. and Mexico,
D.F.--In conjunction with the North American Leaders Summit held in Guadalajara,
Mexico, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Mexican Minister of
Environment and Natural Resources Juan Elvira announced today their commitment
to strengthen conservation along the U.S. - Mexico border (map).
The Secretary and the Minister will develop a plan to enhance coordination in
the Big Bend and El Carmen area of the border and report to Presidents Barack
Obama of the United States and Felipe Calderón of Mexico in six months. The
proposed plan will take advantage of national parks and protected areas already
designated in the Big Bend and El Carmen region, without prejudice to each
country’s existing legislation, border security, and rights.
“Building upon our shared history of ecosystem and species conservation, the
plan will develop a model of bi-national cooperation for the conservation and
enjoyment of shared ecosystems for current and future generations,” said
Secretary Salazar. With more than 268 river miles and 3 million acres of
contiguous parks and protected areas on both sides of the border benefitting
under this proposal, 14 percent of the entire U.S.-Mexico border will enjoy
strengthened conservation coordination.
The joint announcement marks the renewal of a bilateral process to develop one
of the most significant conservation initiatives considered by Mexico and the
United States at the border, while also taking into account border security.
Sixty-five years ago, the Presidents of the United States and Mexico exchanged
letters on the creation of the Big Bend National Park in the United States,
wherein they envisioned the conservation of the shared ecosystems on both sides
of the Rio Grande in the Big Bend region of Texas in the United States and
Chihuahua and Coahuila in Mexico. Mexico later established Cañon de Santa Elena
and Maderas del Carmen protected areas in Chihuahua and Coahuila. Over the
years, park rangers, scientists, volunteers, landowners and local communities on
both sides of the border have diligently conserved the spectacular landscapes,
wilderness, and habitats in both countries, in one of the most biologically
diverse regions of the world.
The June 2009 designation of Ocampo Protected Area by President Calderón
completed a critical piece of this vision, forming a contiguous set of protected
areas across from Big Bend National Park in the United States. Additional United
States protected areas adjacent to Big Bend National Park include: Rio Grande
Wild and Scenic River, Big Bend Ranch State Park, and Black Gap Wildlife
Management Area, all in Texas.
“The U.S.-Mexico bilateral process is expected to highlight the biodiversity of
the region, to consolidate environmental cooperation between the two countries,
and could eventually constitute a symbol of the new era of the relation between
Mexico and the United States with respect to bilateral cooperation in the
conservation area” commented Mexican Minister Elvira. He added that “the
Secretaries of the Interior and of the Environment and Natural Resources
recognize in this mandate the vision of the Governments and trust that a
proposal can be developed soon for further consideration by the Presidents.”
To join a network of people
working to support the designation of the international park, contact Rick
LoBello in El Paso, Texas at 915-474-1456 or write
rickllobello@cs.com or fill out an
online form
and write in how you want to help.
To see a historical timeline and for
more information on this effort visit
http://www.iloveparks.com/peaceparks.
The Missing Piece: Big Bend National Park was never meant to stand alone
by Rick LoBello,8/9/2009
"I do not believe that
this undertaking in the Big Bend (referring to the establishment of Big Bend
National Park) will be complete until the entire park area in this region on
both sides of the Rio Grande forms one great international park."
President Franklin D.
Roosevelt in a letter General Manual Avila Camacho, President of Mexico, October
24, 1944
Living and working in Big Bend National Park
gave me a unique opportunity to get to know and study one of the crown jewels of
our National Parks. Nearly every day
I gazed towards the northern frontier of Coahuila, Mexico, in line sight from my
home at Panther Junction. Less than
twelve airline miles away the towering cliffs of the Sierra del Carmen created
the perfect wilderness backdrop for daily life in the park.
Huge layers of limestone overshadowed the vista as the Mexican mountains
rose more than 5000 feet above the banks of the Rio Grande.
I could not escape the view.
The ever changing light created wonderful sunrises and sunsets.
Photographers try to capture the mood, but it’s too glorious to confine
within the lens of a camera.
I always think of these mountains as part of
the Big Bend, but in reality they are part of another country.
Mexico is divided from the United States by not only the Rio Grande, but
also by a culture where life is often much slower and where the economy is
rarely supported by ecotourism.
An old man living in the tiny village of
Boquillas in Coahuila, just across the river from the park’s Rio Grande Village
Campground, once said that the Rio Grande is a very special river, for as it
divides it also joins. This
reflection perfectly characterizes the Big Bend we see today, for if it were not
for political boundary lines drawn across the map, most visitors would be hard
pressed to know just where the United States ends and Mexico begins.
The entire Big Bend National Park area
combined with the adjacent mountains in Mexico plays an important role in
maintaining the balance of nature on both sides of the border.
For example, the Sierra del Carmen is home to a significant population of
black bears that is important to maintaining a sustainable population of bears
in the park’s Chisos Mountains.
Other animals cross the border back and forth and find both habitats important
to their survival. To mountain lions
and rare bird species like the Zone-tailed Hawk, Gray Hawk and Peregrine Falcon,
international boundaries are meaningless.
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt called
the proposed International Peace Park a “meeting ground for the people of both
countries” he helped to define a now 74-year-old dream.
If realized, the dream of a vast international protected area will help
to ensure the survival of a significant intermountain desert wilderness and will
enhance the tourism economies on both sides of the Rio Grande.
On October 14, 1988 I joined a small group of
Big Bend staff on a trip into the Maderas del Carmen section of the Sierra del
Carmens as guests of the Governor of Coahuila, Lic. Eliseo Mendoza Berrueto.
Governor Mendoza had been in contact with Big Bend officials on several
occasions during the year and was very enthusiastic in his desire to rekindle
the dream of an international park.
Meetings between Mendoza and Big Bend National Park Superintendent Jim Carrico
had paved the way for a visit to one of the most spectacular wilderness areas
left in northern Mexico. Little did
we know at the time, six years later Mexico would designate the area the
Maderas del Carmen
Flora and Fauna Protection Area on November 7, 1994.
After driving about 40 miles along rough roads
we gathered at an airstrip south of Rio Grande Village and Boquillas.
There we joined the Governor and his staff plus other officials and
businessman from throughout Coahuila.
The road up into the Maderas del Carmen demands 4-wheel drive vehicles.
It rapidly ascends the steep southern edge of the range where some peaks
reach to nearly 9,000 feet. Our
caravan of ten jeeps and pick-ups slowly made its way to the top where we
abruptly entered a forest more typical of a forest you would see in Colorado.
To our delight the Governor was accompanied by
his private chef who prepared a classic Mexican barbecue complete with fresh
corn and flower tortillas, beans and salad.
After dinner everyone gathered around the campfire to become better
acquainted as a cassette player filled the air with Mexican tunes.
Sitting by a propane lantern, the Governor enjoyed a game of dominos with
Jim Carrico.
The next day more than 40 people gathered
among the tall Arizona cypress, yellow pine, and Douglas fir trees.
It was an occasion with a telling parallel: the Governor was visiting the
area for the first time and the scene was reminiscent of the 1870 meeting near
the mouth of Wyoming’s Madison River where the idea of creating Yellowstone
National Park, the world’s first national park, was seriously considered.
As topographical maps were unfolded onto a long wooden table, the group
gathered around to answer the Governor’s questions about the best black bear
habitat and to discuss ideas about the most logical boundaries for a protected
area.
In Northern Mexico the Maderas del Carmen
mountain range is one of the most remote and unexplored areas in Coahuila.
Now that protected status for the area was declared in 1994 and
renewed efforts to create an international park with Big Bend are underway,
the region may soon receive long overdue international recognition as one of the
last great wilderness areas in North America (see
map).
From 1975-1992 and almost every year since I
have enjoyed thousands of sunrises and sunsets over the magnificent Sierra del
Carmens. I am continually inspired
by the shifting hues of red, pink, purple, crimson and blue on the massive
limestone cliffs and have admired countless thunderstorms building above its
heights.
I used to wonder about the high mountain
forests and have always looked at the magnificent Sierra del Carmen vista as if
it were actually a part of Big Bend.
Now that I have been to the area several times I realize that Big Bend
National Park is actually a smaller part of something much bigger, a mountain
range that President Roosevelt referred to as the “missing piece” needed to make
the Big Bend park idea complete.
The dream lives and those of us who have
discovered the wonders of this special corner of the earth will continue to look
to the day when the dream of a US Mexico International Park finally becomes a
reality.
To join a network of people working to support the designation of the
international park, contact Rick LoBello in El Paso, Texas at 915-474-1456 or
write
rickllobello@cs.com
or fill out an
online form
and write in how you want to help.
Dream of a Giant Park on the US Mexico border breathes new life
by Rick LoBello 8/2/2009
A giant international park project first proposed in the 1930s and last
endorsed by high level officials in Washington, D.C. in 1946, received a
hopeful sign of new life last week when Congressman Ciro Rodriquez of Texas
introduced
H.Res.695 – “supporting an international park between Big Bend National Park
in the United States and the protected areas of the Coahuila and Chihuahua
States across the border in Mexico.”
The
non-binding resolution resolves,
”that
the House of Representatives supports
an international park between
Bend National Park in the United States and the protected areas of the
Coahuila and Chihuahua States across the border in Mexico; and Requests that
the President in conjunction with the Secretaries of Homeland Security,
Interior, and State discuss with Mexico and study the probability of
designating an international park.”
On a
visit to the proposed park area in 1936 then Assistant Director of the
National Park Service Conrad Wither said that the proposed Big Bend
International Park would be one of the biggest developments ever undertaken
by the National Park Service and would be “one of the greatest recreational
and educational ventures ever undertaken by the National Park Service. The
benefits to the people of Mexico and the United States will be almost
unlimited."
In a letter to General Manual Avila Camacho,
President
of the United Mexican States
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
wrote that "I do not believe that this undertaking in the Big Bend
(referring
to the establishment of Big Bend National Park
in 1944) will be complete until the entire park area in this region
on both sides of the Rio Grande forms one great international park."
When
in 1946 following the death of Roosevelt, President Truman tried to move the
project forward in his own letter to President Camacho, support for the
project in Washington soon faded when Camacho’s term ended later that same
year.
Much has happened since 1946, but nothing as
significant as Congressman’s Rodriquez’s first step to get the project back
on the national agenda in Congress last week.
Earlier this year iloveparks.com reported on
recent
efforts in Mexico to restore the project back on to the agenda when
President Obama visited President Calderon in April.
How this new chapter plays out in the days ahead will be determined by not
only by President Obama, Congress and the Mexican government, but also by
the people of both countries who come forward in support of the effort.
To join a network of people working to support the designation of the
international park, contact Rick LoBello in El Paso, Texas at 915-474-1456
or write
rickllobello@cs.com
or you can also fill out a
online form
and write in how you want to help.
To see
a historical timeline and for more information on this effort visit
http://www.iloveparks.com/peaceparks.
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 695
Supporting an international park between Big Bend National Park in the
United States and the protected areas of the Coahuila and Chihuahua States
across the border in Mexico.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 29, 2009
Mr. RODRIGUEZ submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
RESOLUTION
Supporting an international park between Big Bend National Park in the
United States and the protected areas of the Coahuila and Chihuahua States
across the border in Mexico.
Whereas the United States and Mexico share a common border, natural and
cultural resources, and histories;
Whereas the Chihuahuan Desert region provides an opportunity for the two
nations to share research and experience in managing a protected area in
this unique ecosystem;
Whereas there is a desire to conserve and educate others about the
significant natural and cultural resources that span the border of the
United States and Mexico;
Whereas the concept is based on the existing international park at Waterton-Glacier
International Peace Park between the United States and Canada;
Whereas beginning in 1935 with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, meetings and
discussions have been held to explore an international park in the Big Bend
National Park of Texas and the Coahuila and Chihuahua States of Mexico;
Whereas, on August 14, 1983, an agreement between the United Mexican States
and the United States of America on Cooperation for the Protection and
Improvement of the Environment in the Border Area was signed;
Whereas in October of 1988, an agreement of understanding between the
National Park Service and the State of Coahuila was signed by Coahuila
Governor Eliseo Mendoza Beurrueto, National Park Service Regional Director
John Cook, and Big Bend National Park Superintendent Jim Carrico for
cooperation between the two countries in research and preservation of the
shared environment along the border;
Whereas a similar agreement of understanding was later signed with the State
of Chihuahua; and
Whereas, on March 27, 2006, the United States and Mexico sign non-binding
Joint Declaration of Sister Park Partnerships between Big Bend National Park
in Texas, Maderas del Carmen (Coahuila), and Canon de Santa Elena
(Chihuahua) Flora and Fauna Protected Areas: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved,
That the House of Representatives--
(1) supports an international park between Big Bend National Park in the
United States and the protected areas of the Coahuila and Chihuahua States
across the border in Mexico; and
(2) requests that the President, in conjunction with Secretaries of Homeland
Security, Interior, and State, discuss with Mexico and study the probability
of designating an international park.
Will the dream of a giant park on the
border be revived after Obama’s visit to Mexico?
by Rick LoBello, iloveparks.com
El Paso, Texas, April 19, 2009. Earlier
this month we learned that a new effort is underway in Mexico that
could re-open US/Mexico talks on the long proposed international
park in the Big Bend National Park region of West Texas.
Two sources in Acuna, Coahuila and Monterrey,
Nuevo Leon confirm that the Governor of Coahuila was working on a
presentation for President Obama and President Calderon proposing
that Mexico and the US once again seriously consider the creation of
what once was reported on in El Paso as the “Giant
Park Proposal.”
It is unclear at this time if the park proposal was discussed. An
article posted on yesterday's
El Universal.com indicates that the two presidents did discuss
numerous projects on the border that could help with Mexico's
economy opening that the possibility the park was discussed as a
ecotourism initiative.
You can see an
historical timeline about the proposal going back to 1935 by
clicking here.
During the late 1930s meetings were held about the park in El
Paso, Texas, but the international park was never realized even
though Big Bend National Park was established nine years later in
1944. Today the park is
well known in the Southwest as one of the crown jewels of the
National Park System, but what most people do not know is that half
of the original proposed park is missing.
The originally
proposed international park needs to be completed and I hope that
President Obama and President Calderon found time to discuss the
proposal.
An international park combining Big Bend National Park with
protected areas across the border in Coahuila and Chihuahua will:
(1) help to call
international attention to the transboundary protected areas and the
need to promote the long term protection of the region's fascinating
flora and fauna including a number of rare and endangered species,
(2) become a
permanent monument and symbol of peace between the US and Mexico,
one that President Roosevelt said would celebrate the friendship
between the two countries and be a meeting ground where the people
of both countries and citizens from all parts of the world could
come together to learn about each other’s culture while coming to
better understand the natural world that they all share.
(3) help to call
the region's attention to the needs of people living in rural areas
without adequate running water, electricity, sanitation and
educational opportunities. The people living in the area cannot be
expected to support the long term protection of the region if their
needs are not also taken care of.
President Franklin
D. Roosevelt and President Harry Truman were strong advocates of the
US/Mexico international park and Roosevelt proclaimed six months
before his death that “"I do not believe that this undertaking in
the Big Bend will be complete until the entire park area in this
region on both sides of the Rio Grande forms one great international
park."
Read the Story from the
El Paso Herald Post in 1936
Will
Discuss Big Bend Park
Arno M. Cammerer, director of the National Park
Service, will be in El Paso, Sunday, to discuss with Mexican
officials boundaries of a proposed International Park, the American
half which would be in Brewster County. El Paso Herald Post, November 6, 1936
PROPOSED
PARK
GIANT PROJECT
Officials Will Arrive Here Sunday for Parley On
Recreation Site.
The proposed Big Bend International Park will be
one of the biggest developments ever undertaken by the National Park
Service, according to Assistant Director Conrad L. Wirth, who is
enroute here with other Washington officials of the National Park
Service to attend a two-day conference opening Sunday with
representatives of the Mexican government. 'Boundaries of the park
will be discussed.
In my opinion," said Mr. Wirth, "the Big Bend
International Park will be one of the greatest recreational and
educational ventures ever undertaken by the National Park Service.
The benefits to the people of Mexico and the United States will be
almost unlimited."
Director Arno B. Cammerer and Assistant Directors
Wirth and G. A. Moskey will arrive here Sunday morning with Herbert
Maier of Oklahoma City, regional officer of the National Park
Service, in charge of cooperative development of state parks in
Texas. and other Southwestern States.
They will be met here by representatives of the
U. S. Biological Survey and the International Boundary Commission,
to confer with Daniel F. Galicia and other from the. Department of
Forestry; Fish and Game of Mexico.
Tentative boundaries have been agreed upon at
previous joint meetings of the two commissions.
The sessions here are expected to result in final
determination for presentation to the respective governments. It is
probable these boundaries will include about 788,000 acres for the
Big Bend National Park of Texas—all in Brewster County- and
approximately 400,000 acres for the Mexican National Park in the
States of Chihuahua and Coahuila.
The two-parks would be linked by a bridge across
the Rio Grande at Boquillas.
NEW LINKS:
-Chihuahuan
Desert Borderlands Map
-Big
Bend Borderlands Map
-Check out the
I Love
Parks Community Blog and register your support in our online
poll
Rotary
Districts 5520/4110 U.S.-Mexico
International Park Initiative
Rotary Update
by Rick LoBello
August 9, 2009:
Many people are wondering what happened to the Rotary
US/Mexico International Park Proposal.
Over the past ten years Rotary District 5520 (United
States) and District 4110 (Mexico) have communicated with both
federal and state government officials in support of the
establishment of the park. In 1998 over 400 of our members gathered
at Chamizal National Memorial in El Paso for a bi-district
conference where we celebrated our commitment to Rotary and
international conservation efforts in a special ceremony dedicated
to the establishment of the park. In attendance were
representatives of both governments and Rotary International
President Jim Lacey. Our members came from New Mexico, Texas,
Chihuahua, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, and Aguascalientes.
Prior to the event we had received letters of support from
government officials in Mexico and the US including President
Ernesto Zedillo, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the National
Park Service, Friends of Big Bend National Park, Texas Parks and
Wildlife Department, and the National Park Service. As was the
unfortunate situation when the original international park project
was derailed by World War II, Rotary efforts were derailed by the
events of 911. We have been trying to get the project back on track
ever since.
During the
last year that Frank Deckert was Superintendent of Big Bend in 2002
we tried to organize an international conference in El Paso at the
University of Texas. We had staff members from UTEP involved, park
managers from Mexico and the US attended the meetings and I was
invited to speak to UTEP students at a peace conference. When
Deckert retired the new Superintendent of Big Bend, John King, moved
on to other priorities and the conference idea died for lack of NPS
support. King made some communications to his superiors and even
spoke to Texas Governor Perry’s staff in Austin. When he told me
that Governor Perry’s staff felt that they could not support an
international park because Mexico was holding back water from Texas,
I could see support for the project from Big Bend fade quickly.
Recently I
learned that Big Bend has expanded the 1997 Letter of Intent with
Mexico into sister park relationships with the two Mexico protected
areas across the border. I applaud efforts like this that help to
maintain communications between the two countries, but feel that
international park status is still an important goal. With all of
the immigration problems between the US and Mexico I see the
International Peace Park that President Roosevelt promoted being
more important than ever.
John King left Big Bend in 2006 was replaced by Bill Wellman who
recently wrote the following message in 2007:
Big Bend National Park
Subj: Re: US/International Peace Park Project
Date: 7/9/2007 3:52:24 PM Mountain Daylight Time
From:
Bill_Wellman@nps.gov
To: RickLLoBello@cs.com
Mr. LoBello:
An international park is certainly a good idea. As you well know, it
has been discussed for many years and most likely will one day be a
reality. It is a concept that the National Park Service continues
to support. However, with the current national debate over border
security and immigration, I fear you may have a difficult task
resurrecting the project at this time. We do wish you well with your
efforts.
Sincerely,
Bill Wellman
Rotarian Support Remains
Strong
Rotarians are still very
supportive of the International Park concept and frequently express
their support to other members of the community and to their
government representatives on both sides of the border.
Rotarians involved with continuing efforts to support the Waterton-Glacier
International Park on the US-Canada border are also very supportive
of the US Mexico International Park initiative. On
October 1, 2009 I spoke to the Downtown Rotary Club of El
Paso and was well received. Please contact me if you would
like a presentation for your club or group.
Rick LoBello 915-474-1456, rickllobello@cs.com
Background InformationLatest News:
US/Mexico Park
Peace Park
Links:
Peace Park
Foundation
Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, U.S. and Canada
Glacier-Waterton
National Parks Visitors Association
Proposed U.S.-Mexico International Park
Big Bend
National Park, United States
Overview: Maderas del Carmen and Canon de Santa Elena, Mexico
Waterton-Glacier
International Peace Park Assembly
Interestingly, two countries,
Canada and the USA, have been doing this for over 74 years. Back in
1931, Rotarians from Montana and Alberta came together in Waterton
Lakes Park for the first annual international goodwill meeting.
Rotarians worked at getting both the Canadian Parliament and the
U.S. Congress to pass laws to set aside Waterton-Glacier as an
international peace park. In 1932, the world’s first peace park,
Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park was established. The Park
was declared a World Heritage Site in 1995. The two parks cooperate
and collaborate on many things while maintaining fiscal independence
and administrative autonomy - flora and fauna of the region know no
boundaries.
The Waterton-Glacier
International Peace Park Assembly meets every year for three days -
even years in the USA and odd years in Canada, to celebrate the
peace and friendship shared by these nations. Rotarians and their
guests can play golf, hike, take a bus tour, attend a peace seminar
or just enjoy the wonderful scenery. The Saturday evening banquet
usually has a speaker of some note. The Peace Park Association has
helped the parks by erecting symbolic artifacts, conducting
ceremonies, and purchasing defibrillators, and even tried to stop
the clear cutting along the border. Because of space limitations,
the assembly is restricted to 300 people.
For several years, a small
number of Texas and New Mexico Rotarians have been trying to form
the same type of park between Mexico and the US. They have called
for Big Bend National Park to join with the Maderas del Carmen and
Santa Elena Protected Areas to form a park that was first called for
by President Roosevelt in 1935. In 1997, both Governments signed a
Letter of Intent for increased cooperation. But both nations have
done little to bring this park to a reality - there are no
“champions” in the political arena. For further information on Peace
Parks, look at the web site, Iloveparks.com.
For several years when I lived
in Montana, I went to the Peace Park Assembly. In fact I was a Board
member for two years (you must be a member of District 5360, 5370 -
Alberta, Canada, or 5390 - Montana, USA to be a Board member).
All who are trying to set up
some type of “Park” between the USA and Mexico are looking forward
to the day when we can meet in a place where the mountains, flowers
and animals flow freely from one side of the border to the other -
where we can join hands over the border and say to the Mexican
Rotarians as I did at Waterton-Glacier to the Canadian Rotarians
“….we will work for peace, maintain liberty, strive for freedom and
demand equal opportunities for all mankind….”
Jerry Channell, Rockport Rotary
Club, Texas
Mission
Statement:
These web pages are dedicated to the promotion of international
peace parks around the world. They were inspired by the efforts of
Rotarians in the United States, Canada and Mexico for helping to
establish the world's first international peace park between the US
and Canada and for recent efforts to rekindle the dream of a
US/Mexico Park.
For more information write Rick LoBello at
rickllobello@cs.com
or call
915-474-1456.
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More News from the US side of
the proposed International Park
Latest News
Click Here
-Salazar key to US Mexico international park in the Big Bend region, January 21,
2010
-Department of the Interior Press
Release, August 11, 2009
-The Missing Piece,
August 9, 2009
-Dream of a Giant Park on
the US Mexico border breathes new life, August 2,
2009
-Will the dream of a giant park on the
border be revived after Obama’s visit to Mexico?,
April 19, 2009
-Letter from Texas Senator Elliot Shapleigh
-El Paso County Resolution Adopted August 10,
2009
-El Paso
Herald Post in 1936
-Rotary
-National Parks and Conservation Association Magazine, July, 2008
More News from the Mexico side
of the proposed International Park
-The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, February, 2007
-Room to Roam
National Park Service International Park related news
-NPS Sister Parks Initiative
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