US/Mexico International Park
Help keep this dream alive

Aerial view from Big Bend National Park of the Sierra del Carmen mountain range looking east towards the range in Mexico and the Maderas del Carmen Flora and Fauna Protection Area in Coahuila.

International Park Initiative Update

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

El Paso Herald Post, November 6, 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.

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

September 7, 2007:  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:

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

News from the US side of the proposed International Park
National Parks and Conservation Association Magazine, July, 2008
Letter from Texas Senator Elliot Shapleigh

News from the Mexico side of the proposed International Park
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, February, 2007
Room to Roam, November, 2006
Rio Bravo del Norte Natural Monument

National Park Service International Park related news
NPS Sister Parks Initiative

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

 

Rotary Districts 5520/4110 U.S.-Mexico 
International Park Initiative
Background Information
Latest 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


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.