The federal government is warning visitors to Coronado National Forest to avoid the area where the state is building a border barrier, due to dangers posed by construction equipment and “unauthorized armed security personnel”.
It also says the construction is illegal.
Republican Gov. Doug Ducey ordered construction of the barrier out of shipping containers on federal land, which is being done without permission and without following regulations, federal or otherwise.
The U.S. Forest Service issued a statement Wednesday saying Arizona’s project is creating safety hazards and that it informed state officials the presence of the containers is unlawful.
The agency also said visitors seeking to recreate, hunt or collect fuelwood should refrain from entering the area or should exercise caution.
“It is an area that is more remote, and people are used to being able to find those opportunities for solitude, and that’s not the case right now,” said Starr Farrell, public affairs officer for Coronado National Forest. “We wanted to make sure that people knew so we could try to keep them safe.”
“This was something that was not authorized by the Coronado National Forest,” she said. “It’s not a supported activity.”
Arizona is constructing a border barrier in the Coronado National Forest without permission and without going through any sort of permitting process or following any environmental regulations.
The project is being built west of Coronado National Memorial in Cochise County and is currently in the vicinity of Copper Canyon, south of National Forest System Road 61 in the Sierra Vista Ranger District.
The state began installing what are expected to be about 3,000 shipping containers on the U.S.-Mexico border in Coronado National Forest in October, with an estimated cost of about $95 million, despite a standoff with the U.S. government.
Ducey has gone to court to challenge the federal government’s jurisdiction over part of the land.
The project is now about 2.5 miles long, and the state intends to complete 10 miles. The Governor’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday, but state officials have said their goal is to fill the gaps left behind when Democratic President Joe Biden called for a stop to border wall construction.
A handful of protestors, including local conservationists from Cochise County and Tucson, blocked construction on Tuesday, the second time in two weeks that protestors temporarily stopped the work.
A small group of protestors, including local conservationists, held a rally to stop Arizona's construction of a border barrier in the Coronado National Forest on Nov. 29. Video courtesy of Russ McSpadden.
Conservationists say the state’s barrier blocks migration and connectivity for wildlife. Only humans have been seen going over the containers the state has also put up on Yuma area border starting in August, they said. The number of migrants apprehended in that area increased after the construction.
In the Coronado, construction crews have bulldozed oak trees and built through a number of desert streams, conservationists said.
The Center for Biological Diversity says Arizona has destroyed numerous trees as it continues to build a border barrier on federal land with, the Governor’s Office readily acknowledges, no permits and following no regulations.
Arizona is constructing a border barrier in the Coronado National Forest without permission and without going through any sort of permitting process or following any environmental regulations.
As part of the state’s standoff with the U.S. government, Ducey filed a lawsuit against federal agencies saying, among other things, that the state is being “invaded” and the federal government is not living up to its legal obligation to offer protection, meaning the state is entitled to take matters into its own hands.
He also contends President Theodore Roosevelt had no legal right to simply declare the strip of land along the border, now known as the Roosevelt Reservation, is the property of the federal government.
A judge recently allowed the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity to join the suit as a defendant. Last week, lawyers for the federal government asked the judge to dismiss the case, arguing Ducey’s lawsuit is “flawed on so many fronts” that it should not be allowed to proceed.
New drone footage of the shipping containers at the Arizona border in the Coronado National Forest. The barrier has expanded to 3.25 miles. Video courtesy of Sky Island Alliance
