1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

I ask you to use every legal and political power available to stop border-barrier construction, land clearing, road building, blasting, staging, and permanent lighting throughout the Big Bend region—not merely inside Big Bend National Park. Texas officials must demand that Washington stop this project. The latest assurance that a 30-foot wall will not be built inside the park is not enough. Federal officials have repeatedly changed their maps, terminology, and plans. They said no wall would be built, yet contractors and heavy equipment entered the park, vegetation was cleared, and the National Park Service announced closures for an “active, large scale construction project.” Calling it a “vehicle barrier,” “smart wall,” “patrol road,” or “detection system” does not make the destruction less real. Protecting only the national park is inadequate. The national park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, the Rio Grande, Black Gap Wildlife Management Area, private ranches, nearby communities, and lands in Mexico form one interconnected ecosystem. Wildlife, waterways, migration corridors, and pollinators do not stop at park, property, or national boundaries. Officials have not shown a vehicle-crossing problem remotely proportionate to this destruction. Much of this terrain is river, desert, mountains, cliffs, and canyons where vehicles cannot simply cross. Cutting roads into remote country may make it easier to reach while permanently destroying habitat. Continuous or high-intensity lighting is unacceptable. Big Bend’s internationally important dark skies support wildlife, bats and other pollinators, astronomy, research, tourism, and human health. Once roads are cut, vegetation bulldozed, archaeological sites disturbed, and darkness flooded with artificial light, the damage cannot be undone. Texas has already demonstrated that it can act. The General Land Office issued a cease-and-desist after a federal contractor cleared state-owned land without authorization. That action must be expanded into a coordinated statewide defense of Big Bend. Demand an immediate federal stop-work order. Protect all state lands and refuse easements, permits, resources, or cooperation that would facilitate this destruction. Direct the appropriate Texas agencies to pursue every available legal remedy. Demand withdrawal of the federal environmental waivers, full disclosure of all plans and contracts, and a complete Environmental Impact Statement. Press the Texas congressional delegation to enact binding protection for the entire region. Big Bend is Texas land, Texas heritage, and a vital part of Texas’s economy and natural legacy. Texas leaders have both the power and the duty to fight for it. You will be held accountable if you stand by while Washington and its contractors cause irreversible damage that forceful state action could have prevented. Do not accept another temporary promise or change in terminology. Protect Big Bend and the entire surrounding region now.