1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

I am a Texan that loves our beautiful state. I am begging that you oppose any border wall construction anywhere in the Greater Big Bend region of Texas, including Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, Black Gap Wildlife Management Area, Seminole Canyon State Park, and the surrounding private lands in Hudspeth, Presidio, Brewster, and Terrell Counties. The Greater Big Bend is one of America’s greatest natural treasures. It is home to world-class public lands, irreplaceable wildlife habitat, sacred cultural and archaeological sites, and the Rio Grande. Once these landscapes are bulldozed, blasted, and fragmented, they cannot be restored. There is no justification for permanently destroying one of the last intact desert ecosystems in North America. We have already seen what happens when border wall projects move forward under sweeping federal waivers. Environmental laws, historic preservation laws, tribal consultation requirements, and public input are cast aside in the name of speed. Congress should never tolerate the suspension of laws that exist to protect our nation’s natural and cultural heritage. A border wall through the Greater Big Bend would fracture wildlife migration corridors, damage fragile desert ecosystems, threaten endangered species, scar the Rio Grande corridor, and undermine the tourism economy that sustains local communities. This is not conservation. It is government-authorized destruction. Protecting our border does not require destroying America’s public lands. Effective border security can be achieved through modern technology, targeted infrastructure where appropriate, increased personnel, and intelligence-driven enforcement without permanently sacrificing an irreplaceable landscape. I expect you to publicly oppose any border wall construction in the Greater Big Bend region and reject any attempt to bypass environmental and cultural protection laws. Future generations deserve to inherit this extraordinary landscape intact—not as another example of preventable government destruction. Protect the Greater Big Bend. Once it is gone, no act of Congress will ever bring it back.