Protect Big Bend and All of America’s Public Lands

Our national parks are not sacrifice zones. Our public lands are not disposable. And Big Bend is not yours to destroy. I am begging that you stand up and fight against any unnecessary border wall construction or other destructive infrastructure that would permanently damage Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, Black Gap Wildlife Management Area, Seminole Canyon State Park, or the surrounding public lands of the Greater Big Bend region. These places belong to the American people. They are among the last great stretches of wild landscape in our country—filled with extraordinary wildlife, fragile desert ecosystems, the Rio Grande, and irreplaceable archaeological and cultural resources. Once they are bulldozed, blasted, fragmented, and scarred, they are gone. We cannot call ourselves stewards of America’s natural heritage while destroying the very lands we promised to protect. And the consequences are not merely environmental. They are economic. Communities throughout the Big Bend region depend on tourism and outdoor recreation. Visitors come to hike, camp, explore, photograph wildlife, experience the Rio Grande, and witness a landscape unlike anywhere else in America. They spend money at local hotels, restaurants, outfitters, guide services, gas stations, shops, and countless small businesses. Destroy the landscape, and you threaten the economy built around it. We should be investing in protecting these lands—not tearing them apart for infrastructure that does not belong there. Border security and conservation can coexist. Technology, personnel, surveillance, and targeted enforcement can protect our border without permanently sacrificing national parks and public lands. Congress must reject any attempt to bypass environmental protections, cultural resource safeguards, or public input simply to push destructive projects through faster. Those laws exist for a reason. I am pleading with you to remember that your responsibility extends beyond the next election, the next political fight, or the next headline. You have a responsibility to protect the places that cannot be replaced. Please do not let Big Bend become another casualty of unnecessary construction. Do not allow America’s national parks to be sacrificed when better alternatives exist. Future generations will inherit what we choose to protect—or what we choose to destroy. Protect Big Bend. Protect our national parks. Protect our public lands. Once they are destroyed, we cannot vote to bring them back.