Aerial view of the U.S.-Mexico border ending with a gap near Sasabe, Arizona on Jan. 19, 2025. John Moore / Getty Images
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President Donald Trump is building a new section of the border wall between the United States and Mexico that will present a threat to the movement of wildlife living in a remote part of Arizona’s San Rafael Valley.
The area is one of the country’s most biodiverse regions, with many rare animals but few people, reported The Guardian.
“This is a crucial wildlife corridor,” said Eamon Harrity, wildlife program manager with conservation nonprofit Sky Island Alliance. “Large predators and other animals move freely through this landscape. That [movement] won’t happen once the wall is complete.”
Harrity helps monitor over 110 trail cameras for a study that started in 2020 and records how Trump’s barrier affects cross-border movements of local wildlife.
Private companies have been invited by Customs and Border Protection to bid on contracts to build a 24.7-mile section of the border wall in the valley south of Sonoita, BEX reported.
The area is flanked on both sides by mountains, known as “sky islands,” that rise steeply over grasslands and high desert.
One of the 65 wildlife cameras operated by the Sky Island Alliance in this portion of the wall — where there is a long gap — has captured thousands of images of bears, mountain lions, bobcats, pronghorns and other wildlife.
Construction of the 30-foot fence through San Rafael Valley will make the area impassable for animals bigger than a jackrabbit, interfering with a critical migration route between Arizona and Mexico.
Studies conducted on the impacts of the border wall on ecosystems and wildlife suggest that it has changed behavior, fragmented populations and cut some animals off from essential food and water sources, reported Sierra.
A study by Harrity and a team of researchers last year found that less than 10 percent of observed wildlife were able to pass through one stretch of fencing in Arizona.
“I have seen deer and wild turkey moving along the wall and unable to cross,” Harrity said, as Sierra reported. “When you see it in person and you see the panting and the running back and forth, looking for a way to cross and ultimately failing, you recognize that wow, this animal is trying to survive, and there’s this giant thing in its way that’s causing a lot of grief and stress.”
Erick Meza, Sierra Club’s borderlands coordinator, said bisecting the valley with the wall would be “catastrophic for the environment and wildlife,” reported The Guardian.
More than 60 percent of Arizona’s border has already been completed. The sections that remain open are crucial for wildlife, as the San Rafael Valley is one of the only remaining intact stretches of Sonoran desert grasslands in Arizona.
The Patagonia and Huachuca mountains — part of the Sky Island range — offer a variety of habitats, water and food sources for wildlife amidst the extreme desert climate.
In addition to mountain lions, bears and wolves, subtropical species like the javelina and endangered large cats like jaguars and ocelots make their homes in this unique landscape. Their natural ranges cover hundreds of miles, as they crisscross the international border in search of water, sustenance and mates.
“The biodiversity here is incredible,” Meza said. “This is at the heart of all these different ecosystems coming together.”
Harrity emphasized that, as the climate crisis worsens drought conditions in the Southwest, the border region’s wildlife will be forced to travel farther to find what they need to survive.
“The last thing we should be doing right now is walling off corridors and severing connectivity,” Harrity added.
Another feature of the borderlands is the Santa Cruz River, which serves as a vital wildlife migration corridor, winding back and forth across the border of Arizona and Mexico.
“The river will now be walled on both legs of its journey,” Harrity said.
A study last year by Sky Islands Alliance and the Wildlands Network using cameras along a 100-mile stretch of the wall found it reduced wildlife crossings by 86 percent, with a 100 percent decrease for larger animals like bears, jaguars, pronghorns and wolves.
While the San Rafael Valley is full of wildlife, it is nearly devoid of humans. A camera that has been in operation by the river for five years has yet to capture a single image of a migrant crossing the border into the U.S.
“The Trump administration would rather score cheap political points and a favorable Fox News headline than solve a problem,” said Democratic Senator from New Mexico Martin Heinrich, as The Guardian reported. “New Mexicans who live on the border want actual solutions, like creating new legal pathways for immigration, investing in effective border security for law enforcement, and addressing the root causes of mass migration.”
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Cristen is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. She holds a JD and an Ocean & Coastal Law Certificate from University of Oregon School of Law and an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London. She is the author of the short story collection The Smallest of Entryways, as well as the travel biography, Ernest’s Way: An International Journey Through Hemingway’s Life.
