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Above: The Franklin Mountains from Trans Mountain Road in El
Paso. Updated June 30, 2009
WASHINGTON – Last
week, 27 members of Congress urged
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to instruct U.S. Customs
and Border Protection to comply with all laws if she proceeds with the
final approximately 40 miles of border wall construction still slated
for environmentally sensitive areas in California and Texas. The REAL ID Act of 2005 gave the Secretary of
Homeland Security -- an unelected official – the authority to waive any
law in order to fast-track construction of infrastructure along our
shared international border with Mexico. Bush administration Secretary
of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff used this unprecedented authority
five times, waiving more than three dozen cultural protection, religious
freedom, public safety, and environmental laws. “Ignoring laws to build walls has caused needless
harm to families, communities, and wildlife," said Michael Degnan,
Sierra Club's public lands representative. "We are heartened to hear
members of Congress call on the administration to reinstate the rule of
law to the borderlands, a simple act that would go a long way toward
restoring responsibility to our border policy.” In today's letter, the 27 Representatives
recognized the impacts of waiving laws at the federal, state and local
levels, writing: “We believe damage that has occurred to community
relationships and public lands is attributable, at least in part, to the
haste with which construction has proceeded, the lack of compliance with
laws and regulations, and the lack of consultation with property owners
and land managers.” A diverse group of organizations have applauded
Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA) and his colleagues for taking a stand and urging
action on this critical issue. “I’ve seen nothing that even comes close to justify
waiving laws in order to fast track border wall construction,” said
Congressman Bob Filner. “It concerns me that this has taken place in the
past and I urge Secretary Napolitano to prevent further damage to our
border communities, natural resources, and fragile wildlife habitat.” “We should not sacrifice bedrock democratic
principles like ‘consent of the governed’ and ‘representative democracy’
at the altar of the border wall," said Reverend John Fanestil of the
United Methodist Church. "Kudos to legislators working to restore due
process and the rule of law on the U.S.-Mexico border.” Jay J. Johnson-Castro, Sr., founder and president
of Border Ambassadors and executive director of the Rio Grande
International Study Center, Laredo Community College, said: “For those
of us who live here on the border, we feel like our part of the United
States is not recognized as equal to the rest of the country. When over
three dozen Congressional acts were waived, we lost the legal
protections that the rest of the United States enjoys. Some call our
borderlands the ‘deconstitutionalized zone.'" "The controversy over walls and waivers is far from
over, despite hundreds of damaging miles of walls already built in
disregard of laws meant to safeguard our lands and resources," said Matt
Clark, southwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife. "This is the
time for President Obama and Secretary Napolitano to make a clear
departure from the mistakes of the last administration and comply with
the important laws enacted to prevent or minimize negative impacts to
our wildlife and environment.”
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Meet the white-winged dove
I took this picture of a White-winged Dove feeding on the flowers of a Havard
Agave (century plant) in the Chisos Basin at Big Bend National Park.
While I wish every home in El Paso had a few agaves, if you don’t have
one in bloom this year you can easily attract this species of dove and other
species of resident birds by planting any one of a large variety of native trees
and shrubs. Contact the
Native Plant Society
for tips on what species to plant and where to get them.
Many people also attract doves to their
yards by putting out wild bird seed.
This time of year most White-winged Doves have already nested and raised their
chicks. Compared to the more well
know Mourning Dove with its distinctive mournful cooing song “
oo-wah-hoo-oo-oo” the song of the White-winged Dove is much more lively “whut,
whut, wooo” sung to the rhythm of ‘who cooks for who”.
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Calendar of Events/Meetings
Hello Partners-in-Education The
It will be held on Saturday, August 1 and Sunday, August 2
from 10 am to 4 pm. This is a wonderful opportunity to come and share your conservation message,
help our community make a connection with nature and help our guest understand
the changes that are occurring in our environment, in a fun educational way. If you are interested in participating, all you have to do is call/e-mail
Rick LoBello at
lobellorl@elpasotexas.gov or 915- 521-1881 or 915- 217-4233 and describe in
a couple of sentence what your activity will be, what you will need in regards
to setting up and what you will be distributing by July 10th.
Thank you so
much! Rose Janice
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