the san diego border observer

BORDER FENCE: Smuggler's Gulch project a 'disaster' for estuary, critics say

2009-11-14T11:25:00.000-08:00

15 January 2009

by April Reese, E&E Western reporter

LINK TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE

This article is part of an occasional series on the environmental impacts of the new border fence being constructed along the U.S.-Mexico border.

IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. -- Newly filled with 1.3 million cubic yards of hard-packed dirt, Smuggler's Gulch, long a conduit for illegal immigration and drug trafficking, may need a new name.

Once a haven for traders in contraband of all kinds -- first, Prohibition-era bootleggers; later, drug smugglers and immigrant-ferrying "coyotes" -- the gulch now echoes with the sounds of earth-moving bulldozers, dump trucks and Border Patrol jeeps.

Over the next few months, contractors will finish building a 15-foot-high steel mesh fence along the spine of the new berm and another, smaller earthen bridge across Goat Canyon, just to the west. Dirt roads will run along either side, and in most places, the primary barrier will be reinforced with a 10-foot-high chain-link fence on the north side. The new fencing joins a decades-old corrugated metal vehicle barrier a few hundred yards to the south; together, the three fences will create a three-tiered barrier between the United States and Mexico.

From below, the massive berm now bridging the mesas on either side of the 300-foot-deep gulch is an intimidating sight: massive, impenetrable.

That is exactly what Customs and Border Protection and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, were aiming for.

"That old fence was never meant to keep people out," said CBP's Jerry Conlin, looking down on the rusty vehicle barrier from the edge of the new berm, where the next section of new fence will soon be erected. "It was never meant to provide the sort of security that our country needs now."

Until now, Border Patrol agents have had to pursue suspected illegal border crossers down treacherous switchback dirt roads that are cut into the sides of the canyons. Now, with the berms bridging two canyons, agents will be able to drive straight across, providing much quicker response times and a much safer route, Conlin said.

But while the berm -- as high as some of the West's concrete dams -- and the fence it will support may stem the flow of illegal immigrants and drug smugglers, it is expected to increase the flow of sediment into the Tijuana River estuary, habitat for several threatened and endangered species and the target of a multi-decade restoration effort. Like the other drainages in the border highlands, as the stretch of rugged terrain along the last few miles of the U.S. border with Mexico is called, Smuggler's Gulch and Goat Canyon funnel streams from Mexico northward into the United States, into the river and its estuary.

Part of a larger, $127 million plan to construct 14 miles of new barrier spanning the westernmost part of the San Diego sector, the Smuggler's Gulch project was delayed by legal challenges and regulatory hurdles. In the end, CBP was able to undertake the project without adhering to any state or federal environmental laws due to waiver provisions in both a 1996 law pertaining just to the Smuggler's Gulch area and the REAL ID Act of 2005, which applied to other areas, as well (Land Letter, Sept. 22, 2005).

'A wall of shame'

Environmental groups, state regulatory agencies and managers of the 2,800-acre Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve have warned DHS and CBP that the project would cause extensive erosion and send tons of dirt downstream, choking the estuary and undermining decades of work restoring ecologically important wetlands. The estuary encompasses a national wildlife refuge and state parklands and is home to a number of endangered bird species, including the light-footed clapper rail, the California least tern, the least Bell's vireo and the American peregrine falcon.

"Frankly, from our perspective, this project was just a disaster," said Peter Douglas, executive director of the California Coastal Commission, which regulates development in the coastal zone. "Not only is it a wall of shame, but to override the protections after the state spent tens of millions of dollars to restore the estuary and to just come in and blast the place ... it's just shameful."

The Tijuana Estuary Tidal Restoration Program, which calls for restoring 520 acres of inter-tidal wetlands, is one of the largest wetland restoration projects in the country.

Even though the project is proceeding under the waiver, the California Division of Water Quality is pressing CBP to keep environmental damage in check. In a letter to CBP and the Army Corps of Engineers written after a tour of the area in the fall, the agency warned that poor road design and planning would harm the estuary.

"This project will have significant adverse impacts, especially permanent loss of wetlands and riparian habitats," wrote Darrin Polhemus, the division's deputy director.

"Most road segments observed exhibited poor grading practices and will likely erode if normal rainfall occurs," Polhemus added. "This will create environmental costs in the form of lost hydrologic function in the watershed and sediment deliveries to the estuary below. It will also create costs in the form of expensive remedial maintenance and will create hazards for the agents using those roads."

CBP is crafting a response to the letter. The agency has said it is building retaining walls, culverts and other erosion-control infrastructure to help protect the estuary. Some of those measures were on display during a recent tour of the project site, although some areas appeared to lack erosion controls.

On a warm afternoon this week, Jim Peugh, conservation chairman of the San Diego chapter of the Audubon Society, stood a few feet from a new section of the fence just east of Smuggler's Gulch and pointed to a rivulet crossing a section of new road. Bigger, more damaging gullies will cut through the project area as San Diego County's winter rains continue, he said.

Jason Price, project leader for the Army Corps of Engineers' Engineering and Construction Support Office, which is helping to coordinate construction of the fence, said the company contracted to do the work is following a stormwater pollution prevention plan and is to repair any areas damaged by heavy rains. After the project is completed, responsibility for erosion control will be handed over to CBP when it assumes operation and maintenance duties, he added.

In his letter, Polhemus of the California Division of Water Quality told CBP and the corps that mitigation and long-term monitoring will be needed to help offset the damage to the estuary.

Along the slopes rising from the roadcuts in the mesas on either side of the gulch, fiber rolls have been put in place to help reduce erosion, and in some areas, green seedlings can be seen sprouting in the dirt between the erosion barriers. Those plants -- the native rayless gumplant, according to Price -- replace the laurel sumac and black sage that once grew on the site.

"In the Smuggler's area, it's been decided not to have the high vegetation that would obstruct our visibility," Conlin explained.

Need for project questioned

Peugh and other critics have called for a project with a smaller disturbance footprint that would rely more on increased patrols and more underground sensors and remote cameras.

"They didn't need to have a triple fence, they needed to have a real fence," Peugh said. "There were areas where the existing fence has fallen down because of erosion. And people would use pieces of fallen fence to get over the standing fence."

But Conlin said CBP had already gone as far as it could with manpower and technology under Operation Gatekeeper in the 1990s. What was missing was a more efficient route for both the fence and the patrol roads, he said.

"The terrain just doesn't allow for the type of manpower that would be needed, to cover areas with difficult terrain, with high brush, with low to zero visibility," Conlin said, slowly driving a white government-issue Suburban toward the saddle of the Smuggler's Gulch berm as construction workers in orange safety vests worked on a new section of steel fence in the distance. "This whole project is about the right combination of personnel, technology and infrastructure."

When the project is done, Border Patrol agents will have a more or less straight throughway paralleling the fence from the San Ysidro Point of Entry east of Smuggler's Gulch to the shoreline 5 miles away.

"Raising Smuggler's Gulch will allow us to respond to any threats to the area -- and rescues in the area -- much better than before," Conlin said.

In the 1980s, the area of the border south of Imperial Beach, including Smuggler's Gulch, was one of the busiest -- and most dangerous -- sections along the border. In the early 1990s, about half a million people crossed into the United States from Mexico illegally in the San Diego sector, more than anywhere else on the entire border.

After a crackdown by the Border Patrol during the mid-1990s under President Bill Clinton's "Operation Gatekeeper" initiative, which doubled the number of Border Patrol agents and provided more cameras and sensors, apprehensions fell by more than three-quarters, dropping from 480,000 in fiscal 1996 to 100,000 in fiscal 2002.

Since then, apprehensions have risen slightly, to about 152,000 in fiscal 2007 and about 162,000 last year. "It's been going up little by little since 2002," Conlin said.

A project years in the making

The mandate to construct 14 miles of new fencing in the San Diego sector dates back to 1996, predating the Secure Fence Act by a decade. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, authored in part by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R) of San Diego, called for the U.S. attorney general to "provide for the construction along the 14 miles of the international land border of the United States, starting at the Pacific Ocean and extending eastward, of second and third fences, in addition to the existing reinforced fence, and for roads between the fences."

The law's authorization to waive the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act to allow for "expeditious construction" set the stage for the waiver authority granted to the DHS secretary in the REAL ID Act in 2005, which expanded the authority to apply to all state and federal laws. Under the REAL ID Act, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff waived a host of laws to complete various portions of the fence, including the Coastal Zone Management Act, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, the Clean Air Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Without the waivers, it seems unlikely that the Smuggler's Gulch project would have been constructed in its current design. In 2004, environmental groups sued to stop the project, and the same year, the California Coastal Commission concluded that Customs and Border Protection had not demonstrated that the project was consistent with the California Coastal Management Program, a state program approved under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act. It warned that the new fence project would harm the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research and Reserve, further imperil state and federally listed species and compromise lands in the border highlands set aside for protection under San Diego's Multiple Species Conservation Program.

Peter Douglas, executive director of the California Coastal Commission, said there is little the state can do to get CBP to repair the damage. Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D), nominated to be the new Department of Homeland Security chief under President-elect Barack Obama, has criticized the border fence, offering hope to some critics that the new administration will attempt to repair some of the environmental damage from the fence, or even reshape parts of it. But Douglas is doubtful.

"I think the damage is done," Douglas said. "I don't know how you go back and undo it."

The ongoing construction project at Smuggler's Gulch, expected to be finished in May, is one of a handful of border fence projects that have extended beyond Chertoff's deadline of Dec. 31. While Chertoff said in August that the agency was on track to complete its goal of 370 miles of pedestrian fencing and 300 miles of vehicle barriers by the end of the year, only 563 total miles have been built, according to Lloyd Easterling, a spokesman for CBP in Washington. But Easterling, who attributes the delays to the increased price of fuels and steel, said he expects the administration will hit the 670-mile mark before Bush leaves office next week.

"We're still committed to the 670-mile goal," Easterling said, adding that contracts have been secured for all the remaining projects.

April Reese is based in Santa Fe, N.M.

About E&E Publishing: Environment & Energy Publishing (E&E) is the leading source for comprehensive, daily coverage of environmental and energy policy and markets. E&E's four daily on-line publications are considered "must-reads" by people who track and influence energy, environmental and climate policy.

U.S., Mexico and Canada Agreement at WILD9

2009-11-13T10:34:00.000-08:00

See WILD9 Link for pdf in English

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING On Cooperation for Wilderness Conservation
between the

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE and BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT of the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR and the U.S. FOREST SERVICE and OFFICE OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND MARKETS of the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

and the
SECRETARIAT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES
through the NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR NATURAL PROTECTED AREAS
of the UNITED MEXICAN STATES

and the
PARKS CANADA AGENCY of the GOVERNMENT OF CANADA

The National Park Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management of the U.S. Department of the Interior of the United States of America, the U.S. Forest Service and the Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets of the U.S. Department of Agriculture of the United States of America, the Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources through the National Commission for Natural Protected Areas of the United Mexican States, and the Parks Canada Agency of the Government of Canada; hereinafter referred to as the Participants:

RECOGNIZING the advanced cooperation that exists between the Participants in the management, planning, preservation and research for the conservation of wilderness areas of the United States, Mexico and Canada;

WHEREAS conservation is generally defined by the Participants as the formulation and implementation of strategies and practices related to the research, monitoring, protection, and restoration of natural resources, ecosystems and their components, while facilitating opportunities for public outreach, education, visitor experience and enjoyment.

RECOGNIZING that while the concept of wilderness varies among the Participants, it is generally considered to be land, marine and coastal areas that exist in a natural state or are capable of being returned to a natural state, are treasured for their intrinsic value, and offer opportunities to experience natural heritage places through activities that require few, if any, rudimentary facilities or services.

WHEREAS Canada, the United States and Mexico share a continent with vast, interconnected wilderness resources – including forests, mountain ranges, wildlife species, freshwater systems, and oceans and marine life – and whereas this shared resource is best protected through communication, consultation and cooperation;

RECOGNIZING that developing a shared vision of the North American continent’s terrestrial and marine wilderness resources will enhance conservation efforts in each country, as well as cooperation between Participants;

WHEREAS natural and cultural heritage properties and sites on the national territory of each Participant are of significance nationally and, in many cases, internationally through inclusion on the United Nation’s World Heritage List;

WHEREAS wilderness areas in all three countries, Mexico, the United States and Canada, represent irreplaceable elements of the heritage and identity of the people of all three nations;

WHEREAS wilderness areas may assist in the adaptation of flora, fauna and human populations to climate change and other factors that have effects on habitat;

NOTING the Participants’ mutual interest in continuing and strengthening the conservation and management of national parks and wilderness for the purpose of conserving shared ecosystems, in particular in those areas close to or contiguous with national borders;

RECOGNIZING the importance and relevance of ecological and commemorative integrity in the establishment, management and operations of wilderness areas for the purpose of preserving and conserving these areas for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations;

RECOGNIZING the importance of creating a sense of “connection to place” to ensure the continued relevance of wilderness to residents of North America and to enhance public engagement in the protection and conservation of wilderness;

Have reached the following understanding:

This Memorandum has as its objective the creation of a voluntary framework for cooperation and coordination among the Participants concerning the commemoration, conservation and preservation of wilderness areas. In pursuing such cooperation and coordination, the Participants are fully aware that the modalities available to further the concept of wilderness are different for each Participant, according to their corresponding Laws and authority.

1. (a) The Participants intend to establish an Intergovernmental Committee, to be initially comprised of the Directors of the National Park Service, U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management, the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, the Director of the Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets, the National Commissioner of the National Commission for Natural Protected Areas, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Parks Canada Agency or their designated representative, to review, discuss and disseminate information about progress on projects, possible areas for future cooperation, and other related issues.

(b) The Committee should meet periodically, in locations alternating among the three countries. The Committee should make every possible effort to meet in association with the Canada/Mexico/U.S. Trilateral Committee for Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation and Management in order to avoid replication and ensure integration into on-going initiatives. Other government agencies may be invited to participate in the future, as appropriate.

(c) The members of the Committee may designate appropriate representatives to coordinate and monitor the progress of cooperative activities developed to accomplish the objectives outlined in this Memorandum of Understanding.

(d) The Committee should ensure integration of wilderness activities with other on-going bilateral and trilateral initiatives and avoid duplication of other initiatives.

2. (a) The forms of cooperative activities under this Memorandum of Understanding may include but are not limited to exchanges of technical and professional information; participation in joint seminars, conferences, training courses, and workshops in areas of professional and technical interest; joint planning and research teams; and exchanges of specialists. The type of activities carried out under this voluntary cooperative framework is subject to the availability of funds and personnel of each Participant and subject to the laws and regulations of their respective countries.

(b) Topics of mutual interest and benefit for ongoing or future cooperative activities may include but are not limited to:

(i) Commitment to promoting and enhancing wilderness on land and in
marine and coastal areas;
(ii) Examination of issues in wilderness conservation and management, with a
special concern for the impacts of climate change, fire, and alien invasive species on wilderness areas and their inhabitant species;
(iii) Research, inventory, documentation, and monitoring of wilderness areas;
(iv) Valuing human livelihoods dependent on wilderness;
(v) Consideration of mechanisms of payment for ecosystem services related to
wilderness conservation;
(vi) Public information to increase community support for conservation of
wilderness;
(vii) Joint identification and conservation of transboundary resources as they
relate to wilderness areas;
(viii) Consideration of wilderness areas in the context of a broader landscape
approach to conservation management;
(ix) Establishment of sustained relationships between wilderness managers
across the continent for the purpose of mentoring, sharing research and technology, exploring common challenges and solutions, and potentially developing transcontinental goals and plans of action;
(x) Exploring potential to work with those biosphere reserves with core
wilderness areas to advance wilderness conservation;
(xi) Facilitating visitor experience as a means to enhance relevance of
wilderness and foster engagement in wilderness conservation; and
(xii) Exchange of information and best practices on innovative approaches to
governance of wilderness areas.

3. Each Participant should ensure that the information transmitted by one Participant to another Participant under this Memorandum of Understanding is accurate to its best knowledge and belief. The transmitting Participant should not warrant the suitability of the information transmitted for any particular use of or application by the receiving Participant.

4. (a) This Memorandum becomes operative upon its signature by the Participants and its terms apply until discontinued by the Participants.

(b) The Participants may modify this Memorandum of Understanding upon their written mutual consent.

(c) Each Participant may discontinue this Memorandum of Understanding at any time upon written notification through diplomatic channels to other Participants. The discontinuation of this Memorandum of Understanding should not affect the validity or duration of projects under this Memorandum of Understanding, which are initiated prior to such discontinuation, subject to availability of funds.

Signed in triplicate at WILD9, the 9th World Wilderness Congress, Mérida, United Mexican States, on this 7th day of November 2009, in the English, French and Spanish languages.

FOR THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

FOR THE PARKS CANADA AGENCY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA:

FOR THE U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT THE INTERIOR OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

FOR THE SECRETARIAT OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES THROUGH THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR NATURAL PROTECTED AREAS OF THE UNITED MEXICAN STATES:

FOR THE BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENTOF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

FOR THE U.S. FOREST SERVICE OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

FOR THE OFFICE OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND MARKETS OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

Corporate Commitment to Wilderness: Memorandum of Understanding to Protect Wilderness

2009-11-13T10:20:00.000-08:00

Memorandum of Understanding between the WILD Foundation and Members of the Corporate Commitment to Wilderness At WILD9, the 9th World Wilderness Congress

See WILD9 link for PDF

November 2009

This MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (Memorandum), dated November 9, 2009, records the basis upon which the Parties to this Memorandum have agreed to collaborate..

The Parties to this Memorandum are:

The WILD Foundation (WILD) located at 717 Poplar Avenue, Boulder, Colorado USA 80304
The Corporate Members (Members) (See Below)

1. Background – Wilderness as a foundation for sustainability
In 1924, the U.S. Forest Service administratively protected the first wilderness in the United States by setting aside 574,000 acres of the Gila National Forest located in the State of New Mexico as the first designated wilderness in the United States. Forty years later, this idea became institutionalized as a form of land conservation with the passage of the U.S. Wilderness Act of 1964. Since that time other nations - Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Finland, Sri Lanka, the former Soviet Union, and South Africa – have passed wilderness legislation.

What constitutes wilderness has been the crucial question affecting all wilderness designation and management decisions. Aldo Leopold (1921) envisioned wilderness as “a continuous stretch of country preserved in its natural state, open to lawful hunting and fishing, devoid of roads, artificial trails, cottages, or other works of man”. Although wilderness means something different to everyone, four central themes have consistently emerged; experiential, the direct value of the wilderness experience; the value of wilderness as a scientific resource and environmental baseline; the symbolic and spiritual values of wilderness to nations and the world; and the value of wilderness as a commodity or place that generates direct and indirect benefits.
Now we recognize that the climate will change, posing new challenges to many ecosystems. Our need to devote more of the Earth’s land surface to conserving biodiversity and open spaces will play a key role in our ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change. We can do this through ensuring that protected areas continue to be established and well-managed.

We have evolved to a world where half of the global population lives in cities. This presents a tremendous need and opportunity to reunite fragmented rural landscapes, that were impacted by unsustainable land use practices, and begin the process of restoring and re-wilding them. The ecological services that healthy ecosystems provide worldwide are the foundation to a sustainable future, a healthy human society, and successful business on our planet.

2. Purpose Of Working Together:
There is a clear and well-documented business case for sustainable development in industry. Experts confirm that economies will fail to grow and prosper in the absence of fertile soil, freshwater, clean air, and a stable, predictable climate.
To pursue the imperative for sustainability, the private sector can consolidate capacities and take decisive, united actions that assure continued functioning of the critical ecosystem services and biodiversity required for sustainable life and economy on this planet. Furthermore, it is important that environmental organizations encourage and acknowledge the positive contributions of the private sector to conservation and the protection of wild nature and vital ecosystem services such as climate regulation (temperature moderation, carbon sequestration, etc), freshwater, clean air, fertile soil and others. The “Center for Corporate Commitment to Wilderness” is a direct response to both these needs, and participation in it offers corporations a unique opportunity to demonstrate and showcase their leadership in and commitment to land stewardship and the efficient use of natural resources.

3. Principles:
This Memorandum is not a contract and creates no binding obligations between the Parties. It rather documents the intentions of the Parties to collaborate on a sustainable and evolving program of activities for the protection of wilderness and biodiversity. As such, this Memorandum is only intended for use in recording mutual intent to draft agreements and to guide the programs and activities upon which the Parties wish to collaborate.. Such agreements will give members of this new private sector coalition the opportunity to participate in the “Center for Corporate Commitment to Wilderness”, a program of The WILD Foundation.

4. Goals and Objectives:
The Parties to this Commitment intend to develop long-term goals and objectives that would unite the Parties in the protection of wild nature and biodiversity, for generations to come. Some of the areas of common interest for developing such goals and objectives are as follows:

A. Protecting wilderness land and/or seas for the long-term.
B. Restoring wilderness conditions and wildlife to degraded areas.
C. Promoting the importance of wilderness values.
D. Advocating for wilderness recognition and legislation.
E. Providing outreach and education on the role of wilderness for ecosystem services.
F. Increasing awareness of the direct link between wilderness, biodiversity and a stable climate.
G. Facilitating science-based management practices for wilderness.
H. Training and developing leadership capabilities for young wilderness professionals.
I. Transferring wilderness protection and sustainability models globally.
J. Promoting public-private sector partnerships for wilderness.
K. Identifying economic opportunities for local people in or near wilderness areas.

5. Organization:
The Parties agree that the “Center for Corporate Commitment to Wilderness” will be a part of The WILD Foundation, and will be administered in accordance with the By Laws of the WILD Foundation and the 501 (c)(3) Internal Revenue Code of the US Government.

6. Phased Approach:
The Parties recognize that the goals and objectives contained within this Memorandum cannot all be accomplished quickly, or at once. They must rather be pursued in a step-by-step approach as the Parties consolidate capacity, confidence, mutual trust, and positive results.

7. Resourcing Structure:
The Parties recognize that participation in the wilderness goals and objectives identified in this Memorandum requires resources at varying levels and type. It is the intent of this Memorandum to develop a Member Resource Commitment Structure with different levels of involvement, to address individual Members ability and desire to participate the “Center for Corporate Commitment to Wilderness”.

8. Term:
The term of the Memorandum shall be in force for one (1) year, unless mutually agreed to by the Parties otherwise. The Term has been set to allow sufficient time for the Parties to draft and enter into a final long-term agreement regarding joint programs and activities for the Members of the “Center for Corporate Commitment to Wilderness”.

Concur:
The WILD Foundation
Members
ACCIONA – ENERGIA EOLICA MEXICO
ALFA
BIMBO
CEMEX
COCA COLA DE MÉXICO
COOPER T. SMITH DE MÉXICO
FEMSA
FERROMEX
FRESNILLO PLC
Johnson Controls - LTH
PLENUS

Mexico, U.S., Canada to protect wilderness across borders

2009-11-13T09:59:00.000-08:00

from NATGEO Newswatch
7 November 2009

LINK TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Merida, Mexico | Canada, Mexico, and the United States have become the first countries to agree formally to cooperate on wilderness conservation measures across a continent, Mexico's President Felipe Calderón announced.

Calderón made the announcement of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Cooperation for Wilderness Conservation between the three countries during his speech at the opening ceremony of the 9th World Wilderness Congress (WILD9), in Merida, Mexico last night.

"This Agreement will facilitate the sharing of successful experiences, monitoring, and training of human resources, as well as the financing of projects that will protect and recover wild areas," President Calderón said.

The MOU provisions address ecosystems, migratory wildlife, and natural resources that do not start and end with geographical boundaries, the organizers of the WILD9 conference reported in a statement. "This MOU also encourages cooperative efforts to conduct and share scientific research."

Signed in the three national languages of English, Spanish and French, the agreement is cross-cultural, and respects native approaches to conserving wild nature, accommodation for indigenous customs, priorities for species survival, and national environmental policy, the statement added.

Seven agencies responsible for wilderness management signed the MOU: the Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources through the National Commission on Protected Areas (CONANP) of the United Mexican States; the Parks Canada agency of the Government of Canada; the National Park Service, Fish & Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management of the U.S. Department of Interior, and the Forest Service and Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The MOU process was facilitated by the WILD9 executive committee and is the result of 18 months of work by the North American Governmental Advisory Committee chaired by Ernesto Enkerlin-Hoeflich, National Commissioner, CONANP, in Mexico.

"Mexican legislation currently allows for incorporating the concept of wilderness in our protected area operations and private lands certification," Enkerlin-Hoeflich said. "We are close to having it formally incorporated into environmental law. This MOU builds on our tradition of trilateral cooperation. It will greatly benefit Mexico as it shares and learns from the Canadian and U.S. experiences such that wilderness conservation, while respecting each country's institutions and regulations, works seamlessly in North America.

The National Geographic Society is a sponsor of WILD9.

Friendship Park: One Wall Falls, another Rises

2009-11-08T18:00:00.000-08:00

Friendship Park Vigil on the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Monday, Nov 9 Noon at Friendship Park

On this historic anniversary, Border Patrol construction crews have created a limited “public access area” inside Friendship Park that would prevent visitors on the U.S. side from drawing closer than five feet to the international boundary. A sign posted at the entrance to the park lists “rules for entry,” among them, “Physical contact with individuals in Mexico is not permitted.” Go here to see photos. Local coalition leaders are calling for a new design allowing visitors easily to see, hear and touch each other at the historic border park.

Please join us for a silent vigil in tribute to the courage of those who caused the Berlin Wall to fall and in distress over today’s dehumanizing wall that shatters relationships. People at Friendship Park can’t even touch each other. This kind of human contact is essential to creating friendships on which the true security of our region depends. We will have a short silent meditation and then share songs or poems.

Sponsored by Friends of Friendship Park
www.friendshippark.org

contacts: John Fanestil 619-823-6223
Dan Watman 619-954-9710
Enrique Morones 619-977-9467

Take Hwy 5 South, exit Dairy Mart Road, turn right (west) and follow the winding road to the entrance to the park. Meet at 12 noon to DRIVE IN to Friendship Park, which will be made accessible to vehicles at this hour.

WORKSHOP INVITES LOCAL ARTISTS, MUSICIANS to DESIGN AFFORDABLE LIVE/WORK SPACES

2009-08-06T16:50:00.000-07:00

On Friday night Sept 11, and Saturday and Sunday, Sept 12-13, a design workshop will be held at the New School of Architecture. The overall objective is to involve the greater San Diego arts & music community in developing prototypical designs for future affordable work/live space for artists and arts organizations.

DATES:
Friday September 11, 5:30-9:00 PM All participants invited to workshop designs
Saturday, September 12, 10 AM-6 PM Architects and Designers, but all interested are invited
Sunday September 13, 10 AM-2 PM Brunch and display of completed designs
LOCATION: New School of Architecture 1249 F St Downtown San Diego

The project of sdspace4art, initiated in 2005, is to develop and build specific key sites in San Diego for affordable live/work spaces for artists and arts organizations. The process for establishing live/work space will involve local architects, artists, designers, arts organization and neighborhood residents. Through a series of design workshops (called charettes) and community built projects by members of the local arts community, unique, one of a kind solutions will be realized which will reflect and preserve the diversity and culture of the people of the neighborhood.

Approximately 25 local architects will each lead different design teams on Friday night to brainstorm ideas for designs for six specific San Diego building sites. Teams will be comprised of artists, musicians, designers, developers, arts organizations, contractors and arts supporters. Saturday the architects will draw up blueprint plans based on Friday’s design ideas, and Sunday’s program will involve presenting the the drawings to all participants who are interested in continuing to attend through the weekend.

The result of the collaborative design process will be unique building designs responding to the needs of the artists, musicians, and organizations who will live and work in the buildings. The construction phase of the project aims to also include the community in a series of volunteer-built projects.

Artists, musicians, writers, and arts organizations interested in participating in the workshop are invited to attend. Please help us out by filling out the survey at SURVEY Thanks!

This event is sponsored by Synergy Art Foundation, a non-profit foundation, together with the New School of Architecture.

Contact

Cheryl Nickel, 858-243-1312
Email: sdspace4art @gmail.com
See our Facebook page at SanDiego Liveworkspaces Forartists

POSTPONED: Encuentro at the Border @ the CENTRO Cultural de la Raza

2009-08-06T13:31:00.001-07:00

PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL SEPTEMBER Stay tuned for dates and times. Thank you.

@ the CENTRO Cultural de la Raza
2004 Park Blvd SD 92104

Friends of Friendship Park present:
Encuentro at the Border
A night of photos and discussion of the border wall in San Diego, with music, dance, drinks

Mural painting by local artist Crol of crolvswerc.com

7:00 PM Slide show of the border wall in San Diego County, by Jill Holslin
Jill Holslin (along with Dan Watman and many others) has been documenting the construction of the border wall in San Diego County for over a year. She will present a slide presentation with photos of the newly constructed wall at Friendship Park, Smuggler’s Gulch, Otay Mountain Wilderness.

8:00 PM Panel discussion: Confronting the Culture of Violence
• Pedro Rios, American Friends Service Committee
Pedro will discuss the roots of the border patrol’s militarization of the border and its consequences: ICE raids, detentions, the growing industry of border violence
• Daniel Watman, Director of Border encuentro
Dan will discuss his work with Border encuentro, a group dedicated to fostering friendship and cooperation through social events at the border.
• Jill Holslin, Friends of Friendship Park
Jill will recount the story of Friendship Park, and our struggle to keep it open to the public.

9:00 PM Music, Dance, Poetry Slam

While there enjoy TransborderArt:

FROM TIJUANA: Alvaro Blancarte, SPEL, Roberto Rosiquez, Luis Ituarte, Elba Rhoads, Luis Garzón, Libre, Chente; FROM US SIDE: Armando de la Torre, Maria Teresa Fernandez, Ricardo Islas, Guillermo Acevedo, Pablo Aztlan, Crol, Fernando Vossa, Rogelio Casas, David Smith, Eloy Torres, Christopher Oleata, WERC, Victor Ochoa, Geraldine, Mario Torero; FROM PERU: Aurelio de la Guerra, Victor Delfin; FROM MEXICALI: Juan Hernandez, Lourdes Murillo, Pablo Castañeda, Guillermo Jauregui , Fernando Corona

The exhibit runs for six weeks, during which, there will be a series of events that reflects the theme and players:

COMING EVENTS

Sat & Sun Aug 8 & 9 'Fiesta del Sol' on historic Logan Avenue, BarrioLogan's Murals Intervention (Centro's PublicArt Outreach into the barrios) featuring, direct from Cusco, Peru, Aurelio d la Guerra, painter at LaBodega (Sampson and Logan Ave.)
Sat Aug 22 Border Angels, CENTRO Cultural de la Raza Installation and manifestation/performance

The event is FREE but it is a fundraiser and we will take donations.

For more information, please contact
Jill holslin 619-804-8030
Jholslin01@gmail.com

mario torero 858-774-1286
fuerzamundo.org

'Sleep Dealer' stars Luis Fernando Pena, Leonor Varela

2009-06-06T10:11:00.000-07:00

REVIEW

Rating: 3 stars (good)

By Michael Phillips | Tribune critic
June 5, 2009

Present-day Tijuana is one of the most compelling places on earth. It's a symbol of the push-pull co-dependency of America and Mexico, a city defined by a fence that runs straight into the Pacific Ocean.

Alex Rivera's overstuffed but intriguing feature debut, "Sleep Dealer," takes a speculative leap into Tijuana's near future, imagining the next evolution of cheap labor. Its protagonist, Memo (Luis Fernando Pena), comes from a farm in Oaxaca. The region's water supply is controlled by a federalized, heavily armed dam, and the price of a jug of clean H{-2}O has skyrocketed.

A born hacker, Memo's homemade radio surveillance activities attract the attention of the military. After tragedy strikes, in the form of remote-controlled bombers, he sets off for Tijuana. En route he meets an aspiring writer (Leonor Varela) who sells her diary entries and computer-visualized memories on the Internet. So much remarkable technology; so many dubious results.

The writer introduces Memo to the underground world of node implantation -- he must decorate himself with metal thingies to plug into the global workforce grid. Memo operates a robot, via virtual-reality gizmos, high atop a skyscraper under construction in San Diego. Finally! America has solved the undocumented worker problem: work without the workers.

It's dizzying, this premise, and Rivera doesn't always make it easy on his audience. Conceived and filmed in the Bush era, Rivera's film is a despairing one. It is, however, pretty effective science fiction, with one foot in its imagined world, and the other in the one we know.

Rivera creates a neon-soaked Tijuana that grabs the eye without settling for pretty pictures. One drawback: Even when Rivera sets up an elegant composition, often he undercuts it with antsy editing. Leave that manic edge to Robert Rodriguez. If a budding filmmaker can fashion a detailed, low-budget vision of the near-future, an adventurous audience can afford to spend more than a second or two with an individual shot.

MPAA rating: PG-13 (for some violence and sexuality).

Running time: 1:30. Opens: Friday at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema, 2424 N. Clark St. Chicago.

Starring: Luis Fernando Pena (Memo Cruz); Leonor Varela (Luz Martinez); Jacob Vargas (Rudy Ramirez); Tenoch Huerta (David Cruz)

Directed by: Alex Rivera; written by Rivera and David Riker; produced by Anthony Bregman. A Maya Entertainment release.

Help Stop the Closure of California State Parks

2009-06-05T19:17:00.001-07:00

Here's our San Diego letter below. Please help by forwarding this letter to your contact lists. Thanks!

Many of you are concerned with the state proposal to reduce the budget of California State Parks by $143 million. And, many of you will be directly impacted since Border Field State Park, the Tijuana Estuary, Silver Strand, Torrey Pines, and Carlsbad State Beach are slated for closure.

You can help by sending letters to your legislators no later than Monday of next week. THE MORE LETTERS THE BETTER. PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO YOUR CONTACTS.

Attached is a letter which highlights the main reasons Border Field State Park and the Tijuana River Natural Estuarine Research Reserve should not close.

Since Sacramento will be making decisions on Monday, we need you to FAX letters to the legislators NO LATER THAN MONDAY!!

Emails will not work for some legislators. They don't want their staff spending time making copies of emails

IF YOU DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO A FAX MACHINE, YOU CAN SEND A FAX FROM YOUR COMPUTER. HERE'S HOW YOU DO IT:

1. Highlight and copy the proposed letter narrative (with any additions or changes YOU want to do)

2. go to http://ga3.org/campaign/budget_may09 which is the State Parks Foundation Website.

3. Highlight and paste the letter narrative over the existing letter on the site.

4. fill in the individual info on the right.

5. click on "Send this message"

A fax will then be automatically sent.

SEND A COPY OF YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO:

FAX (No cover sheets necessary)

619-409-7688 Senator Denise Ducheny
619-462-0078 Assemblyman Marty Block
916-323-2232 Natural Resource Committee (Senate)
916-323-8386 Budget Committee (Senate)
916-319-2107 Budget Committee (Assembly)
916-319-2196 Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee (Assembly)

EMAIL

senator.kehoe@sen.ca.gov Senator Christine Kehoe
rachel.gregg@asm.ca.gov Assemblywoman Mary Salas

If you don't have time to send a letter to all of the above, please at least send one to your Senator and Assemblymember.

Thank you!

HERE's a TEMPLATE LETTER

RE: OPPOSE CLOSURE OF BORDER FIELD STATE PARK/TIJUANA ESTUARY – IMPERIAL BEACH

We are writing in support of Border Field State Park/Tijuana Estuary, which is also a National Wildlife Refuge, a National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR), and a Wetland of International Importance under the RAMSAR Convention.

Border Field State Park, a part of the Tijuana River NERR, should not be closed because:

1. State funding for Border Field State Park is $319,000, which is approximately 26% of the operational costs to run the park. These funds serve as a match to leverage non-state funding of approximately $906,000. Without a State match, these funds will be in jeopardy. Over the past 50 years the public has invested over $500 million in the Tijuana River Valley, and it is imperative that this investment be protected.

2. Tourism is the third largest industry in San Diego County. Without our State Parks we will lose jobs in hotels, restaurants, retail shops, and the recreational industry. In general its been found that State Parks return $2.35 for every dollar received from the state General Fund. Ultimately, closing state parks to save money may cost the state many, many times more in state tax revenue.

3. Over 1.8 million people live within a 30-minute drive from Border Field State Park. Over 70% of this population is non-white and low-income. Border Field State Park serves many of San Diego’s disadvantaged population by providing outdoor educational opportunities in partnership with local school districts.

4. Because of severe economic impacts nationwide, studies have shown that more and more people are vacationing locally. Without Border Field State Park there will not be recreational opportunities for local citizens.

We encourage you to oppose the closing of Border Field State Park, as well as the rest of the Parks in the State. Furthermore, we are in support of your efforts to find new revenue sources, including a dedicated DMV fee to support State Parks. This fee is especially attractive because it will provide free state park access to all Californians.

Distant Neighbors: Homeland Security should reopen Friendship Park at border

2009-06-05T12:32:00.000-07:00

EDITORIAL

San Diego Union-Tribune

June 2, 2009

If the United States had a rational immigration policy, there would be no need for costly fences and other invidious barriers along the Mexican border. Illegal immigration could be curtailed far more effectively, and cheaply, with a secure worker identification system and tough sanctions against employers who hire undocumented immigrants. Take away the jobs magnet, and the flow of illegal immigrants across the border would dry up.

Yet, because large sectors of the U.S. economy benefit from the cheap labor of illegal workers, Congress has stalled for decades on implementing sensible immigration reforms. Instead, lawmakers beat their chests and appropriate billions and billions of dollars to expand the Border Patrol and erect physical obstacles along the nearly 2,000-mile dividing line.

All that this has accomplished is to move the problem to more remote stretches of the border without decreasing the overall number of immigrants who enter the United States illegally. Consider that 40 percent or more of America's 12 million illegal immigrants entered the country legally and simply remained here after their visas expired. All the fences in the world will not address this huge chunk of the problem. Indeed, the current recession has done far more to curb illegal immigration than the many billions spent on sophisticated sensors and obstacles along the border. This is because the recession has eliminated (temporarily) a big part of the jobs magnet.

We offer this overview of the immigration problem to bring needed perspective to the Department of Homeland Security's hasty decision to bar public access to Friendship Park, a tiny swath of land straddling the border where it meets the Pacific. A century and a half ago an obelisk was erected on the site to pinpoint the new U.S.-Mexico border (one Spanish league south of the southernmost tip of San Diego Bay), as provided by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the 1846-1848 Mexican-American War.

For decades families living on opposite sides of the border have gathered at Friendship Park for picnics and other events. Even after a huge steel fence built by the Border Patrol cleaved the gathering spot down the middle, families continued to meet there and socialize through the fence. In December, however, the Department of Homeland Security barred access to the site as part of a larger operation to build multiple layers of fencing along the border.

Alan Bersin, the Obama administration's border chief, says he is open to the idea of restoring public access to Friendship Park. The symbolism of such a move, coming at a time when the border is being reinforced like a hostile demilitarized zone, would be a powerful reminder that the United States and Mexico are not the combatants of 1846-1848, but rather are friends and neighbors.

--Union-Tribune

Federal officials create opening over border fence public access

2009-06-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

San Diego Union-Tribune

by Leslie Berestein, Union-Tribune Staff Writer

2:00 a.m. June 1, 2009

SOUTH COUNTY — Less than five months after federal officials pulled the plug on public access through a new border fence to a historic monument at Border Field State Park, the possibility is back on the table.

Speaking at a luncheon in downtown San Diego last week, Homeland Security border czar Alan Bersin told the audience that immigrant-rights groups have been discussing prospects for public access with department officials.

“It is a dialogue under way,” said Bersin, who was recently named the department's assistant secretary for international affairs.

In January, two weeks before the Obama administration took office, U.S. Border Patrol officials announced a decision to permanently close access to a popular cross-border meeting spot within the state park, where a marble obelisk dating to 1851 marks the U.S.-Mexico border.

Until late last year, the area surrounding the monument – accommodated within a cutout in the steel mesh fence separating the two countries – was easily accessible. On weekends, it was common for U.S. visitors with family in Baja California to bring picnics and chairs to the area, known as Friendship Park, and spend the day chatting with relatives through the fence.

The area was declared off-limits in December, shortly before construction began on a secondary fence through Border Field State Park. That barrier, which is mostly completed, is north of and runs parallel to the main border fence. State and federal officials discussed public access to the monument, and until January there were tentative plans to allow visitors to use a gate in the secondary fence to get to a 40-foot-wide space that flanks the obelisk.

This changed after local Border Patrol officials concluded it would be too difficult for agents to monitor a public gathering place between the two fences. At the time, an agency official in Washington, D.C., said that while visitors frequently pass innocuous items such as food back and forth through small openings in the fence, they could also pass fraudulent documents or drugs.

Bersin said last week that while security would not be compromised, the idea is to rethink the access issue in hopes of being able to have both security and controlled interaction.

On Friday, a Homeland Security spokesman said the only thing that has changed so far is that the discussion is back on.

“This certainly doesn't mean a shift in policy. It is simply dialogue,” agency spokesman Matthew Chandler said. “It is about senior Border Patrol leadership continuing a dialogue with local stakeholders.”

Since the decision was made to bar public access, a coalition of local community, immigrant-rights, environmental and religious groups have lobbied federal officials and policy makers to reconsider.

John Fanestil, a United Methodist minister and one of several local proponents of maintaining public access to Friendship Park, promoted the issue in Washington, D.C., last month. He and other Southwest border activists traveled there to show support of legislation that would require the government to adhere to environmental laws when considering border security.

Last week, Fanestil was at the luncheon where Bersin spoke, and Fanestil said he was encouraged by Bersin's comments.

“I was really pleased, as you can imagine,” Fanestil said. “Our suspicion is that this decision was taken in haste, and that over time, what we think of as a saner view of things will prevail. They are perfectly capable of controlling the public at that venue.”

Pedro Rios of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker-affiliated human rights group that has also lobbied to preserve visitor access, said there have been a series of informal talks with policymakers and federal officials over the past few months. He said a formal meeting to discuss access is in the works.

However, access to the monument and the fence could be compromised by the state budget crisis. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed cutting more $213 million from state parks over the next two fiscal years, resulting in the possible shutdown of more than 200 state parks, among them Border Field.

The park has been closed to vehicles since winter rains caused flooding but has remained open to hikers and equestrians. Park Superintendent Clay Phillips said vehicle access should be restored within the next few weeks.

In the Union-Tribune on Page B2

San Diego Style: Playful Entryways, Classic Streamline Moderne Bunglows

2009-05-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

This article kicks off a new column at The San Diego Border Observer: San Diego Style will document both innovative and classic architectural styles in the mid-city neighborhoods of San Diego.

Here's a lovely entryway in North Park/Normal Heights: a classic Spanish style bungalow. Notice the elegant entryway, painted a contrasting burnt orange to accentuate the depth and dramatic curvature of the interior walls of the entrance.

Classic Arts and Crafts designs are a clever way to add ornamentation and historical reference to a plain residential building.

In the 1930s, residental architecture picked up on the sleek curving lines of Streamline Moderne, a late development of Art Deco style. The style reached its peak in 1937, and we see lots of these homes in the older neighborhoods of mid-city San Diego.

Here's a classic Streamline Moderne with the smooth curving line accentuating the flat roof. Streamline moderne draws upon futurist design and doctrine, emphasizing speed and efficiency, metallic trim celebrating the machine age.

Art Deco on Meade

US-Mexico Border Wall Slicing through Fragile Ecosystems

2009-05-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

Amy Goodman interviews Isabel Garcia of Derechos Humanos, and Sean Sullivan of Sierra Club Borderlands Team, and Dan Millis of No More Deaths, on the Border Wall. "We take a look at the environmental impact of the 600 miles of barricades along the US-Mexico border. The wall slices across fragile ecosystems in public lands, parks and refuges, threatening rare species and disrupting wildlife migration. We speak with the chair of the Sierra Club Borderlands Team in Arizona." [includes rush transcript]

Grijalva Introduces Legislation to Protect and Conserve Public Lands along Border

2009-04-23T12:18:00.000-07:00

News From Representative Raúl M. Grijalva
7th Congressional District of Arizona

April 23, 2009

Contact:
Natalie Luna (520) 622-6788 office
(520) 904-0375 cell
Ruben Reyes (520) 940-7752 cell

Grijalva Introduces Legislation to Protect and Conserve Public Lands along Border

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva introduced legislation that will help secure and conserve public and tribal lands along the international land borders of the United States.

The Border Security and Responsibility Act of 2009 will secure and conserve federal public lands along the international land borders of the U.S. and provide the highest protection possible while ensuring that all operations necessary to achieve border security are undertaken.

The legislation will also help mitigate damage to federal and tribal lands from illegal border activity and border enforcement efforts by increasing coordination and planning between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), federal land management agencies and local, state and tribal governments.

The legislation will also correct existing policies and allow flexibility for a local approach to border security, instead of mandating an unrealistic and harmful wall.

“Current policy has driven crossing activity to remote isolated areas along the border which, in Southern Arizona, represent significant public and tribal lands,” said Grijalva. “Many of these lands have suffered extensive environmental degradation as a result of unauthorized activity and border security efforts. This bill is the first step in preserving our unique natural heritage while we protect our borders.”

The Border Security and Responsibility Act of 2009 will:

1. Require the Department of Homeland Security to consult with federal land managers and state, local, and tribal governments in creating a Border Protection Strategy that supports border security efforts while also protecting federal and tribal lands.

2. Provide for flexibility, rather than a “one size fits all” approach, to border security by allowing experts at DHS to decide upon best strategies for border security.

3. Allow land managers, local officials, and local communities to have a say in border security decisions, requiring full public notice and participation.

4. Ensure that laws intended to protect air, water, wildlife, culture, and health and safety are fully upheld.

Under the Bush Administration, the passage and implementation of the Secure Fence Act and REAL ID ignored environmental, health and safety laws that had been in place for decades. The Border Security and Responsibility Act amends the current law, which pursues a “one fence fits all” solution. The legislation ensures that local experts are part of the planning and evaluation of security measures that would be more effective and have a lower impact on the border environment.

“This multi-disciplinary approach is the correct path for addressing a growing crisis in a rapidly changing geopolitical reality,” stated Grijalva. “The Border Security and Responsibility Act will strengthen border security, protect the environment and uphold the health of the border community by allowing all agencies to work together cooperatively.”

Explanation of triple border fence at Friendship Park, San Diego

2009-04-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

April 1 at the beach near Friendship Park

Confronted and Detained by Border Patrol at Friendship Park Feb 21

2009-04-22T06:48:00.001-07:00

Here's a YouTube Video focusing on our actions of civil disobedience at Friendship Park and the border patrol's heavy handed tactics, intimidation, and excessive use of force, preventing us from approaching the fence to join our fellow musicians.

Border Patrol Seals off Access to Friendship Park

2009-04-22T06:37:00.000-07:00

February 22, 2009

"Today I Took a Stand": Stopping the Bulldozers in Friendship Park

2009-04-10T07:38:00.000-07:00

San Diego--On Wednesday, April 8, Daniel Watman bravely stood in front of the bulldozers to stop the construction of the border wall in Friendship Park. Watman, who succeeded in expressing his message of friendship and nonviolence, was detained and cited for trespassing.

A contested site for months now, Friendship Park was closed to the public on January 6, 2009 by the San Diego Sector Chief of the Border Patrol, Mike Fisher. Friends of Friendship Park, a coalition of 40 local religious, human rights and environmental groups, have been working closely with local political leaders to persuade the Department of Homeland Security to restore public access to this historic park.

Daniel Watman circulated a public statement following the action:

Hola todos,

First of all I'm fine and thank to everyone for the supportive emails. It felt really good to know I had people to support me. I feel like my mission of sending a message of the importance of friendship was accomplished. Construction was stopped for a total of about an hour. Officials were mostly professional with me. I was not arrested. I was given a citation for trespassing on Federal property and will receive a court date in the mail (no amount was specified on the citation).

There are more pics coming. Unfortunately, the person taking video had his video card confiscated by officials on the scene. We're not sure if/when he'll get it back and if it'll still have the video on it. I'm working on a detailed written account that i'll probably put on facebook that I will send with more pics over the weekend.

Please stay tuned to Friends of Friendship Park website (friendshippark.org) or the Facebook cause (http://apps.facebook.com/causes/180793?m=92eea645&recruiter_id=34323909) for upcoming actions to save the park.

Amistad sin fronteras,

Daniel

Photo Credit: Maria Teresa Fernandez

SECRETARY NAPOLITANO TO VISIT SOUTHWEST BORDER & MEXICO April 1-3

2009-03-31T09:10:00.000-07:00

PRESS RELEASE

March 31, 2009
Contact: DHS Press Office, 202-282-8010

WASHINGTON—U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano plans to travel to the Southwest border and Mexico April 1-3 to meet with Mexican leaders to work together on ways to combat drug violence and tour U.S. ports of entry to observe border protection operations at the ground level. The trip will highlight Secretary Napolitano’s recent announcements that DHS will shift resources to the U.S.-Mexico border to better support ongoing efforts to quell the southbound gun and money trafficking that fuels cartel violence.

Secretary Napolitano’s tour will begin Wednesday in San Diego, with a tour of border operations at the Otay Mesa port of entry, situated across the border from Tijuana. She will then spend Thursday in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where she will join U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to attend the Arms Trafficking Prosecution and Enforcement Strategy Executive Session and meet with Mexican leadership.

Following the conference, Secretary Napolitano will make her way to Mexico City on Thursday evening, to continue meetings with Mexican officials, including President Felipe Calderón. Her final stop will be Friday afternoon in Laredo, Texas she will meet with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the Laredo Port of Entry.

Details of Secretary Napolitano’s Visit to California, Mexico and Texas

Wednesday, April 1
3:30 PM PDT Press Conference at Otay Mesa Port of Entry
9777 Via De La Amistad
San Diego, California
OPEN PRESS*

* Media wishing to attend must provide press credentials for entry. The exit from Highway 905 heading south is Siempre Viva Road (last exit before Mexico).

Thursday, April 2

3:00 PM CDT Press Conference with Invited Moderators
Arms Trafficking Prosecution and Enforcement Strategy Executive Session
Camino Real Sumiya
Int. de Fracc. Sumiya s/n
Jiutepec, Morelos Apdo Postal 138
Cuernavaca, Mexico
OPEN PRESS

Friday, April 3

4:00 PM CDT Press Conference at Laredo Port of Entry
World Trade Bridge
Laredo, Texas
OPEN PRESS

Hey Paul Krugman

2009-03-24T18:29:00.000-07:00

by Jonathan Mann

Requiem for a Park

2009-02-27T22:16:00.000-08:00

By Jill Holslin

SAN DIEGO | On Saturday, Feb 21, US Border Patrol forcibly denied US citizens access to Friendship Park, an historic plaza overlooking the Pacific Ocean on the US-Mexico Border. At noon, a group of 150 of us--local church choir members, university students, professors, human rights advocates, and environmentalists--gathered to hold a service and concert, joined by friends in Tijuana, including members of the Tijuana Opera.

Upon our arrival, Border Patrol agents with PepperBall stun guns and tear gas canisters at the ready forcibly pushed us back and threatened to arrest any who would approach the fence.

This video captures much of the chaos of the day's events, along with some of the sheer, astonishing loveliness of the Faure Requiem--the strains of our music rising up into the clouds gave us a tremendous sense of power and strength.

We performed the Faure Requiem Mass in harmony with the musicians on the Tijuana side. Here I am, singing side by side with Enrique Morones of Border Angels.

The men barking into our faces with bullhorns and whistles, shouting slogans about illegal aliens coming across the border with drugs, were five San Diego Minutemen, one wearing a t-shirt from NumbersUSA, a registered white supremacist hate group. A good portion of this video follows John Fanestil and Dan Watman as they are being led away by Border Patrol--they were both detained briefly that day, and then released without charge. John Fanestil, our leader, and a methodist minister was detained while attempting to serve communion to celebrants on the Tijuana side of the fence. Dan Watman was also detained, leader of Border Meetup, a group that hosts social gatherings at the border including yoga, salsa dancing, kite-flying festivals and park and beach cleanups.

Video Credit: TravelGayle, YouTube
Photo Credits: Pedro Rios, Scott Bennett

Border Patrol confronts park patrons at Friendship Park

2009-02-23T09:13:00.000-08:00

San Diego Union-Tribune Sunday, February 22, 2009

Meeting place sealed off
Border patrol agents prohibit access to Friendship Park

by Penni Crabtree

SOUTH COUNTY — In the end, immigration activists never made it to the site of yesterday's planned demonstration, a plaza dubbed Friendship Park that sits on a bluff overlooking the ocean at Border Field State Park.

For the first time, Border Patrol agents formally sealed off access on the U.S. side to the plaza, for years a popular meeting place on the U.S.-Mexico border for families to visit through the fence.

The Department of Homeland Security announced late last year that it will prohibit all public access to the park where a secondary wall is under construction. Since then, the plaza has become a symbolic touchstone for those who debate border enforcement policies.

Until recently, federal officials had planned to have a gate in the secondary fence that would have allowed people on either side to visit.

“This is a treasured piece of the San Diego landscape where people meet for peaceful reasons,” said John Fanestil, executive director of the Foundation for Change, a nonprofit social-justice group involved in immigration issues. “The fencing will change that landscape.”

In recent weeks, Fanestil and others formed the Friends of Friendship Park Coalition to save the park and have received support from elected officials, including Reps. Bob Filner and Susan Davis, both San Diego Democrats. Filner, Davis and other federal lawmakers from border states sent a Feb. 8 letter to President Barack Obama asking him to revisit the construction plans.

Yesterday, about 125 park supporters marched the mile or so on muddy roads and along the beach to Friendship Park. A handful of people opposed to illegal immigration also were there.

A phalanx of Border Patrol agents in off-road vehicles blocked access to the plaza entrance, causing demonstrators on both sides of the issue to gather below the bluff.

The spot was not without poignant symbolism, a strip of beach pierced with metal pilings that form the existing border fence, which runs into the ocean for a few feet before giving way. A child could easily swim between the two countries.

On the south side of the pilings, Mexican families strolled on the beach, bought roasted ears of corn from a vendor and leaned against the fence to watch happenings on the other side.

On the north side of the pilings, Friendship Park supporters held an ecumenical religious service, complete with a choir. Opponents of illegal immigration tried to disrupt it with a siren-blasting bullhorn and shouted slogans such as, “Go home, illegals!”

One wore a cap with the logo of the Minutemen, an anti-illegal-immigration group.

Since the ban on public access to Friendship Park was declared, a few dozen immigration activists have continued to gather there weekly to hold religious services and other activities.

Yesterday, two activists were detained and later released without charge after they tried to approach the fence against orders from Border Patrol agents.

“This is the first day they've chosen to enforce the ban on public access,” Fanestil said. “Before, they tolerated our presence. Clearly they will tolerate us no more.”

Fanestil said he and other members of the park coalition plan to meet and discuss plans for future park actions.

Mark Endicott, public-affairs officer for the U.S. Border Patrol, said no public access will be authorized between the primary and secondary border fences.

The decision to impose the ban is “based on our border security mission and to assure the safety of border agents and the public,” he said.

Penni Crabtree: (619) 293-1237; penni.crabtree@uniontrib.com

Photo Credit: Eduardo Contreras/Union Tribune

Bulldozing nature

2009-02-17T22:12:00.000-08:00

From SignOn San Diego.com by the San Diego Union-Tribune

LOCAL PERSPECTIVE
Bulldozing nature
By Char Miller

2:00 a.m. February 14, 2009

President George W. Bush is history. But the past has a funny way of maintaining a tight grip on the present. Just ask anyone who cares deeply about the pristine remnants of Southern California's ancient landscape, such as the Otay Mountain Wilderness Area. Bulldozers are now rumbling through the sanctuary in eastern San Diego County, prepping the ground so that the infamous border wall can slice across its stunning array of desert scrublands, steep canyons and rugged high ground.

The small reserve – it encompasses only 18,500 acres – was established in 1999, but despite its limited size it is of crucial significance. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, San Diego contains the greatest number of threatened or endangered species in the continental United States and its high desert in particular is home to many of them. These include the Quino checkerspot butterfly, the arroyo toad and the Otay Mesa spreading mint. This often bone-dry terrain is also vital for migratory mammals such as the javelina, whose search for food, water and shelter knows nothing of national boundaries.

Sadly, this viable habitat and the rich biodiversity it has sustained for millennia are under attack. In December, Michael Chertoff, then the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, waived the Wilderness Act and a host of other protective legislation so that a contractor could scrape clean this untrammeled area. Site preparation for the border wall's construction, which includes constructing a hardened roadway, has continued ever since.

Already, the impact is pronounced. Even in the unlikely event that the Obama administration quickly issues a stop-work order, and local environmentalists hope he will, the initial cuts for the road and fence are of such a magnitude, observed Nathan Trotter, a local activist who toured the area in late January, “that the resources needed to restore the area would be immense.”

None of this destruction needs to occur. The Border Patrol itself did not think the wall was necessary in the Otay wilderness. Richard Kite, a spokesman for the agency's San Diego office, told reporters in 2006 after Congress passed the Safe Fence Act: “It's such harsh terrain it's difficult to walk, let alone drive. There's no reason to disrupt the land when the land itself is a physical barrier.”

The EPA also cast doubt on the project. In a February 2008 letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, it indicated that the proposed plan was insufficient on two counts. It objected to “the filling of two well-developed riparian corridors in Copper and Buttewig canyons and has concerns regarding high potential for significantly increasing erosion in the watershed from the combination of road widening, new vehicle trail construction, fence installation on steep slopes, and fence installation across intermittent streams.” The EPA predicted these intrusions would “have unacceptable adverse impacts under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, especially considering cumulative impacts from other border fence projects that are proposed in the Tijuana River Watershed. These impacts must be avoided to provide adequate protection for the environment.”

Wilderness advocates were much more blunt in their denunciation of the administration's decision to savage the Otay – by blasting its canyon walls, trucking out more than 500,000 cubic yards of fill, and grading and leveling a 150-foot-wide swath on which to erect the wall.

Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, lambasted the presidential decision: “Wilderness areas are designated by Congress specifically to protect sensitive places from projects like this road construction. This road sets terrible precedent and clearly demonstrates the dangers of granting the secretary of homeland security authority to waive any law in order to build walls along our international borders.” As Matt Clark, Southwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife, asserted: “Such harmful impacts to wilderness characteristics and values are clearly inconsistent with the congressional intent of the law that established the Otay Mountain Wilderness Area in 1999. The waiver and the wall are an affront to our nation's laws and natural heritage.”

The Bush administration ignored these principled arguments and in doing so the Otay Mountain Wilderness Area, like countless other sensitive ecosystems along the U.S.-Mexico border, has paid a heavy price.

We are paying, too: By compromising the Otay's historic function as wildlands and cutting off the javelina from its primeval habitat, and by serving as a tool for subverting national environmental regulations, the Bush wall casts a long shadow over contemporary American politics. What a grim and costly legacy.

Miller is visiting professor of environmental analysis and history at Pomona College in Claremont. He is author of “Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism” and “Deep in the Heart of Texas: Land and Life in South Texas.”

One Sunday at Friendship Park: A Film by Steev Hise

2009-01-24T10:55:00.000-08:00

A small group of community members meet every Sunday afternoon at this unique park on the U.S./Mexico border, but how much longer will they be allowed to do so?

One Sunday At Friendship Park from steev hise on Vimeo.

Siguen Celebraciones en Friendship Park

2009-01-22T06:33:00.000-08:00

Comunicado de Prensa

domingo, 18 de enero de 2009
17:00 P.M.

Siguen Celebraciones en Friendship Park

por Jill Holslin

San Diego/Playas de Tijuana—A 13 días de que anunciaran El Departamento de Seguridad Interior (DHS) y la Patrulla Fronteriza de EE.UU. que Friendship Park estará cerrado permanentemente al público, se reúnieron aquí de nuevo el domingo, el 18 de enero, unos 20-30 personas en San Diego y números iguales en el otro lado del cerco en Playas de Tijuana. El fin de estas reuniones semanales, representando varios grupos religiosos, organizaciones de derechos humanos y de la no-violencia y hasta individuos y familias divirtiéndose en el parque por el día, es celebrar comunión y compartir en la amistad y el intercambio cultural que ha sido su tradición.

El parque, un símbolo de cooperación binacional desde que se lo dedicó Patricia Nixon en 1971, ha sido también un lugar en donde se han reunido por décadas familias divididas por la línea y en donde se realizan ceremonias familiares: bodas, bautizos, quinceañeras. Para honrar y continuar esta herencia, este grupo que se llama “Friends of Friendship Park” vuelve todos los domingos al parque y celebra este rito cristiano como símbolo poderoso de solidaridad y amistad, pasando los elementos de Eucaristía de un lado a otro, por las pequeñas aperturas del cerco, un acto prohibido por la Patrulla Fronteriza por ser una violación de aduanas. Ahora, los “Friends” dicen que la amistad está amenazada por el proyecto del Departamento de Seguridad Interior de ampliar la infraestructura del cerco a través del parque.

A pesar de que ofrecieran Departamento de Seguridad Interior y la Patrulla Fronteriza al Departamento de Parques Estatales de California detalles de la construcción del cerco sugiriendo que habría acceso público al parque, se reveló un cambio de los planes en una reunión el 6 de enero de oficiales de niveles muy altas de los gobiernos federales y estatales. El diseño del proyecto del cerco recién propuesta no permitirá ninguna entrada al área binacional para el público del lado estadounidense.

En consecuencia, “el muro” en Friendship Park representa un choque de significados e intereses. El Departamento de Seguridad Interior y la Patrulla Fronteriza tienen un enfoque limitado, definiendo el trabajo de la seguridad de la Patria como “defensa perímetral” contra todo lo que penetrara una raya imaginaria de la frontera, una raya que esperan concretizar por el cerco. Proponen que Friendship Park es un sitio de entrada ilegal, en donde los narcotraficantes, terroristas y criminales “explotan oportunidades” ofrecidas por lugares públicos. Al contrario, los “Friends” buscan soluciones basadas en una visión más amplia: afirman que se puede mejorar la seguridad nacional solamente por intercambio y cooperación binacional. La incorporación de las dimensiones de los derechos humanos, del medio ambiente, la cultura, hasta el comercio, abre una vista que incluye muchísimos más participantes, y reconoce la imbricación profunda entre la cultura y la política en el contexto fronterizo.

Comunión en Friendship Park continuará todos los domingos a las 3:00 de la tarde.

"Friends of Friendship Park" incluye los siguientes grupos e individuos:
John Fanestil / Jill Holslin (Foundation for Change), Pedro Ríos / Christian Ramírez (American Friends Service Committee), Enrique Morones (Border Angels), Dan Watman (Border Meetup), Rosemary Johnston (Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights), Jamie Gates (Center for Justice and Reconciliation, PLNU), Jason Evans (Ecclesia Collective) Nathan Trotter (Imperial Beach resident) Adriana Jasso Belinda Zamacona (Raza Rights Coalition), Catherine Thiemann (St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral), David Schmidt (Sí Se Puede Coalition), Seisen Saunders (Sweetwater Zen Center)

Contacto:

Pedro Rios
AFCS-US/Mexico Border Program
Tel. 619/233-4114