Activists Sue Border Patrol in Dispute Over Rare Antelope

Environmentalists who believe low-flying Border Patrol helicopters threaten the survival of a rare type of antelope in southern Arizona have filed a lawsuit charging that the agency failed to provide records on the ecological effects of its activities.

The Washington-based group Defenders of Wildlife alleges that the Border Patrol’s parent agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, did not answer a 5-month-old request for records concerning the impact on the endangered Sonoran pronghorn antelope.

The suit, the latest round in an ongoing battle between environmental watchdogs and the Border Patrol over damage caused by heightened enforcement efforts, charges that the agency violated the Freedom of Information Act.

“We’re very disappointed,” said John Fritschie, an attorney for the wildlife organization. “We would have hoped for more cooperation.”

Maurice Moore, assistant chief for the Border Patrol’s Yuma office, said he had not seen the lawsuit, which was filed last week in federal court in Washington. He said the environmental group had been told to request information from the INS regional headquarters in Laguna Niguel.

Moore said the Border Patrol was studying the effects of its operations on the antelope and other sensitive species--including the long-nosed bat and desert tortoise--that live in a parched and rugged corner along Arizona’s border with Mexico.

The lawsuit highlights tensions over possible damage to endangered species because of increased enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border.

In San Diego, plans to construct a patrol road and backup fence next to an existing steel barrier have prompted complaints that massive grading could threaten a habitat for dozens of fragile species of birds and plants. Conservationists in Texas have also said that construction along the border there could threaten a possible ocelot habitat.

Environmentalists fear that the Sonoran pronghorn antelope, which live in separate groups in Arizona and Mexico, are on the brink of extinction. The Defenders of Wildlife group has sought to determine how the 150 or so pronghorns in southern Arizona are affected by Border Patrol helicopters that fly below 200 feet, as well as by military flights at a nearby training ground. The group says that the noisy flights cause the animals to scatter and may harm their ability to reproduce.

The group is also concerned about the effects on the antelope habitat of a Border Patrol practice of smoothing dirt roads by dragging tires behind a truck. The tactic enables agents to detect if smugglers have passed through the remote area.

“For a large mammal of the pronghorn’s size to exist in a population of 150 is a very serious situation,” Fritschie said.

Fritschie said the Border Patrol had reneged on promises made two years ago to consult with officials of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which keeps track of endangered species.

Federal law requires agencies to study their projects for possible environmental impact. But critics charge that a series of border enforcement efforts--from increased patrols to construction of roads, fences and lights--have escaped adequate review and could threaten sensitive wildlife as the initiatives spread farther into unsettled areas.

Mexican Foreign Minister Rosario Green recently expressed concern over possible cross-border ecological damage stemming from construction of 14 miles of patrol roads and backup fence in San Diego.

The project, mandated in a 1996 U.S. immigration law, is underway east of the San Ysidro border crossing. But the most controversial element is a plan to partially fill a canyon west of the crossing to create a patrol road level enough for use in all types of weather.

Environmentalists from both sides of the border have voiced concerns over the impact of huge earthmoving on the surroundings, home to the California gnatcatcher and California least tern and at least two plants thought to be unique to that area.

The Border Patrol says that the construction could protect the environment by preventing undocumented immigrants from trampling sensitive terrain. Officials have vowed to adequately study likely effects of road building.