Roadside protest sign reading Stop Bulldozing beside a painted yellow bulldozer in the Big Bend region

Big Bend National Park: Border Wall, Wildlife, and the mesmerizing Chihuahuan Desert


Visiting Big Bend National Park

After months of seeing photos of contractors nonsensically scalping lush habitats in Big Bend National Park, it felt like there was no better time to head to Southwest Texas and experience firsthand what makes this landscape so special. Simply put, Big Bend shattered my already high expectations. If you can’t find beauty here, perhaps the vacancy isn’t in the land.

Border Wall Concerns in the Big Bend Region

From what I saw and heard, opposition to the border wall in this region cuts across political lines. The people who actually live there DON’T WANT IT. In towns large and small, whether right outside Big Bend or hours away, homemade protest signs lined roads, yards, storefronts, and fences. A beautiful sight to see.

What makes the destruction even harder to comprehend is that construction has pushed into remote areas where attempting to cross is already extraordinarily dangerous and potentially fatal. For now, the bulldozing has halted, but the threat of continued construction remains.

Small-minded humans making lasting damage. It should be called what it is: ecological terrorism.

I’ve included a photo at the end of visitors in Santa Elena Canyon more than 100 years ago, a reminder that, because of preservation, what they saw then is nearly the same as what we’re still able to see today.

Chihuahuan Desert Landscapes and Wildlife

More info on BIG BEND:
This unique region is a rare collision of arid desert, lush pine-oak woodlands, volcanic peaks, the Rio Grande, limestone cliffs, dry washes and arroyos, riparian wetlands, fossil-rich sedimentary landscapes, canyons, and more.

It is home to an astonishing diversity of plants (including some of our favorites, Ariocarpus fissuratus + Lophophora williamsii) and animals (badgers, roadrunners, horned lizards, ringtails, black bears, tarantulas, elf owls, bighorn sheep, coachwhips, bobcats—the list is extensive).

For more info + organizations working to protect Big Bend -
@savebigbend
@keepbigbendwild_org
@npcapics
@centerforbiodiv
@peopleoflajunta

 Hiker standing with arms outstretched between tall, narrow canyon walls in Big Bend National Park

Roadside protest sign reading Stop Bulldozing beside a painted yellow bulldozer in the Big Bend region



Cluster of green, long-spined cacti growing in a crevice in a reddish rock wall in Big Bend

Visitor pointing toward a river bordered by dense green vegetation in the Big Bend desert

Eroded desert hills with yellow and gray layers above sparse vegetation in Big Bend National Park

Pink roadside marquee reading Protect Our Big Bend Region! Our Heritage. No Wall! No Al Muro! beneath a metal cactus

Hiker in a wide-brimmed hat walking across a rocky desert slope beneath towering clouds in Big Bend



Roadside sign reading #stopthesteel in front of a building and backhoe in the Big Bend region

Boarded-up building with graffiti reading No Wall No CBP No Facist Police beneath a cloudy sky

Downward view of a hiker's boots on cracked, patterned rock in Big Bend National Park

Notice with wildlife illustrations reading We reserve the right to refuse service to border wall workers

Hiker photographing a tall rock formation above a hazy mountain landscape in Big Bend National Park

Historic black-and-white photograph of six visitors seated on a rock in the river between Santa Elena Canyon's towering walls

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