Free Republic

New drone footage shows border-wall construction blasting through a wildlife refuge and mountain range in one of the most remote regions of the United States... The wall is being built through the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, home to the endangered Sonoran pronghorn, and the rugged Tinajas Altas Mountains in the Barry M. Goldwater Bombing Range east of Yuma, Arizona... The construction has forever altered the centuries-old Camino del Diablo, or Devil’s Highway. The ancient trade route, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was traveled by Native Americans, explorers, miners and missionaries like Father Eusebio Kino. Once a...

More Senate skullduggery, Trump’s role in this, straight lines, and the Bundy case again Senate chicanery Last month I wrote of the skullduggery applied by both political parties in trying to pass a 680-page federal lands package in the waning moments of the last Congress. Up stepped our hero, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) who just wanted to add two words to the legislation. Alaska and Wyoming are by statute exempt from the Antiquities Act that has been so abused by recent Presidents. Senator Lee wanted to add “and Utah” to that statute. The leadership said no to his amendment,...

CABEZA PRIETA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Ariz. -- Mountains of trash, recurring fires, despoiled natural springs, vandalized historic sites and disappearing wildlife are part of the devastating toll that the government's running battle with smugglers and migrants is taking on national parks and wildlife refuges along the U.S. border with Mexico. In southern Arizona, the damage extends to American Indian and private land, jeopardizing a broad expanse of the Sonoran Desert, which boasts a greater diversity of plant and animal life than any other North American desert. At Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, 2 1/2 million pounds of garbage is scattered...