Defenders' Experts
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge
Growing traffic from border patrols, undocumented migrants and smugglers across the US/Mexican border at the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge is creating wide paths of destruction in one of the most biologically diverse deserts in the world.
Border officials have clamped down on highly used border crossings and funneled migrants and smugglers, looking for new ways to enter this country, into the Arizona desert. In response to this shift in traffic, outpost buildings have been installed within the refuge borders, and large amounts of heavy equipment, hummers, and helicopters have moved into the refuge’s fragile wilderness, imperiling both habitat and wildlife.
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge is the largest remaining swath of undeveloped Sonoran Desert, and is home to the critically endangered Sonoran Pronghorn. Recent estimates have put the number of Sonoran pronghorn left in the United States at about 30 animals.
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Public lands belong to all of us, yet they and the wildlife that call them home are in jeopardy... 
