Property Damage Even with all the other damage being caused by vehicles, trails and roads, garbage, human feces, and forest fires, the damage does not end there. Property damage as well is high on the scale of actions that happen by illegal aliens on a day to day basis and cost tax payers funds to correct. International fences are repeatedly cut or torn down in many locations along the Mexico/United States borders. Interior fences also are cut and damaged allowing unauthorized cattle and off-highway vehicles and even cattle rustlers to steal cattle taking them back to Mexico. This brings additional problems and threats to livestock operations as Mexican livestock is often not vaccinated and therefore can bring diseases to United States cattle. Gates are left open or rammed, security locks are cut, signs are driven over and heavy damage or destruction to water developments or other improvements occur regularly. These open gates permit unauthorized Mexican livestock to use Federal lands, damaging endangered species habitats. Recreational, cultural and administrative sites are repeatedly vandalized and damaged. Breaking and Entering and Burglaries B&E's and Burglaries along the border are common and include everything from historic and government structures, employee and private residences, to residences and businesses on reservation lands. Money, firearms and other personal items have all been taken from employee or private residences on Federal and Private lands. Even vehicles have been vandalized or stolen. In San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge alone. A concrete and metal maintenance shop was removed due to being broken into numerous times resulting in thousands of dollars worth of stolen equipment. A government dump truck was stolen and driven through a cut border fence into Mexico, and vehicles owned by both refuge and public have been forcibly entered and damaged in attempts to steal them. Two homes in Tubac area were broken into and two rifles stolen. These rifles were then used to murder two employees of the Salerno Ranch. Homes near border are repeatedly ransacked for canned goods and water. Those not ransacked directly are harassed by illegal aliens seeking water, medical supplies, food or shelter. Non-Native Plants Illegal aliens in significant numbers present an increased risk of transporting alien, invasive species from their home areas and establishing them on Federal lands. Weed seeds of many varieties are easily transported on clothing. Salt ceder, Lehmann lovegrass, bufflegrass, cheatgrass, and other invasive species are all spreading in this manner. Water bottles filled at various locations in wetlands can infect otherwise protected Federal wetlands with invasive parasites and diseases which can doom native fish and wildlife. Asian tapeworm has eliminated or impacted some populations of Federally-listed threatened and endangered fish. Chytrid fungus from South America was first documented at San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge. This fungus is deadly to amphibians and helped lead to elimination of Chiricahua leopard frogs from the refuge. |
Still more damage is done....
BAG LADIES (and men)
| Cleaning up the environment isn't optional! |
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| We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. -Native American Proverb |
| BUFFLEGRASS Bufflegrass is spreading rapidly across the Sonoran Desert. Once established, bufflegrass displaces native vegetation and forms dense, single-species strands. Where dense enough it can carry fire into the Sorroan Desert vegetation, which have no natural adaption to fires. |
| Sorghum Halepense Extremely invasive noxious weed. High seed production and difficult to eradicate. Toxic to grazing stock, host for crop pathogens, high fire risk, reduces soil fertility and known allergen. |
| Native Species |
Invasive Non-Native Species
