Posts about Big Bend

Photo ©Rebecca L. Latson

"I stand with the Keep Big Bend Wild coalition"

I stand with the Keep Big Bend Wild coalition in their mission to secure official Wilderness designation for Big Bend National Park's untouched backcountry. This fight isn't new—the National Park Service first championed it in 1974, during my tenure as Director, and reaffirmed the call in 1978. Now, it's time for Congress to act. By enshrining permanent, statutory protection, we can ensure Big Bend’s breathtaking landscapes remain shielded from policy shifts or development threats. It's heartening to see the backing of former NPS Directors, united in our commitment to safeguarding America's wilderness legacy so future generations can continue to embrace its solitude, beauty, and ecological richness."

~ Ronald H. Walker, NPS Director 1973-1975

National Parks Traveler Podcast

National Parks Traveler | Wilderness Lost

Across the United States, from Alaska to Puerto Rico, there are about 112 million acres of officially designated wilderness. That amounts to about 5 percent of the country’s land[…]

Big Bend Entrance Sign. NPS File photo.

National Parks Traveler | Congressional Democrats Express Opposition To Waivers Issued For Big Bend Border Wall

In a letter sent to Secretary of Department of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin on June 16, Congressional Democrats expressed strong opposition to the agency’s recent decision to issue waivers[…]

Homeland Security Secretary Mullin is being urged to scale back construction plans that could lead to "unaccountable destruction" of Big Bend National Park/Rebecca Latson file.

National Parks Traveler | Former Big Bend National Park Officials Urge Homeland Security Secretary Not To Allow “Wholesale And Unaccountable Destruction” Of The Park

Former Big Bend National Park officials, whose first letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin asking that he not waive environmental regulations to allow construction of a border wall[…]

Rio Grande near Big Bend National Park, Texas

Our Public Lands and Waters | Feds Waive 31 Environmental and Resource Protection Laws to Blast Barriers and Bulldoze Roads in Big Bend National Park

“This decision will be remembered by generations of Texans—and all Americans—as a waste of our money and an assault on not just our iconic desert but on the values[…]

Big Bend National Park entry sign

Marfa Public Radio | Former Big Bend National Park superintendents express ‘grave concerns’ about Trump administration’s border plans

Article Updated - Six former superintendents of Big Bend National Park are expressing “grave concerns” with the Trump administration’s plan for new border barriers, roads and surveillance technology in[…]

H. Robert’s The Violation of the Tombs of the Kings in the Basilica of Saint-Denis Acts like these let to a new word: Vandalism

A Billion Worlds | Trump’s Vandalism of Our National Parks and Public Lands

It may seem a bit strange to place Donald Trump in the company of late 18th century fanatical French revolutionaries, but his continued destruction of our national parks earns[…]

The Rio Grande wends its way through Big Bend National Park, with Santa Elena Canyon in the distance. Tim Speer, Getty.

Big Bend Sentinel | Former National Park superintendents ask DHS not to waive laws for border wall construction

Seven former superintendents of Big Bend National Park penned a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin last week imploring the federal government not to waive[…]

Javier Sanchez stands in his front yard in Lobo, Texas, as trucks delivering dirt to a new “man camp” for border wall construction workers drive past. “We lost all our tranquility,” he said.

Marfa Public Radio | Confused about Big Bend area border wall plans? Here’s where things stand.

Since news first surfaced late last year that border walls could be built for the first time in the Big Bend region of West Texas, the story has been[…]

Across the Big Bend, anti-wall signs, flyers and messages have popped up in homes and businesses, like this liquor store in Marfa, Texas. Carlos Morales

NPR | In West Texas, an unlikely alliance stands against extending the border wall

On a quiet spring morning, Joe Pineda drives across his land near the Rio Grande, pointing out where he runs cattle and grows alfalfa and the family cemetery that[…]

River running through Big Bend National Park. Getty Images

Wamu.org | What the Trump administration is building in Big Bend

Is the Trump administration building a segment of the border wall in Big Bend National Park? That’s the question that’s at the heart of a public debate in West[…]

Support Keep Big Bend Wild

Click this button to add your name to the growing list of individuals, businesses, and organizations supporting a wilderness designation for the undeveloped lands of Big Bend National Park.

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Every contribution helps defray the cost of our volunteers to produce materials and travel to meetings to build awareness and strengthen our coalition. 

Contributions supporting Keep Big Bend Wild are managed by the El Paso Community Foundation and are tax deductible as allowed by law.

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Images © Rebecca Latson.

Keep Big Bend Wild
P.O. Box 66
Big Bend National Park, TX, 79834