If it belonged to anyone, this expanse of high desert was first the domain of the nomadic Chisos Indians, who were killed off by the Apaches, who were defeated by the Spanish, who were run off by the Comanches — until white settlers imported repeating rifles and put an end to all debate about who owned what.
Six different flags have claimed the land that composes Big Bend National Park, but the arid Chihuahuan limestone soil resists most attempts at settlement. The Spanish called it “El Despoblado,” the uninhabited land. For most of its history, the 800,000 acres belonged to the wild.
Now, many here are worried about what would be the most powerful territorial claim of all: A proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border that, if extended as far as this remote national park, would form a permanent divide along the Rio Grande.
No one knows how far beyond cities such a wall would extend, but conservationists here already are raising an alarm. Their chief fear is that such a barrier would threaten the slow but steady reintroduction of wildlife species killed off here during the 19th and 20th centuries, one of the Southwest’s most important environmental success stories.
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