Abstract

Visualizing Environmental Impacts of Tactical Infrastructure at the US-Mexico Border
Track: Parks, Natural Reserves, Fisheries, and Wildlife Management
Authors: Louise Misztal, Caroline Patrick

The Sky Island region of the southwestern US and northern Mexico is one the most biologically diverse regions in North America and is characterized by a high diversity of terrain and habitats. This region is bisected by 200 miles of US-MX border which has undergone an immense build up of tactical infrastructure in the past 5 years including construction of impermeable fencing that crosses hydrologic features, protected lands, and sensitive habitat. In order to understand and visualize the environmental impacts of this infrastructure, Sky Island Alliance has been spatially documenting the location, character and extent of this infrastructure, analyzing affected resources, and has developed a tool to visualize the location of border infrastructure in relation to natural resources. The map created for this project was the first publicly available document detailing the types of tactical infrastructure installed and is now publicly available through a website utilizing ArcGIS Online.