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Since October, the Bureau of Land Management has expanded itsoperations at two national monuments in southern Arizona, trying tocrack down on smugglers and illegal immigrants who trample andtrash the pristine desert on their way north from Mexico. BLM efforts to guard against smugglers The federal agency has brought in more than a dozen law-enforcementrangers from other states to beef up patrols at the Sonoran DesertNational Monument, south of Phoenix, where towering saguarocactuses, wide-open valleys and flat-topped mountains create one ofthe most iconic vistas in the Sonoran Desert. The operations alsohave focused on the Ironwood Forest National Monument north ofTucson. Because of their remote locations and ample hiding places, themonuments have become superhighways for violent smugglers sneakingdrugs and illegal immigrants from the Mexican border into Arizona. The smugglers have cast off acres of trash and created miles ofillegal roads by plowing through the desert with disregard for thefragile vegetation, often using stolen vehicles that are drivenuntil they break down and are abandoned, authorities say. During seven two-week operations, the agency's rangers have seizedmore than 27,000 pounds of marijuana and arrested more than 1,200illegal immigrants, according to the BLM. That is in addition tothe thousands of pounds of drugs and thousands of illegalimmigrants arrested by law-enforcement authorities. The agency also has removed 60 abandoned vehicles, 110 bicycles andmore than 24 tons of trash, enough to fill 1,239 garbage bags. Andthe agency has covered up more than 15 miles of illegal roads. But some of the agency's work to protect the pristine desert areasfrom smuggling activity has caused concern among conservationgroups. Last year, the agency began erecting long vehicle barriers made ofwelded scrap-steel railroad tracks to block smugglers from drivingvehicles through wilderness areas inside the Sonoran DesertNational Monument. The barriers have been highly effective, BLMofficials say. Not a single smuggler has driven into wildernessareas where the barriers have been installed, they say. Conservation groups say the barriers, although effective, also marthe landscape. However, they view the barriers as the lesser of twoevils. Monuments under pressure In 2000, President Bill Clinton created the Sonoran Desert andIronwood Forest national monuments to protect them from urbansprawl extending south from Phoenix and north from Tucson. The 487,000-acre Sonoran Desert National Monument is locatedbetween Gila Bend and Casa Grande, off Interstate 8. The area isthe most biologically diverse desert in North America and is knownfor its abundant forests of saguaros interspersed with paloverdetrees, creosote bushes, sage and ironwood trees. The area also contains many archaeological and historic sites,including remnants of villages that once belonged to the ancestorsof the Tohono O'Odham, Quechan, Maricopa and other Native Americantribes. The smaller Ironwood Forest National Monument encompasses 129,000acres of desert west of Interstate 10 and north of Tucson. The areais known for its concentration of ironwood trees, some more than800 years old, and its collection of more than 200 ancient Hohokamsites. The Sonoran Desert National Monument includes the Vekol Valley,where one man was killed and another wounded in April 2011 during ashooting involving drug smugglers. The smugglers have carved foot trails that spider through thedesert and have left behind acres of plastic water bottles, coats,backpacks and other items cast off after trekking for days from theU.S.-Mexican border to rendezvous points 75 miles to the northalong I-8, the main highway smugglers use to transport drugs andillegal immigrants to stash houses in the Phoenix area or toCalifornia. "There is quite a bit of damage done by smugglers," said ThomHulen, executive director of the Friends of the Sonoran DesertNational Monument, a group that advocates for the monument'sprotection. "In addition to all the damage and all the trash, (thesmuggling activity) scares people away. They get spooked." Signs of smuggling During a tour of the Sonoran Desert National Monument one recentafternoon, Jon Young, the BLM's chief ranger in Arizona, pulled hispickup truck off I-8 and stopped next to Mile Marker 157. He told his passengers to wait in the truck while he got out tomake sure there weren't any drug smugglers hiding in the brush.Young poked around in the brush for a few moments and then gave athumbs up. The ground was littered with fresh signs of smuggling activity.Young picked up a boot made of carpeting used by smugglers toconceal their footprints. Strewn nearby were several burlap sacks,remnants of homemade backpacks used for hauling marijuana throughthe desert. There were also several mud-caked jackets and lots of emptyhalf-gallon plastic water bottles, colored black to make them lessconspicuous in the sunlight. Young pointed to the ground beneath the bushes, which had beenmatted down from the weight of smugglers. A well-worn path leadingsouth toward the border also was clearly visible. Young said smugglers typically hike four or five days through thedesert with backpacks loaded with about 45 pounds of marijuana.They usually travel in groups of 10 to 15 but sometimes break intosmaller groups. They also are typically accompanied by a scout who, instead ofdrugs, carries a backpack full of food, water, radios andcellphones, Young said. Depending on how far the group istraveling, the smugglers may have several support people hikingwith heavy packs full of food and extra water, he said. Once they reach I-8, they hide until other members of the smugglingorganization arrive to pick up their loads of drugs. The marijuanais then loaded into pickup trucks and driven to stash houses innearby towns or the Phoenix area, Young said. Smuggling has become so prevalent, the BLM has posted signs onroads leading into the monuments that warn the few remainingvisitors to travel with caution. The agency doesn't track visitors,but rangers and conservation groups have seen a decline in thenumber of hikers and campers who use the monuments, and many nowcarry guns for protection. "Smuggling and illegal immigration may be encountered in thisarea," the signs say. Ranger teams During operations at the monuments, the BLM transfers about 12 to16 rangers from other states to Arizona. They work with the 10rangers assigned to the BLM's Phoenix district, which manages theSonoran Desert monument, and 12 rangers assigned to the BLM's Giladistrict, which oversees the Ironwood monument. To combat smuggling inside the two monuments, the BLM rangers workwith other law-enforcement officers who are part of the Alliance toCombat Transnational Threats, a group of law-enforcement agenciesthat includes the Border Patrol, Immigration and CustomsEnforcement, and the Pinal County and Maricopa County sheriff'soffices. The most recent operation ended last week, resulting in thecollection of 219 bags of trash, the seizure of 6,000 pounds ofmarijuana and the discovery of the body of one migrant. On a recent Saturday, Joe Nardinger, 38, a BLM ranger from theUpper Missouri Breaks National Monument in Montana, found 46bundles of marijuana weighing 1,000 pounds while patrolling a washon the Sonoran Desert National Monument. Nardinger, who was sent to Arizona for two weeks, had beenfollowing some fresh tire tracks when he found the marijuana. Itwas hidden in the bank of the wash, covered by branches thesmugglers had cut from nearby paloverde and mesquite trees. "I smelled it before I saw it. I got a whiff, a big dose of it,"Nardinger said. Installing barriers In addition to beefed up patrols, the BLM has been cleaning uptrash and getting rid of illegal roads and foot trails created bysmugglers. Despite the efforts, drug smuggling continues to increase in thearea, although illegal-immigrant traffic is down, Young said. Their cleanup and restoration work has been applauded byconservation groups. But conservationists are less enthusiasticabout the vehicle barriers the BLM has been installing inside theSonoran Desert National Monument. Last fall, the BLM erected 1.3 miles of vehicle barriers at thesouthern end of the Sonoran monument abutting the border of theTohono O'odham Reservation. They were intended to prevent smugglersfrom driving north from the reservation through the heart of themonument's designated wilderness area. Last week, the agency finished erecting about a quarter-mile ofvehicle barriers northwest of the Table Top Mountain Range. Those barriers are designed to prevent smugglers from driving southfrom I-8 to rendezvous points inside the monument. The BLM plans to install more barriers in other parts of theSonoran monument, Young said. Known as Normandy barriers, after the coastal barriers used inNazi-occupied France during World War II, the 2-foot-high barriershave proved effective in preventing smugglers from driving throughwilderness areas and creating illegal roads,Young said. The Border Patrol has installed miles of barriers along the Arizonaborder with Mexico. But this is the first time Normandy barriers have been used awayfrom the border, said Matt Skroch, executive director of theArizona Wilderness Coalition, a conservation group. The barriers mar the landscape, and conservationists are concernedthat those being used inside the Sonoran monument will open thedoor to more in other pristine desert areas throughout the state,Skroch said. "We certainly don't want to see a scenario where we keep installingmore and more vehicle barriers," he said. But the group isn't opposed to the barriers outright, Skroch said,because so far, they have been effective in stopping smugglers fromcreating roads and destroying more of the desert landscape. "This is the lesser of two evils," Skroch said. "But it's not something we are particularly happy about.". The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Remy Top Closure Manufacturer , China Hair Fringe Wig, and more. For more , please visit Virgin Human Hair Extensions today!
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