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Authors: Kimball Taylor
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featherweight species like the clapper rail from extinction.
But in 2002, Representative Duncan Hunter added a rider to the Homeland Security Bill that called for the construction of a âtriple fenceâ along the San Diego corridorâan edifice that required filling in canyons to build a paved road across them. This promised to cause a number of environmental problems for both the wetland below and the native species that lived there. Wildcoast, Ben McCueâs employer, allied itself with a coalition of local and national organizations, including the Sierra Club, in opposition to the massive fence. They brought a lawsuit. The California Coastal Commission sided with conservationists and denied permits for the construction. Butin 2005, a piece of legislation was slipped into the Real ID Act, a bill intended to bring uniformity to driverâs licenses, which allowed Homeland Security to waive any law that stood in the way of the fence. It was a legislative Trojan horse. Among others, laws ambushed by the Real ID Act included the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.
On April 1, 2008, DHS secretary Michael Chertoff invoked the waiver, and construction began. McCue and I could see contractors filling Smugglerâs Gulch with 1.7 million cubic yards of dirt. McCueâs cause, it appeared, had been lost without any identifiable link between this land and real incidents of international terrorism.
This wasnât, however, the only sight. In the span from downtown Tijuana to the ocean, seven narrow canyons divide the palisades into buttes and mesas. The various incarnations of the border wallâthe old rusty brown one and tall shiny new oneârise and fall with every incline and descent. This creates a visual effect that has led many to compare the border wall to a roller coaster careening away toward the inland mountains. Every little nook and hill under its track has a story.
It was on the tops of these bluffs that survey teams from both Mexico and the United States met in 1850 to execute the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and draw the boundary line. But the treaty, which ended the Mexican-American War, did not specify exact coordinates. Some language indicated the line should be set at the original division between Alta California and Baja California, in a rich valley fourteen miles south of Tijuana. But the Mexican representatives wanted to retain some portion of San Diego Bay for commerce. The Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty transferred more than half of Mexicoâs territory to the United Statesâa landmass that includes the states of California, Arizona, and New Mexico, as wellas parts of Texas, Nevada, Colorado, and Utah. In comparison, the bay seemed a trifle. The American camp refused, however, arguing that San Diego Bay had always been a part of Alta California, which was now theirs.
The parties haggled. Finally, they settled on alternative treaty directions that designated a seventy-year-old map, made by Spanish pilot Juan Pantoja y Arriaga, as the initial point of reference. The treaty then gave directions to mark the border one marine league south of the southernmost tip of San Diego Bay, as indicated by the Pantoja map. Two problems arose immediately. The old map didnât match the topography the surveyors encountered. The bottom portion of San Diego Bay was a shape-shifting wetland that changed through the seasons and sometimes connected to the Tijuana River. Then the parties couldnât agree on the actual distance of a marine league. In the spirit of expediency, they split the difference between the conflicting lengthsâa happenstance negotiation that put the uniformed commissioners, topographers, and surveyors on the elevated bluff that would become Monument Mesa. Buffeted by a sea breeze, with full views of the bay
But in 2002, Representative Duncan Hunter added a rider to the Homeland Security Bill that called for the construction of a âtriple fenceâ along the San Diego corridorâan edifice that required filling in canyons to build a paved road across them. This promised to cause a number of environmental problems for both the wetland below and the native species that lived there. Wildcoast, Ben McCueâs employer, allied itself with a coalition of local and national organizations, including the Sierra Club, in opposition to the massive fence. They brought a lawsuit. The California Coastal Commission sided with conservationists and denied permits for the construction. Butin 2005, a piece of legislation was slipped into the Real ID Act, a bill intended to bring uniformity to driverâs licenses, which allowed Homeland Security to waive any law that stood in the way of the fence. It was a legislative Trojan horse. Among others, laws ambushed by the Real ID Act included the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.
On April 1, 2008, DHS secretary Michael Chertoff invoked the waiver, and construction began. McCue and I could see contractors filling Smugglerâs Gulch with 1.7 million cubic yards of dirt. McCueâs cause, it appeared, had been lost without any identifiable link between this land and real incidents of international terrorism.
This wasnât, however, the only sight. In the span from downtown Tijuana to the ocean, seven narrow canyons divide the palisades into buttes and mesas. The various incarnations of the border wallâthe old rusty brown one and tall shiny new oneârise and fall with every incline and descent. This creates a visual effect that has led many to compare the border wall to a roller coaster careening away toward the inland mountains. Every little nook and hill under its track has a story.
It was on the tops of these bluffs that survey teams from both Mexico and the United States met in 1850 to execute the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and draw the boundary line. But the treaty, which ended the Mexican-American War, did not specify exact coordinates. Some language indicated the line should be set at the original division between Alta California and Baja California, in a rich valley fourteen miles south of Tijuana. But the Mexican representatives wanted to retain some portion of San Diego Bay for commerce. The Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty transferred more than half of Mexicoâs territory to the United Statesâa landmass that includes the states of California, Arizona, and New Mexico, as wellas parts of Texas, Nevada, Colorado, and Utah. In comparison, the bay seemed a trifle. The American camp refused, however, arguing that San Diego Bay had always been a part of Alta California, which was now theirs.
The parties haggled. Finally, they settled on alternative treaty directions that designated a seventy-year-old map, made by Spanish pilot Juan Pantoja y Arriaga, as the initial point of reference. The treaty then gave directions to mark the border one marine league south of the southernmost tip of San Diego Bay, as indicated by the Pantoja map. Two problems arose immediately. The old map didnât match the topography the surveyors encountered. The bottom portion of San Diego Bay was a shape-shifting wetland that changed through the seasons and sometimes connected to the Tijuana River. Then the parties couldnât agree on the actual distance of a marine league. In the spirit of expediency, they split the difference between the conflicting lengthsâa happenstance negotiation that put the uniformed commissioners, topographers, and surveyors on the elevated bluff that would become Monument Mesa. Buffeted by a sea breeze, with full views of the bay
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