Immigration, Environment, and Security

on the U.S.-Mexico Border Lisa

Meierotto
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/immigration-environment-and-security-on-the-u-s-me
xico-border-lisa-meierotto/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Biota Grow 2C gather 2C cook Loucas

https://textbookfull.com/product/biota-grow-2c-gather-2c-cook-
loucas/

The INS on the line: making immigration law on the US-

Mexico border, 1917-1954 1st Edition S. Deborah Kang

https://textbookfull.com/product/the-ins-on-the-line-making-
immigration-law-on-the-us-mexico-border-1917-1954-1st-edition-s-
deborah-kang/

Exit and Voice The Paradox of Cross Border Politics in

Mexico Lauren Duquette-Rury

https://textbookfull.com/product/exit-and-voice-the-paradox-of-
cross-border-politics-in-mexico-lauren-duquette-rury/

Chinese Immigration and Australian Politics: A Critical

Analysis on a Merit-Based Immigration System Jia Gao

https://textbookfull.com/product/chinese-immigration-and-
australian-politics-a-critical-analysis-on-a-merit-based-
immigration-system-jia-gao/
Culture and Health Disparities Evaluation of
Interventions and Outcomes in the U S Mexico Border
Region 1st Edition John G Bruhn (Auth.)

https://textbookfull.com/product/culture-and-health-disparities-
evaluation-of-interventions-and-outcomes-in-the-u-s-mexico-
border-region-1st-edition-john-g-bruhn-auth/

The Offshore Pipeline Construction Industry: Activity

Modeling and Cost Estimation in the United States Gulf
of Mexico: Activity Modeling and Cost Estimation in the
U.S Gulf of Mexico 1st Edition Mark J. Kaiser
https://textbookfull.com/product/the-offshore-pipeline-
construction-industry-activity-modeling-and-cost-estimation-in-
the-united-states-gulf-of-mexico-activity-modeling-and-cost-
estimation-in-the-u-s-gulf-of-mexico-1st-edition-mark/

Small States and the New Security Environment Anne-

Marie Brady

https://textbookfull.com/product/small-states-and-the-new-
security-environment-anne-marie-brady/

Bombs Bullets and the Border Policing Ireland s

Frontier Irish Security Policy 1969 1978 Paddy Mulroe

https://textbookfull.com/product/bombs-bullets-and-the-border-
policing-ireland-s-frontier-irish-security-
policy-1969-1978-paddy-mulroe/

Lisa Murphy on Play The Foundation of Children s

Learning 2nd Edition Lisa Murphy

https://textbookfull.com/product/lisa-murphy-on-play-the-
foundation-of-children-s-learning-2nd-edition-lisa-murphy/
Immigration,
Environment, and
Security on the
U.S.-Mexico Border

Lisa Meierotto
Immigration, Environment, and Security
on the U.S.-Mexico Border
 Lisa Meierotto

Immigration,
Environment, and
Security on the
U.S.-Mexico Border
Lisa Meierotto
School of Public Service, Global Studies
and Environmental Studies
Boise State University
Boise, ID, USA

ISBN 978-3-030-31813-0    ISBN 978-3-030-31814-7 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31814-7

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2020
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the
­publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to
the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The
publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and
­institutional affiliations.

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To Zoe, Dimitri, and Lukas. May you always find the passion to pursue your
dreams, the drive to stick with your goals, and the support of family, friends,
and community throughout your lives.
In Memory of my father, Kenneth Elmer Meierotto, 1943–2019
 Preface

The first time I crossed the U.S.-Mexico border was in December 1997. I
had graduated from college the previous spring and was feeling bored and
unsatisfied with my nine-to-five job. I wanted to do something “more”
with my life. To quell the boredom and in search of a grand adventure, my
sister and I planned an odyssey of sorts. We decided to retrace the immi-
gration route of our maternal grandparents from northern Mexico and
Texas to southern Idaho some 50 years earlier. I named the trip the descu-
brimiento de mis raíces tour. Technically, my grandmother was an “illegal”
Mexican immigrant. However, back in the 1920s, when she crossed the
border with her siblings, perceptions of “illegality” were more fluid.
Family lore has it that my grandmother, along with her brother and sister,
crossed the border together. They brought along a “pretty friend” to flirt
with the border guards, and then they simply walked through the border
turnstile to begin their new life in San Antonio, Texas.1
From San Antonio, my sister and I took a Greyhound bus to Bracketville,
Texas. Bracketville at that time was a dusty, empty, quiet town near the
border. It was home to our maternal grandfather. From there, we took a
bus to Del Rio/Ciudad Acuña, Mexico. We were the only people on the
bus that hot afternoon. In a funny twist of fate, my sister and I had failed
to secure proper travel visas to enter Mexico. Thus, we were illegal border-­
crossers in the opposite direction, and we had to pay a hefty fine to the
Mexican government before we could travel home three months later.

1
Thank you to my cousin and author Teresa Funke for documenting and our sharing our
family stories!

vii
viii PREFACE

I was struck by the amount of garbage and the pollution, and the num-
ber of armed guards on the Mexican side of the border. The dramatic
juxtaposition of wealth and poverty, order and chaos, cleanliness and filth
that demarcates the international border was striking. Since that first trip
over 20 years ago, I have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border at many differ-
ent times and in several different locations—from San Diego, California,
to Tijuana, from Nogales, Arizona, to Nogales, Mexico, and from
Lukeville, Arizona, to Sonoyta, Mexico.
Prior to beginning my dissertation research, all of my border-crossings
were through urban areas along common transit routes. In these urban
crossings, border-crossing is not subtle, one is able to immediately observe
differences in wealth, lifestyle, and economic opportunity.
However, in rural Southern Arizona, the dichotomy between rich–poor
and polluted–clean is not so distinct. For example, the Pinacate Biosphere
Reserve—the protected area south of Cabeza Prieta in Mexico—is actually
less threatened environmentally, than the wilderness protected areas north
of the border in the U.S. This is primarily because the vehicle and foot
traffic coming out of Mexico into the U.S. travels on the main roads and
highways until reaching the international border. When immigrants and
smugglers reach the international border, they fan out into the Arizona
desert, north, east and west, disrupting plant and animal life, and some-
times leaving garbage, footprints, and tire tracks behind. But it is not just
immigrants and smugglers who cause environmental degradation in the
desert. The massive Homeland Security response to undocumented immi-
gration and smuggling (of both humans and drugs) leaves a heavy envi-
ronmental footprint. The impact of Border Patrol vehicles, in particular, is
ubiquitous and environmentally destructive in Cabeza Prieta.
When I began my doctoral research at the U.S.-Mexico border, I
started with a single objective: I hoped to better understand how envi-
ronmental issues relate to immigration concerns. I was drawn to the
isolated, desolate desert region of Southern Arizona after observing
media coverage that was hyper-focused on the ways in which “illegal”
Mexican immigrants were trashing the natural desert landscape in
Arizona. My research began with a simple question: Are undocumented
Mexican immigrants “trashing” the border, as is often suggested in the
popular media? Web-­based news sources such as CNN and Fox News
regularly show images such as discarded clothing, backpacks, and other
 PREFACE ix

immigrant “trash.”2 Media reports describe this trash as an environmen-

tal problem. In addition to studying the trash issue, I sought to better
understand the impact of Border Patrol on conservation efforts. In par-
ticular, I wondered how the extreme build-up of Homeland Security
post 9/11 had impacted wilderness areas along the border. I thought it
possible that security efforts might protect the environment from undoc-
umented border-crossers and smugglers. I also thought it possible that
all of the fences, walls, and vehicle traffic must likely leave a heavy envi-
ronmental footprint in the deserts of the Southwest. Lastly, I wondered
about the relationship between the militarization of the border and bor-
der conservation. How could these two seemingly different national
policy objectives (border security and border conservation) coexist in
the same space?
My dissertation fieldwork, followed by several years of archival research
and media review, resulted in this book. In the chapters that follow, I pres-
ent an analysis of how conservation efforts in the stunning Sonoran Desert
have been impacted, in both positive and negative ways, by its remarkable
geopolitical position at the frontlines of immigration battles, militaristic
pursuits, and Homeland Security development. While many of the com-
ponents of the story are particular to this specific place, there are lessons
that can be learned relevant to conservation in borderlands around
the world.
In today’s globalized world, unprecedented flows of people and contra-
band cross international borders. Many of these borders are home to envi-
ronmentally sensitive and protected areas. Scientists have identified
242,843 protected areas around the globe (https://www.iucn.org/
theme/protected-areas/our-work/world-database-protected-areas).
Further, according to the last inventory, in 2007, on global transboundary
protected areas, there are over 200 transboundary conservation sites
(TBPA.net). Given the importance of the location of many protected areas
in border regions, we must consider the question: How can we protect the
natural environment in unstable and politically charged border regions?
It is worth noting that this work itself is situated in an academic border-
land, as it is theoretically and methodologically located at the edges of
disciplinary boundaries. My training is in anthropology; as such, a good
portion of the book is based on ethnographic fieldwork. However, much

2
Several scholars discuss and deconstruct the idea of immigrant trash. I discuss this in later
chapters.
x PREFACE

of the book is written from a historical perspective, and several of the early
chapters in the book are more akin to environmental history than anthro-
pology. I also focus on geopolitical spatial concerns, an approach typically
favored in political ecology. Lastly, I utilize discourse analysis of popular
media, personal discussions, and archival materials throughout. The book
is simultaneously a case study of a specific place, Cabeza Prieta National
Wildlife Refuge, and a broader analysis of the general U.S-Mexico border
region. I hope that students, scholars, and anyone with an interest in the
U.S.-Mexico border and global border conservation will gain a deeper
understanding of border history, border conservation, and the politics of
undocumented immigration.

Boise, ID Lisa Meierotto

 Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my dissertation advisors at the University of

Washington: Drs. Ben Fitzhugh, Miriam Kahn, and Celia Lowe. Dr. Jason
De León offered advice to me while working on this project and I appreci-
ate his time. I worked at the School of Human Evolution and Social
Change at Arizona State University when I began this research, and I
thank the school for their support and encouragement.
On a personal level, I thank Michail Fragkias for his support over the
many years it took for this project to finally come to fruition—you have
been there since day one and I couldn’t have done this without you! I
thank my children Zoe, Dimitri, and Lukas for their patience while writing
this book as this has taken up some of our precious time together. Thank
you to my cousin Teresa Funke, who inspires and motivates me (and has
taught me so much about our family history in Mexico). Thank you to
Amy, Jim, Ken, and Rose Marie Meierotto for your support over the years.
Thanks also to Anastasia and Dimitrios Fragkias for many years of support.
Two drafts of this manuscript were revised in your home in Athens!
The amazing, efficient, and productive skills of assistant editor Jennifer
Morales cannot be overstated. She helped me breathe life into this work
once again and helped me to re-envision (and strengthen!) the entire
manuscript. She offered astute insight, tough criticism, and constant sup-
port. Dr. Anca Pusca and Katelyn Zingg at Palgrave Macmillan have been
a wonderful team to work with! My appreciation is also extended to an
anonymous reviewer for very constructive and extensive insightful feed-
back. Elizabeth Ramsey, Librarian at Boise State University, provided
assistance with obtaining archival materials, and librarians at Arizona State

xi
xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

University also assisted with archival research. Kay Wingert in Foundational

Studies at Boise State University helped me navigate submitting the man-
uscript while living abroad.
Lastly, I want to thank my colleagues and friends at Boise State
University for their continued steadfast support. To all my colleagues in
the School of Public Service and across campus, as well as our amazing
students—please know that I appreciate your support and collegiality and
I am so grateful to be a part of this vibrant community.
 About the Book

The research presented in this book is based, in part, on ethnographic

fieldwork that I conducted in the Arizona borderlands between 2007 and
2010. It is also based on archival, historical, and media review conducted
between 2006 and 2019. The story centers on Cabeza Prieta National
Wildlife Refuge, a federally protected Wilderness Area in southern Arizona.
I am immensely grateful to the people of Ajo, staff at Cabeza Prieta NWR,
and Border Patrol agents for giving of their time while I was conducting
the ethnographic portion of this research. Nonetheless, it is important to
note that the observations and analysis presented in this book are mine
alone and not representative of any individual or agency.
In addition to ethnographic observation, I tell the story of Cabeza
Prieta through an examination of historical archives, government reports,
and media accounts. I then draw upon scholarly literature in political ecol-
ogy and environmental justice, along with race and place-based studies to
analyze the roles and relationships in conservation efforts along the bor-
der. Cabeza Prieta NWR is a fascinating place to explore, as we can gain
insights into the ways in which border security and border conservation
have co-evolved on the U.S.-Mexico border. Perhaps, most importantly,
this book offers insights in the ways in which the politics of race and
nationalism are subtly, but significantly, interwoven into border environ-
mental and security policy.

xiii
 Contents

1 Introduction: Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge  1

2 A Disciplined Space 17

3 The Environmental and Political History of Cabeza Prieta:

People in Wilderness 33

4 Perceptions of Environmental Degradation 71

5 Human Rights in Border Conservation: Access to Water

at Cabeza Prieta 97

6 Saving Sonoran Pronghorn: Science, Policy, and

Endangered Species117

7 The Future of Cabeza Prieta and Significance for Global

Conservation141

Afterword157

References163

Index181

xv
 About the Author

Lisa Meierotto is an assistant professor in the School of Public Service at

Boise State University. She teaches in the Global Studies and Environmental
Studies Programs. Dr. Meierotto earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology from
the University of Washington, which she completed in 2009. She also
holds an M.A. in International Development, Community Planning, and
the Environment from Clark University. She attended Pacific Lutheran
University as an undergraduate, completing a B.A. in Anthropology and
Global Studies. Her research interests center on global migration, human
rights, and environmental justice.

xvii
 List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Map of Cabeza Prieta (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) 3
Fig. 2.1 Map of protected areas (USGS National Map Small-Scale
https://nationalmap.gov/small_scale/atlasftp.html)20
Fig. 2.2 Map of the Sonoran Desert (Courtesy of the Sonoran Desert
Museum, used with permission. https://www.desertmuseum.
org/)21
Fig. 2.3 Number of deaths reported by Border Patrol, 1998–2017
(based on data from U.S. Border Patrol) 24
Fig. 3.1 Number of apprehensions in the Tucson and Yuma sectors
(based on data from U.S. Border Patrol) 44
Fig. 3.2 Original map of Cabeza Prieta NWR (U.S. Department of the
Interior 1974, p. 1) 54
Fig. 3.3 Extent of military withdrawal lands in 1974 (U.S. Department
of the Interior 1974, p. 17) 57
Fig. 3.4 Number of Border Patrol agents on Southwest border (data
source: U.S. Border Patrol, “Staffing” https://www.cbp.gov/
sites/default/files/assets/documents/2019-Mar/Staffing%20
FY1992-FY2018.pdf)62
Fig. 3.5 A moveable watchtower 65
Fig. 4.1 Example of soil compaction and widening roads 77
Fig. 4.2 Widening roads 79
Fig. 4.3 Illegal roads 80
Fig. 4.4 North offshoots 81
Fig. 4.5 One style of border vehicle barrier 85
Fig. 4.6 A second type of border vehicle barrier 86
Fig. 4.7 Deflated balloon in a creosote bush in wilderness area 90

xix
xx List of Figures

Fig. 4.8 Volunteers working to remediate an off-road turn-around site

in Cabeza Prieta 91
Fig. 5.1 Rescue beacon 106
Fig. 7.1 Proximate causes of environmental degradation at Cabeza Prieta 143
Fig. 7.2 Web of relations 144
 List of Tables

Table 3.1 Outline of key events in coevolution of conservation and

militarization north of the U.S.-Mexico border 53
Table 4.1 Actors and scales of access in Cabeza Prieta 72

xxi
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction: Cabeza Prieta National

Wildlife Refuge

Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is a federally protected

wildlife refuge located in southern Arizona. The southern border of
Cabeza Prieta stretches 56 miles along the U.S.-Mexican border. The des-
ert landscape in and around Cabeza Prieta is stunningly beautiful. It is no
surprise, then, to learn that when the well-known environmentalist and
author Edward Abbey requested to have his body buried in a desolate,
remote, wild land, his friends allegedly chose Cabeza Prieta for his final
resting place. It would, however, likely come as surprise to Edward Abbey’s
fans1 that the area where his body rests today is simultaneously a conserva-
tion site, a military training grounds, and an immigration and smuggling
corridor. It is not desolate, nor quiet, nor devoid of human impacts. In
fact, Cabeza Prieta has become so central to the international flow of peo-
ple and goods across the U.S.-Mexico border that one local conservation-
ist I spoke with described the refuge as the “doormat” of entry into the
U. S. (personal communication 2007).
A few snapshots to begin: a wildlife refuge employee driving around
with a large automatic rifle in the back seat of his truck; Border Patrol
agents “rescuing” wildlife refuge staff and volunteers when they get stuck
in the sand, become lost, or are otherwise in need of assistance; refuge

1
There is an interesting resurgence of interest in the work of Edward Abby that is relevant
to this book. See, for example, “Dumping Grounds: Donald Trump, Edward Abbey and the
Immigrant as Pollution” by Michael Potts (2017) and “Goodbye Abbey, Hello Intersectional
Environmentalism” by Sarah Krakoff (2018) among others.

© The Author(s) 2020 1

L. Meierotto, Immigration, Environment, and Security on the U.S.-Mexico
Border, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31814-7_1
2 L. MEIEROTTO

biologists notifying Border Patrol on the radio whenever they spot a “an
undocumented alien (UDA)”; Navy and Air Force personnel working
alongside state- and federally supported biologists in endangered species
preservation. Each of these scenarios represents the day-to-day reality of
conservation in Cabeza Prieta. As the chapters of this book unfold, the
reader can see that Cabeza Prieta is not a typical conservation site. Rather,
Cabeza Prieta is a “militarized wilderness area” and occupies a complex
space where militarization and conservation exist side by side, in a tense,
often productive, but uneasy marriage.

Geo-spatial Context
There are over 500 federal wildlife refuges in the U.S., comprising over
150 million acres of protected land. Wildlife refuges are managed by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. All wildlife refuges are mandated to “con-
serve fish and wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the
American people” (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fundamentals 2013).
In addition to being recognized as a wildlife refuge, Cabeza Prieta is a
federally designated wilderness area. The National Wilderness Preservation
System (NWPS) “preserves the wildest of our wild lands with the highest
level of government protection” (The Wilderness Society https://www.
wilderness.org). There are currently 762 federal wilderness areas across
the country, totaling more than 100 million acres.
Cabeza Prieta (Fig. 1.1) was established in 1939 for the protection and
management of desert resources, especially endangered and threatened
wildlife like Sonoran pronghorn, desert bighorn sheep, and lesser long-­
nosed bats. Cabeza Prieta means “Dark Head” in Spanish and refers to a
dark-colored mountain on the western side of the refuge. At 860,010 acres,
it is the third largest wildlife refuge in the continental U.S. (outsized by
the Desert Wildlife Refuge in Nevada and the Charles M. Russell Refuge
in Montana). A variety of other types of federally and state-managed land
areas surround the refuge: to the east lies Organ Pipe Cactus National
Monument (a National Park) and the Tohono O’odham Nation. To the
west, one encounters the massive Goldwater Air Force Range, and to the
south, there is a large patchwork of wildlife conservation areas in Mexico.
Mexican Highway Number Two roughly parallels the international border.
Cabeza Prieta bears the unfortunate stamp of being one of the most
degraded wilderness areas in the U.S. A 2008 report by Public Employees
for Environmental Responsibility, a political action group, listed the ten
most “imperiled” wildlife refuges in the U.S. (imperiled in the sense that it
 1 INTRODUCTION: CABEZA PRIETA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE 3

Fig. 1.1 Map of Cabeza Prieta (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

is difficult to achieve its mission as wildlife refuge). Their list was compiled
using data collected from interviews with refuge managers across the coun-
try. Cabeza Prieta was listed as the number one most threatened refuge. The
root cause of the threat, according to the report, is border fencing (the
33-mile vehicle barrier, constructed in 2009) and, in more general terms,
border “control issues.” This book explores ways in which conservation in a
border context is impacted by immigration. I also find that the existence of
the conservation site shapes the public perceptions of immigrants. Border
conservation takes place within a myriad of social, political, and economic
contexts. Studying these various contexts is more than just an academic
exercise. The greatest risk of ignoring the social and political context of
border conservation is that conservation programs could unwittingly con-
tribute to the scaling back of basic human rights for border-crossers.

Accessing Cabeza Prieta

The Cabeza Prieta refuge itself is quite difficult to access, so it is surprising
to learn it faces such dire environmental challenges. To enter the refuge,
one must first obtain a permit from the military as the airspace over the
refuge is an active training zone for the U.S. military. Access permits can
4 L. MEIEROTTO

be obtained at the Visitor’s Center in Ajo, Luke Air Force Base, or at a

Marine Corps office in Yuma. To visit the refuge, one must be well pre-
pared for a harsh and unforgiving desert environment. Visitors are
instructed to have a truck or sports utility vehicle (SUV) with high clear-
ance, four-wheel drive, and good shocks. Roads on the refuge range from
bumpy to extremely uncomfortable to outright impassable. Visitors must
carry large quantities of water as water resources on the refuge are very
limited. During the monsoon seasons of winter and summer, one might
be fortunate enough to stumble upon a small pool of water, and there are
a few tanks of putrid water scattered around the refuge for wildlife, but
these sources are neither reliable nor sufficient for survival. It is recom-
mended that visitors carry several gallons of water for each day they will be
on the refuge. The climate is so hot and dry that severe dehydration
occurs quickly.
Because access to the refuge is so limited, much of the refuge-related
activity (ranging from management to education and outreach activities)
takes place in the small town of Ajo, Arizona. Ajo is about 40 miles north
of the U.S.-Mexico border and 30 miles from the nearest official refuge
entrance. Once a booming mining town, it is organized into planned con-
centric neighborhoods, with larger, nicer houses located near the mine
headquarters and progressively smaller houses as you move further to the
outskirts of town. The copper mine closed in 1985. While no longer in
operation, the mine remains a central component of the town’s history and
landscape. Many residents of Ajo today are retired “snowbirds” who come
to Ajo on a seasonal basis for the mild winters. The town is also home to
Border Patrol agents stationed in the area and staff who work at Cabeza
Prieta or nearby Organ Pipe National Monument. There is a small but
vibrant artist community in Ajo, and increasing number of Latinx families
with children. Native Americans currently make up about 10% of the town’s
population and the Latinx community makes up approximately 40% of the
population (https://www.arts.gov/exploring-our-town/ajo-masterplan).
Each week during my fieldwork season, I loaded up the car before dawn
and headed south out of Phoenix toward Ajo. I preferred to drive along
the quieter rural roads, leaving the sprawl of suburbia behind. I came to
love this two-hour drive, a time of peace and tranquility that left me f­ eeling
unplugged and ready for a new adventure. Driving on the colloquially
named “Dead Cow Road” offered a remarkable sense of isolation, even
though the sprawling Phoenix metro area was never far away, as the crow
flies. Over the course of my fieldwork, a thrilling diversity of wildlife
 1 INTRODUCTION: CABEZA PRIETA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE 5

crossed my path: a mountain lion, mule deer, coyotes, lizards, owls, and
numerous other species of birds. But one wildlife sighting always felt omi-
nous to me: the vultures. As soon as the weather warms up, the vultures
are everywhere, circling in small and large groups, sometimes near the
highway, sometimes off in the distance. The first few times I drove down
to Ajo, I was convinced that each group of vultures I saw was circling a
deceased immigrant’s body. It was incredibly unsettling.
It wasn’t until a few months into my fieldwork that I came to under-
stand that the human cost of smuggling and immigration is not so public,
not so transparent. During my fieldwork, I never once ran into a smuggler
on the refuge, nor did I directly observe someone crossing the border,
though certainly evidence of border-crossing are abundant. Of course, I
limited my time spent in isolated areas; I never traveled alone or on foot,
and I was always vigilant about my safety. During my fieldwork, I queried
visitors, staff, and volunteers at Cabeza Prieta, and they all confirmed that
it is rare to see immigrants or smugglers in the light of day while partici-
pating in common refuge activities like hiking or viewing wildlife. However,
it is important to point out that while border-crossing may not be visible at
first glance, the human and environmental impact of border activities is
significant. Chapter Four explores the causes of environmental degrada-
tion related to border-crossing and border security. Chapter Five dis-
cusses the loss of human life on the U.S.-Mexico border. The loss of
human life at the border is a significant and pressing human rights issue.
While it is rare to see border-crossers while recreating in the area, images
and representatives of the U.S. military and security complex are omnipres-
ent in Ajo and the surrounding area. Gila Bend, the closest town north of
Ajo, is home to Luke Air Force Base. While I was doing fieldwork, pilots
were conducting their flight training nearly every day. Within the boundar-
ies of the refuge, military debris is scattered everywhere, including live ord-
nance (unexploded weaponry previously used in training exercises).
Border Patrol is also visible everywhere, including the occasional young
man holding a large automatic weapon walking alongside the road. There
are often Border Patrol helicopters flying overheard, as well as the occa-
sional drone. But, by and large, Border Patrol operates out of their
­vehicles. At least one in every ten cars I passed each week while driving on
Highway 85 was a law enforcement vehicle of some sort. A couple of
months into my fieldwork, a temporary vehicle checkpoint was built on
the highway between Gila Bend and Ajo that remains today. At the time it
went up, many local people despised this checkpoint and viewed it as an
6 L. MEIEROTTO

infringement of their privacy. Today, these interior checkpoints are found

across the southern border. But it is important to document that the initial
installation of the Ajo checkpoint was contested by local residents. I also
will note that as a Mexican-American woman, I did feel nervous every
time I went through the checkpoint. At each passage going north, Border
Patrol agents would ask, “Are you a U.S. citizen?” I was personally never
detained nor harassed, but of course there are many ways in which racial
bias is employed at the checkpoint. People can be subject to further inquiry
if they look “suspicious”2 (i.e., have an accent or look Mexican). These
checkpoints are part of a “layered” approach to border security, which
states that checkpoints are allowable up to 100 miles from the border
(U.S. Customs and Border Protection). The layered approach has been a
central strategy in Homeland Security post 9/11.
The rate of undocumented immigration through Arizona has ebbed
and flowed over the past few decades, typically in line with economic and
political trends. Recent immigration policy, championed by the Trump
administration, will undoubtedly have an effect on future immigration
rates. It is too soon to understand the long-term impacts of the Trump
administration’s anti-immigrant hysteria. The humanitarian crisis at the
border continues to grow as more Central Americans flee poverty and
violence in their home countries; this too will affect both immigration and
border environmental policy in the years to come. I believe that the story
of Cabeza Prieta becomes more important in today’s context of increasing
political polarity. I hope this book will inform future environmental and
immigration policy along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Research Methods
My ethnographic fieldwork began in September 2007, primarily based in
Ajo, Arizona. Over a ten-month period, I spent hundreds of hours con-
ducting participant observation with refuge staff, local community groups,
Border Patrol, and humanitarian groups. I spent much of my time at the
refuge headquarters and visitor center, volunteering on various projects.
2
While Border Patrol is a federal organization, not a state-managed one, it is worth pointing
out that the State of Arizona has a well-documented history of using racial bias. The most well-
known example is Senate Bill 1070. Passed in 2010, the law allows law enforcement officers
ascertain immigration status when there is “reasonable suspicion” that someone is an undocu-
mented immigrant. While officially law enforcement personnel are not supposed to use race in
their determination of a “suspicious person,” in practice, it is a form of racial profiling.
 1 INTRODUCTION: CABEZA PRIETA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE 7

This vantage point offered great access to a broad spectrum of people

involved with conservation projects in the border region. Other fieldwork
excursions took me around the region, including the border towns of
Lukeville, Nogales, and Sasabe, the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation,
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and Buenos Aires National
Wildlife Refuge. After my intensive fieldwork was completed, I remained
connected to the area, visiting often over the next several years and follow-
ing conservation efforts I also carefully followed media and scholarly work
centered on human rights concerns on the U.S.-Mexico border.
All research was conducted using a mixed-methods approach. I am trained
as a cultural anthropologist, so much of the research is based on participant
observation and traditional ethnographic methods. After obtaining permis-
sion from the refuge director, I spent many hours volunteering in the main
office and riding along with refuge staff, biologists, and security officers. I
conducted both semi-structured and open-ended interviews with staff,
Border Patrol agents, local residents, and humanitarian aid groups. I also
conducted archival research to inform my understanding of the environmen-
tal history of the refuge. This included researching U.S. Fish and Game doc-
ument archives and reports and reviewing the local newspaper, Ajo Copper
News. I observed volunteer meetings, and I administered a questionnaire to
a small group of volunteers (n = 13). I observed Sonoran pronghorn (an
endangered species) recovery meetings over the course of two years.

Border Conservation as a Disciplined Space

As the remainder of this book will demonstrate, security and conservation
efforts at Cabeza Prieta have coevolved through connections among shared
actors, physical space, and ambitions of control over the landscape. But
importantly, security and conservation efforts are also involved in the
coproduction of new social phenomena, and herein lies an interesting dia-
lectical relationship: each of the main processes—conservation and
­security—derives from a perception of threat and contributes to the belief
that the threat from the south is increasing.
The interrelated processes of conservation and security are especially
affected by shifting perceptions of immigrants and immigration. Through
an analysis of the production of space through time at Cabeza Prieta, we
find a fascinating glimpse into a unique dialectical process of conservation
and security on the border. Juanita Sundberg is a geographer who studies
power, imperialism, and hegemony in the borderlands. Sundberg explains,
8 L. MEIEROTTO

“individuals within the U.S. government sought to link terrorism with bor-
der security and immigration policy” after 9/11 (2015, p. 210). She fur-
ther argues that “the region now located at the southern boundary of the
U.S. has been constituted as a liminal space in relation to the nation-­state”
(Sundberg 2015, p. 215). But this liminal space is not a forgotten wasteland.
Another way to think about Cabeza Prieta is as a type of “ruins” (Stoler
2008). As Stoler points out—“ruin” can be both a noun and a verb (195).
Ruins are not just found, they are also made (p. 201). Cabeza Prieta can
be understood as ruins in both senses: it is in the active process of being
environmentally “ruined” by the forces of undocumented immigration
and border security. It is also already representative of a ruined landscape,
and thus easily sacrificed for military training and national security. Stoler
argues that ruin-making is often a state-run project that “may involve
forced removal of populations and new zones of uninhabitable space, reas-
signing inhabitable space, and dictating how people are supposed to live in
them” (p. 202). There is great paradox here: Cabeza Prieta is simultane-
ously protected and ruined. This paradox can be explored more deeply,
employing Foucault’s concept of a “disciplined space.”
Foucault’s work on biopolitics is not often brought into conservation
analysis, but I argue that when conservation and security efforts are con-
sidered in tandem, these processes offer a compelling example of a “disci-
plined space,” a concept he developed in series of lectures at the Collège
de France (Senellart et al. 2009). According to Foucault, “discipline func-
tions to the extent that it isolates a space. … Discipline concentrates,
focuses and encloses. The first action of discipline is in fact to circumscribe
a space in which its power and mechanisms of its power will function fully
and without limit” (in Foucault et al. 2007, pp. 44–45). While Foucault’s
work centers on discipline and power over the human body and social life,
the concept of discipline offers a compelling orientation from which to
analyze border security and conservation. In his lectures at the Collège de
France in 1977–1978, Foucault explained:

Through some texts, but also through some projects and real town plans in
the eighteenth century, I tried to show you how the territorial sovereign
became an architect of the disciplined space, but also, and almost at the
same time, the regulator of a milieu, which involved not too much establish-
ing limits and frontiers, or fixing locations, as above all and essentially, mak-
ing possible, guaranteeing, and ensuring circulations: the circulation of
people, merchandise, and air, etcetera. (in Foucault et al. 2007, p. 29)
 1 INTRODUCTION: CABEZA PRIETA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE 9

Foucault looked at security as a way of ensuring the status quo for the
general population, and he identifies the circulation of goods (i.e., avoid-
ing scarcity) as a way to accomplish this. Wilderness can be thought of as
“scarce.” Conservation discourse often centers on the idea that wilderness
is running out, thus must be preserved. Similarly, scarcity can be seen in
the discourse on nature destruction by undocumented border-crossers—
the land is scarce as it faces the threat of immigrant destruction.
Ultimately, security is about control, and in Cabeza Prieta, the space is
brought under control through both conservation and militarization.
Control is a form of power, in this case the production of new relation-
ships between the state and the individuals involved in the conservation
process. These new relationships are observed in the collaborations and
conflicts among the U.S. military, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and
Homeland Security over the process and practice of wilderness conserva-
tion. While Foucault was not talking or writing about nature preservation
per se, his theory allows deeper insight into the connections between
social production and nature production:

The sovereign deals with nature, or rather with the perpetual conjunction,
the perpetual intrication of a geographical, climatic, and physical milieu with
the human species insofar as it has a body and a soul, a physical and a moral
existence; and the sovereign will be someone who will have to exercise
power at that point of connection where nature, in the sense of physical ele-
ments, interferes with nature in the sense of the nature of the human spe-
cies, at that point of articulation where the milieu becomes the determining
factor of nature [emphasis added]. (in Foucault et al. 2007, p. 38)

Another way of thinking about Cabeza Prieta as a disciplined space is to

bring in Stoler’s (2008) concept of “imperial formations.” “[I]mperial for-
mations” illuminate “the ongoing quality of processes of decimation, dis-
placement, and reclamation” (p. 193) along the border. Imperial formations
are indicative of imperial processes and practices, but distinct in the post-
9/11 world. The concept of imperial formations create a space for a new
vocabulary and thus new understanding of empires. Stoler argues that
imperial formations are “relations of force” (ibid.). When we incorporate
the concept and related language of imperial formations, it is clear that
Cabeza Prieta represents more than just an arbitrary space bounded by
lines on a map. Through the relations of force sparked by joint conserva-
tion and security efforts, this area has become central to the process of
nation-building at the southern border. Wilson Gilmore (2002) compels us
10 L. MEIEROTTO

to consider the “geographical imperative.” Brown (2010) also offers insight

into the paradox of sovereignty in a border context. She notes that we are
in an era of weakening state sovereignty, and this degradation of sover-
eignty is inciting the current frenzy over building border walls (24).
Bringing the literature on space, power, and sovereignty together, we
see that nature conservation at the border becomes a point of praxis,
where issues of social and environmental justice are played out. This is my
ultimate goal in telling the story of Cabeza Prieta—to promote the idea
that via environmental studies such as this we can gain insight into social
and political phenomena, and vice versa; struggles over the “environment”
are contextualized within broader social, economic, and political contexts.
One of my primary motivations for doing this research was to explore
how concepts of race and processes of racism are employed in conservation
efforts and in conservation discourse. Race is an important dimension of
conservation (Li 2009) and “imperial formations” are defined by “racial-
ized relations of allocations and appropriations” (Stoler 2008, p. 212).
Thus, if we think about border conservation lands as mere boundaries on a
map, then we miss important social/cultural constructions that are central
to the process of border conservation. As we shall see over the next few
chapters, race is a component of the history of border conservation and
remains a core issue today. We see race in the background in the ways that
blame is assigned for environmental degradation. We also see race very
clearly when we explore the dehumanization of border-crossers and the
denial of their basic human rights.
In all aspects of the story of Cabeza Prieta, I make a point never to shy
away from issues related to race and ethnicity. Specifically, I explore the
role of racial and ethnic stereotypes and how racial/ethnic constructs
affect conservation science and policy. Undocumented immigrants chal-
lenge the “line in the sand” (St. John 2011) at the U.S.-Mexico border on
a daily basis. These immigrants, primarily Latin Americans, cross the line
every day in direct resistance to current political and economic policies. It
is my hope that through an illumination of some of the cultural and politi-
cal aspects of nature conservation, the story of Cabeza Prieta will “call
attention to the broader political stakes of environmental politics” (Kosek
2006, p. 21). In other words, studies of environmental issues, especially in
contentious places like the U.S.-Mexico border, can inform us about
broader social tensions and provide a unique lens through which to ana-
lyze issues of race and ethnicity, the production of environmental science,
and nation-building. As Ruth Wilson Gilmore points out, “In times of
 1 INTRODUCTION: CABEZA PRIETA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE 11

crisis, dynamics [of race and power] are particularly apparent” (2002,
p. 17). At stake is more than academic insights into border conservation
or nation-building (though this book offers insight into both processes).
Of greater significance, we are compelled to think about how environ-
mental policy might affect the lives (or deaths) of thousands of undocu-
mented border-crossers in wilderness and protected areas.
Paradoxically, the U.S. government actually helps to create the concept
of the “illegal” Mexican through the construction of fences and walls and
the build-up of Border Patrol (Nevins 2002, p. 11), Nevins explains: “In
one sense, [immigration policy], by trying to limit unauthorized entries in
the United States, is an effort to eliminate boundary-related illegality. Yet,
at the same time, the operation helps to construct and perpetuate illegal-
ity” (2002, p. 13). This process derives from and contributes to the
“Latino threat narrative” (Chavez 2008). Ultimately, immigration policies
and homeland security policies created the problem of environmental deg-
radation along the border, though the popular media tends to tell the
story from another angle: dirty Mexicans leave their trash and body waste,
and are destroying our environment.

Race and Conservation

There is a rich body of scholarship in anthropology, geography, and his-
tory that explores issues of race in conservation. Tania Murray Li (2009)
argues that “ethnic minorities are most often the ones accused of forest
destruction, and conservation becomes yet another reason to evict them”
(p. 76). Li goes on to explain, “[I]n the history of life-preserving interven-
tions, social protection has been racialized and spatialized. Not everyone
has been able to claim a ‘right to live’” (p. 79). Race is thus a “crucial
dimension” of conservation-based dispossession (p. 76), and racial politics
are always present in the policies along the U.S.-Mexico border (Hill
2006; Sundberg and Kaserman 2007; Chavez 2008; St. John 2011;
Meierotto 2012). Issues of race, ethnicity, and inequality are also always
looming under the surface (if not glaringly on the surface) in the process
of nature conservation (Peluso and Watts 2001; Brechin et al. 2003; Kosek
2004, 2006; Lowe 2006). It is imperative that environmental policymakers
and environmental social scientists always consider the history of racial
inequality and exclusion in nature conservation (see, e.g., Finney 2014
and Kosek 2004). Social scientists must also commit to methods and prac-
tices that serve to daylight sometimes uncomfortable claims of race-based
12 L. MEIEROTTO

policymaking in contemporary conservation programs. In the words of

Jake Kosek, we must “not simply call for the inclusion of racialized bodies
as another variable or factor in a pre-existing frame of analysis. Rather …
the practices, politics and effects of racial formation be examined as sites
central to the politics of nature” (2004, p. 128).
When we explore issues of race in border conservation in the American
Southwest, we understand very quickly that human rights are a central
concern. As we shall see later in the book, in Cabeza Prieta, we have an
unfortunate reality within which wildlife is preserved, but immigrant lives
are not protected. Li (2009) describes this as the politics of “making live”
or “letting die.” In the case of Cabeza Prieta, I argue that immigration
policy is at the root of human rights abuses and creates a system that ulti-
mately condones the “letting die” of undocumented immigrants. That
said, it is also worth considering how conservation policy responds to and
interacts with immigration and security policies.

Scope
While I strive to offer a comprehensive historical and contemporary analy-
sis of Cabeza Prieta, it is important to be forthright on what this book
does not address. While it is essential that scholars document and share the
experiences of modern-day border-crossers, I chose to not intentionally
interview nor observe any undocumented immigrants (noting, of course,
that I did not ask anyone about their immigration status!). I made this
decision out of a desire to not place anyone at risk. That said, the human
rights of undocumented border-crossers is a central component of the
story of Cabeza Prieta. I am well aware that undocumented immigrants
are often rendered invisible in cultural, political, and economic spheres of
American social and political life. It is not my intention to render immi-
grants invisible in this work, so I want to be explicit in the scope of this
book: this is an analysis of border conservation in the American Southwest.
Undocumented immigration influences conservation efforts in myriad
ways. While I do not tell this story from the perspective of border-crossers,
I recognize the shortcomings of this approach and absence of their voices
and opinions. I encourage readers to seek out related works that directly
address the lives, and deaths, of border-crossers. Several books are rele-
vant: The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail, by
Jason de León (2015); The Death of Josseline: Immigration Stories from the
Arizona Borderlands, by Margaret Regan (2010); The Devil’s Highway, by
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
negociaciones que se
acostumbran en el mundo.
Amintas.—No digo yo que la
naturaleza lo quiso de manera
que no dexase lugar para que
pudiésemos entender en otras
cosas; pero que parece que esto
nos puso delante como cosa más
principal, y assí lo podréis
entender por lo que agora diré.
Cuando nuestro señor Dios tuvo
por bien de criar el mundo y en él
á nuestros primeros padres á su
imagen y semejanza, fué con
aquella llaneza y simplicidad que
se requería para estar en su
servicio, hasta que comieron del
fruto vedado, por el cual fueron
echados del Paraíso; y como por
el pecado cometido les fuese
dado mandamiento, por
maldición, que comiesen del
sudor de sus manos, hallaron
para sustentarse las hierbas y las
raíces en los campos, las frutas
en los árboles, las aguas en las
fuentes y ríos y las semientes
puestas, así verdes como
maduras, en las mesmas hierbas;
todo esto, después que una vez lo
hallaban, no huía ni se apartaba
dellos; pero los ganados, de cuya
leche y lo que de ella se hace,
también habían de comer, aunque
no comían la carne para
mantenerse, en descuidándose
se iban por unas partes y por
otras, de manera que les era
trabajoso el andarlos buscando, y
assí les fué forzado, juntando
algunos rebaños dellos, hacerse
ellos mesmos guardas y pastores,
obedeciendo á la naturaleza que
parecía mandarles, y aun
forzarles, á que lo hiciesen para
que mejor pudiesen sustentarse.
Y assí en teniendo hijos los
pusieron en el mesmo cuidado;
pues que el oficio de Abel fué
guardar los ganados, y el de Caín
ser labrador de las hierbas y
simientes que entonces producía
la tierra; y conforme á esto se
puede creer que en aquella edad
primera y dorada los mejores
bienes y mayores riquezas que
los hombres tenían eran los
ganados, de que se sustentaban
á sí y á sus hijos y familias,
gozando de los despojos de la
lana, leche y queso y manteca, y
aun haciendo vestidos de los
pelejos dellos, porque entonces
no procuraba la malicia humana
las nuevas invenciones de los
vestidos y atavíos que agora se
usan, ni conocían el oro ni la
plata, sino por unos metales muy
buenos de que se aprovechaban
en las cosas necesarias y no para
hacer moneda, que fué la mayor
perdición que pudo venir al
mundo, no por el dinero, que, por
ser como un fiador de las cosas
vendibles, excusa de muchos
males que habría sin él, mas por
la cobdicia que vino al mundo
junto con el dinero. Y el valor que
tuvo el dinero cuando se hizo fué
porque en él estaba esculpida la
figura de oveja ó cabra ó de otra
res de ganado, ó porque la
primera moneda que hubo fué
hecha y esculpida la señal en el
cuero de los ganados, y por la
una causa ó por la otra en latín se
llamó pecunia, que quiere decir
cosa de ganado, de manera que
los que más y menos valían,
todos debían de ser guardas y
pastores de sus ganados. Y aun
después de aquel universal
diluvio, como parece por aquel
gran patriarca Abraham, que,
siendo un hombre tan poderoso,
su principal patrimonio eran los
rebaños de los ganados, los
cuales él vía y visitaba de contino,
y aun por aventura también
guardaba, como parece cuando
estaba á la puerta de su casa que
se le parecieron tres ángeles en
figura de hombres mancebos que
le denunciaron que Sara, su
mujer, en su senectud pariría, y
queriendo tenerlos por
convidados, él mesmo fue al
ganado y trajo una ternera, con
que les hizo el convite. Y así
mesmo cuando hizo el concierto y
confederación con Abimelec y
Michol, para confirmar la amistad
le dió parte de los ganados que
tenía. También su hijo Isaac,
cuando los de Palestina,
pareciéndoles que se hacía más
rico y poderoso que ellos, le
mandaron salir de la tierra, las
mayores riquezas que llevó
fueron sus ganados, y haciendo
pozos en muchas partes para que
las reses no pereciesen con la
sed, tuvo contienda sobre el agua
con los pastores de Gerare. Y
cuando aquel gran patriarca
Jacob fué á la tierra de Oriente y
allegó á la casa de Labán, su tío,
primero halló á su hija Rachel
que, siendo pastora, apacentaba
los ganados de su padre, por la
cual y por el engaño que le fué
hecho con su hermana Lia, servió
catorce años, y cuando se
despedía de Labán, su suegro,
para volverse á su tierra, siendo
por él molestado que no se
fuesse, hizo concierto con Jacob
que porque tornase á ser pastor y
guarda de sus ganados le daría
todas las ovejas y cabras que de
allí adelante naciesen manchadas
y de diversos colores. Lo mesmo
sabemos todos de los hijos de
Jacob, que también fueron
pastores como su padre, y el
menor dellos, que fué José, les
llevaba de comer al campo donde
andaban con el ganado que
Jacob tenía. Del pacientísimo Job
es bien notorio que, siendo el más
rico hombre de toda la provincia
donde habitaba, sus principales
riquezas eran los ganados de
todas suertes, así como ovejas y
cabras, bueyes, asnos y
camellos, con los cuales andaban
sus criados y sus mesmos hijos,
no se desdeñando de ser guardas
y pastores dellos. Moisés, caudillo
del pueblo de Israel, y por cuyo
consejo fué librado del poder de
Faraón, pastor era y apacentando
andaba el ganado de su suegro
Jetro cuando Dios se le apareció
en la zarza que ardía y no se
quemaba. Saúl, cuando fué
ungido rey, andaba buscando
unos asnos de su padre que se le
habían perdido, lo cual era señal
que él era el que tenía cuidado de
guardarlos. Del real profeta y
grande amigo de Dios, el rey
David, notorio y muy claro es á
todos que siempre andaba en el
campo apacentando el ganado de
su padre, y que de allí lo escogió
Dios para que gobernase y
regiese el pueblo de Israel. Y sin
estos que he dicho, hubo otros
muchos patriarcas y profetas y
varones muy señalados, no
solamente entre los judíos, pero
también entre otras naciones y
maneras de gentes que á mí se
me olvidan y de quien no hacen
mención las escrituras y
corónicas que fueron pastores, no
lo teniendo en menos que
cualquiera otro de los oficios y
manera de vivir que las otras
gentes seguían, porque, como he
dicho, entonces no había las
vanidades, las pompas, las
presunciones, los pensamientos
altivos y soberbios que hay agora,
ni los bollicios y sutilezas de los
ingenios, todos endrezados á
subir y valer más como quiera
que sea, lícita ó ilícitamente,
desdeñándose las gentes de todo
aquello que solían hacer y seguir
los antiguos y personas
señaladas en vida y en dotrina, de
quien están obligados tomar
enxemplo siguiendo sus pisadas,
haciendo lo que ellos hacían.
Leandro.—No tienes razón,
Amintas, en parecerte que essas
razones sean tan bastantes que
obliguen á todas las gentes para
que, desando todos los otros
oficios y maneras de vivir, se
vuelvan á ser labradores ó
pastores, como tú querrías que lo
fuessen.
Amintas.—Menos razón tenéis
vos, señor, en pareceros que no
hace bien ningún hombre que
tenga buen entendimiento, con
otras gracias, en seguir la vida
pastoril, pues con tantas razones
á mí me estábades persuadiendo
para que, pareciéndome tenerla
mal empleada, la desamparase.
Florián.—Por cierto, Amintas, tú
has dicho y alegado, defendiendo
tu opinión, buenas razones y
enxemplos; si hubiese agora
algunos de los pastores de los
que había en aquellos tiempos
que supiesen y entendiesen tan
bien lo que les convenía para con
Dios, para con las gentes; pero
pocos se hallarán de tu manara,
que ya no hay en ellos aquella
simplicidad santa, ni la sabiduría
llena de bondad, ni las obras,
para que merezcan tener aquella
familiaridad con Dios, por la cual
eran dél visitados y ayudados de
su gracia, con que venían á ser
estimados y tenidos en mucho,
como tú lo has dicho.
Amintas.—¿Sabéis qué puedo
responderos á esso? Lo que un
pastor á un obispo, que
reprendiéndole de cierta cosa en
que había pecado, le decía que
los pastores de los tiempos
pasados todos eran santos y
buenos y amigos de Dios, y que
por esso Dios los quería bien y
hacía tantos milagros por ellos, y
así como á santos y amigos
suyos se les aparecieron los
ángeles á denunciarles el
nacimiento de Christo y fueron los
primeros que le adoraron y
ofrecieron dones; y que los
pastores deste tiempo eran muy
mal inclinados y simples, y que
toda su simpleza era inclinada á
mal fin y á hacer con ella malas
obras. Y el pastor le respondió:
También, señor, en este tiempo,
cuando moría algún obispo ó
perlado se tañían las campanas
de suyo, y ahora, cuando las
quieren tañer, no bastan cien
brazos y manos á moverlas.
Mayor obligación tenéis los
obispos y los curas de ánimas, los
cardenales y patriarcas y aun el
papa, de no hacer cosa mala ni
de que poder ser reprendidos,
pues sois más verdaderos
pastores que nosotros y habéis
de dar cuenta á Dios de mayores
y mejores rebaños de ganados,
so pena de pagar con vuestra
ánima lo que por vuestra culpa se
perdiere; que nosotros, si algún
mal ó daño hacemos, á muy
pocos daña, y principalmente es
para nosotros, que pagamos de
nuestras haciendas ó soldadas
las reses que se nos perdieren;
pero los perlados inficionan sus
ovejas con el mal enxemplo de su
vida y excesos; y en fin, todos
somos pastores y todos hacemos
mal lo que somos obligados, y así
tiene agora Dios tan poca cuenta
y familiaridad con los obispos y
con los otros perlados y curas de
ánimas como con los pastores
que andan con el ganado en el
campo. Y la verdadera reprensión
que me habéis de dar es con el
buen enxemplo y dotrina de
vuestra vida, para que yo me
avergüence y confunda cuando
no hiciere lo mismo que vos
hiciéredes.
Leandro.—Avisado pastor era
esse, y bien conozco yo que no
solamente los obispos y los otros
perlados y pontífices son pastores
y tienen la obligación que has
dicho, pero que desa manera
también se pueden llamar
pastores los emperadores, reyes
y príncipes, y los otros grandes
señores y todos aquellos que
tienen vasallos y súbditos con
cargo de gobernarlos.
Amintas.—Pues si todos estos
son pastores como yo soy pastor,
harto mejor vida es la mía que no
la suya; porque los unos han de
tener cuidado de las ánimas y los
otros de los cuerpos de muchas
gentes, gobernándolos con muy
gran rectitud y justicia, y cuando
dexan de hacerlo por voluntad ó
negligencia ó descuido, es
grandíssima la pena que tienen,
que no pagan con menos que con
la condenación de sus ánimas; y
yo, aunque se me pierda un
carnero, ó me lleve el lobo una
oveja, ó me coma un cabrito, con
pagarlo á mi amo le satisfago y
quedo sin pena ninguna; así que
no tengo por buen consejo dexar
de ser pastor de rebaños de
bueyes y vacas, y ovejas y
cabras, en que tan poco se
aventura, y procurar de serlo
(como vosotros me aconsejáis) de
hombres y mujeres, poniendo en
mayor condición la salvación de
mi ánima de la que agora tengo.
Leandro.—Muy bien me parece,
Amintas, lo que dices si bastasse
para hacerme entender del todo
lo que al principio dixiste.
Amintas.—¿Y qué dixe?
Leandro.—Que la vida pastoril
era más conforme á la manera en
que la naturaleza quería que
viviesen las gentes que no
ninguna de las otras.
Amintas.—Ya me acuerdo, y lo
que por medio se ha tratado me
embarazó á seguir la plática
comenzada; pero tornando al
propósito, digo que la naturaleza
hizo y crió todas aquellas cosas
que le pareció que no solamente
bastaban para socorrer á la
necesidad de todos los animales,
pero también á la de los hombres;
y á todas las puso en gran
perfición, que si quisiésemos usar
y aprovecharnos dellas, sin otro
ningún artificio, por ventura las
hallaríamos muy más
provechosas, y serían causa de
alargarnos la salud y la vida
mucho más tiempo; porque
cuando los hombres comían por
pan las frutas de los árboles, las
hierbas, las simientes y raíces y
los otros mantenimientos sin
hacer las mezclas que agoran
hacen, no se les acababa la vida
tan presto, y así veréis que los
ciudadanos y ricos que no viven
con otro cuidado si no de procurar
de poner artificiosamente otro
diferente sabor en los manjares
del que consigo tienen, que no
siguen la orden de naturaleza
como la seguimos los pastores,
los cuales nos contentamos con
comer las cosas que he dicho, y
el pan de centeno tenemos por
curiosidad para nosotros; cuando
hallamos algunas frutas
montesinas ó algunas hierbas
comederas y también algunas
raíces sabrosas, deleitámonos en
comerlas. Si matamos alguna
liebre ó conejo con nuestros
cayados, ó si tomamos con lazos
y redes que armamos algunas
aves, no las estimamos en tanto
que se nos dé mucho por
comerlas, por la costumbre que
tenemos de contentarnos con lo
que ordinariamente comemos,
porque nunca nos falta esto que
digo, con abundancia de leche y
queso y manteca y cuajada que
nos dan las cabras y las ovejas; y
cuando la sed nos acosa,
buscamos las fuentes de las
montañas, y llegándonos á ellas,
miramos cómo salen aquellos
chorros de agua á borbollones por
medio de las venas de la tierra, y
á donde vemos que la arena está
más limpia y dorada, con unas
pedrecillas pequeñas que con la
claridad transparente de la agua
están reluciendo, allí nos
echamos de bruces y nos
hartamos. Y si esto no queremos
hacer, con nuestras manos
encorvadas tomamos el agua y la
traemos á la boca, no tomando
menos gusto en beber por este
vaso natural y de que nos poseyó
naturaleza, que si bebiésemos
por los más ricos de oro y plata
que tuvieron los reyes Creso y
Mida, como se cuenta en las
historias. Cierto, poco cuidado
tenemos de los buenos vinos y
sidras y cervezas y alojas, ni de
los otros brebajes que se hacen,
porque el no verlos ni tratarlos
nos quita la codicia dellos y de los
manjares sabrosos y delicados; y
el gusto, como está hecho á
comer y beber lo que digo,
parécele que no hay cosa que
mejor sabor tenga. Y,
verdaderamente, muchos de
nosotros, comiendo algunas
veces de las cosas que no
acostumbramos, por buenas que
sean, nos revuelven los
estómagos y nos hacen mucho
daño; assí que no sentimos falta
dellas, ni las procuramos, antes
nos reimos y burlamos de ver á
las otras gentes con un error y
cuidado tan grande, y con una
solicitud tan extraña en tener
muchas cosas bien aderezadas y
muchos manjares bien adobados
para hartarse dellos, los cuales,
pasando por tantas manos tan
envueltos y revueltos, no pueden
ir con aquella limpieza que lo que
nosotros comemos, aunque á
todos os parezca al contrario
desto. Y dejando lo que toca al
comer y beber, muy gran ventaja
es la que haga la vida pastoril á la
de todas las otras gentes, en la
quietud y reposo, viviendo con
mayor sosiego, más apartados de
cuidados y de todas las zozobras
que el mundo suele dar á los que
le siguen; las cuales son tan
grandes y tan pesadas cargas,
que si las gentes quisiesen vivir
por la orden natural, habían de
procurar por todas las vías que
pudiesen de huirlas y apartarse
dellas; pero no viven sino contra
todo lo que quiere la naturaleza,
buscando riquezas, procurando
señoríos, adquiriendo haciendas,
usurpando rentas, y todo esto
para vivir desasosegados y con
trabajos, con revueltas y con
grandes persecuciones y fatigas.
Los que somos pastores, el
mayor cuidado que tenemos es
de dormir muy descansadamente;
muy pocas cosas nos hacen
perder el sueño si no estamos en
alguna parte donde tengamos
temor á los lobos. A donde quiera
que vamos hallamos muy buena
cama, que es la tierra, en la cual
nos acostamos sin hallar menos
los colchones y cabezales
blandos, ni las sábanas delgadas
y mantas de lana fina. Ponemos
una piedra ó terrón por cabecera,
y muchas veces se nos passa así
una noche entera sin que
despertemos; y de mí os digo,
que cuando me pongo á pensar
que la tierra es la verdadera cama
en que nuestros cuerpos han de
reposar después que la ánima los
desampare, tan largo tiempo
como será hasta que seamos
llamados para el universal juicio,
que me maravillo cómo por tan
pocos días y tan breve vida
ninguno quiere hacer mudanza ni
tener otra cama. Y si dixéredes
que se hace por el daño que
recebiría la salud con la humedad
de la tierra, la costumbre es la
que quita estos inconvenientes,
que los pastores por la mayor
parte viven muy sanos y con
pocas enfermedades, y si las
tenemos, no tan recias y
trabajosas como los que viven
con regalos y delicadezas. Y
también os sé decir que los
vestidos que traemos, aunque no
son tan costosos, no son de
menos provecho que los de los
ciudadanos, porque después de
andar muy bien arropados,
traemos encima las zamarras y
pellicos en el invierno, con el pelo
adentro, que nos pone mucho
calor, y en verano afuera, porque
la lana nos defiende del sol y el
pellejo es para nosotros
templado; sentimos muy poco los
grandes fríos y los grandes
calores, porque ya el cuerpo está
curtido y acostumbrado á sufrirlos
y passarlos sin trabajo, de
manera que no nos espantan las
nieves ni las heladas, porque
cuando algo nos fatiga, eslabón y
pedernal traemos en los zurrones,
y la leña siempre está cerca, y
cuando hace muy grandes
calores y siestas, nunca falta una
cueva ó choza ó la sombra de
algún árbol que nos defiende de
la fuerza del sol; y en el campo
pocas veces falta algún viento
fresco con que mejor puede
pasarse; y assí, muy contentos y
regocijados, cuando algunos
pastores nos juntamos en uno,
tañiendo nuestras gaitas y
chirumbelas y rabeles nos
holgamos y passamos el tiempo
muy regocijados, dando saltos y
haciendo bailes y danzas y otros
muchos juegos de placer; y
cuando yo quedo solo de día,
ando con gran atención mirando
por mi ganado y procurándole
buenos pastos para la noche, en
la cual sin ningún sobresalto me
echo y duermo, como dicen, á
sueño suelto; y si despierto antes
del día, limpiando los ojos los
levanto al cielo, y mirando
aquellas labores con que los
planetas y estrellas lo pintan,
estoy contemplando muchas
cosas, principalmente en Dios
que los hizo y después en la
gloria que en ellos se espera. Y
con esto acuérdaseme de los
filósofos y astrólogos que quieren
medir los cielos y la grandeza del
sol y el tamaño de la luna, la
propiedad de cada una de las
estrellas, y riome dellos y del
contentamiento que tienen con su
ciencia, pareciéndoles tan cierta
que no pueden errar en ninguna
cosa; porque á mi me parece que
aunque acierten en muchas
dellas, es tanto lo que queda por
saber, que casi es nada lo que
saben, y que mucho de lo que
ellos tienen por cierto y
averiguado, lo debrían tener por
dudoso y aun por falso, y que sólo
aquello se puede tener por muy
verdadero que por la verdad y
certidumbre de nuestra santísima
fe estamos obligados á creer sin
duda alguna. Y de aquí métome
en otras contemplaciones que me
levantan los pensamientos á
mayores cosas que las del
mundo, y que aquellas que
vosotros, señores, me aconsejáis
y querríades que las emplease.
Cuando viene la mañana,
alégrome con la luz; estoy
mirando el lucero que viene como
guia del resplandeciente sol, miro
cómo se está descubriendo poco
á poco, cómo tiende sus claros
rayos sobre la haz de la tierra.
Levántome luego en pie sin tener
trabajo de vestírme, como no lo
tuve de desnudarme, y bendigo y
alabo á Dios con ver que muchas
veces el campo, que á la noche
estaba seco y limpio, á la mañana
comienza á reverdecer saliendo
los gromecitos pequeños de la
hierba, la cual (estándola yo
mirando) va creciendo, y de ahí á
pocos días veo salir las flores y
las rosas de diversos colores y
matices, con una hermosura y
olor tan suave, que parece cosa
celestial. Oyo los cantos de las
aves á las mañanas y á las
tardes, que también con su dulce
harmonía parecen música del
cielo, y, en fin, veo pocas cosas
que me den enojo y pocas que
me desasosieguen; como no veo
lo que pasa en el mundo,
tampoco lo codicio, ni me parece
que me falta nada, y hartas veces
con el sobrado placer ando
alrededor del ganado tañendo con
mi chirumbela, dando saltos, que
quien me viese pensaría que
estoy fuera de juicio, aunque yo
cuando esto hago pienso que
tengo más seso y estoy más
cuerdo que nunca.
Leandro.—Según esso, hermano
Amintas, más amigo eres de la
vida contemplativa que no de la
activa, y no te puedo negar que
no tienes razón en ello, pues por
la boca de Christo se declaró y
averiguó tener mayor perfición;
mas para hacer lo que tú dices, si
yo no me engaño, lo mejor sería
ser flayre.
Amintas.—En esso cada uno
hace lo que Dios le da de gracia,
que yo por agora no quiero perder
la libertad, sino hacer con ella lo
que pudiere, para que Dios sea
servido, que yo confiesso que, no
teniendo respecto sino al servicio
de Dios, es más perfecta vida la
de los flayres; pero si queremos
gozar juntamente de la libertad
del mundo, buena es la de los
pastores, y no es por fuerza que
se han de salvar todos los flayres
ni condenarse los que no lo
fuesen.
Leandro.—No tienen tan buen
aparejo para salvarse los
pastores como ellos, porque cada
día dicen ó ven misa, rezan sus
horas y hacen otras devociones y
sacrificios que vosotros no podéis
hacer.
Amintas.—Yo no comparo la vida
de flayres y pastores para
hacerlas iguales, que bien
conozco la ventaja por las causas
que he dicho, pero tengo la vida
de los pastores por mejor que la
de los otros hombres que siguen
los oficios y tratos del mundo. Y lo
que yo pretendo que entendais de
mis razones no es sino la poca
razón que tenéis en persuadirme
que dexe esta manera de vivir y
que siga cualquiera de las otras
que á vosotros os parece
mejores, no lo siendo.
Florián.—¿Parécete á ti que es
bien oir missa tan de tarde en
tarde, confessaros mal y por mal
cabo, oir tan pocos sermones,
saber tan mal las cosas que tocan
á la fe y tener tan poca noticia de
las cosas y precetos ordenados
por la Iglesia?
Amintas.—Harto peor es saberlo
y no usar dello como conviene,
que aunque dicen que la
iñorancia no excusa el pecado,
como no se puede negar, á lo
menos quita la gravedad del
pecado, porque más gravemente
peca el que comete un pecado
sabiendo que lo es, que no el que
iñorantemente peca sin saber lo
que hace, y el pastor que no
cumpliere con el preceto divino y
de la Iglesia en lo de la
confessión, no le meto yo en la
cuenta de los pastores de quien
he hablado, ni tampoco el que
dexase de oir missa podiendo
hacerlo, aunque los santos
padres del desierto y los
ermitaños con la contemplación
suplían las faltas que hacían en
esto, porque Sanct Antón y San
Pablo y otro muy gran número
dellos estuvieron muchos años y
tiempos donde ni vían missa, ni
oían sermón, ni estaban al rezar
de las horas; pero no por esso
dexaron de salvarse y venir á ser
santos y canonizados; assí que
no por la falta que en lo que he
dicho hecieren los pastores
dexarán de tener por otras
muchas vías aparejo para su
salvación.
Leandro.—Bien me parece lo
que dices, pero no me podrás
negar que no vivís todos los