Fellows Forum: Illegal Immigration and the Conservation Consequences
Sunday, July 27 – 4:00 p.m.

The Berg and Society Fellows annually host this Forum which is open to all conference attendees. There is no additional charge.

This year’s forum will focus on the conservation issues in the border area of Mexico and the United States. The immensity of the illegal immigration problem goes much deeper than the complex social, economic and political morass. The environmental degradation of the landscape forces ranchers and farmers to adjust their operational management to deal with thousands of miles of denuded, eroding trails, an endless amount of garbage left along these trails, cut fences and vandalized livestock and farm facilities. National Monuments, Wildlife Refuges and Tribal lands are also negatively impacted. Is the border fence an amenable and efficient alternative? The wildlife community condemns the fence for its impacts to the ecology of the area, with particular emphasis on endangered species. The forum will feature speakers from the ranching, law enforcement, wildlife and government agency perspectives.