Southernmost mile of historic Arizona Trail closes for border wall construction

This article was originally published by AZPM.

A segment of the Arizona Trail is now closed to the public as border fence construction continues along the state’s southeastern edge.

In a social media post Monday, the National Park Service said the closure was necessary to “ensure visitor safety” amid construction and blasting activity in the area. The closure, which applies to the trail’s southernmost mile, will likely last through the end of 2027, according to the Arizona Trail Association, a Tucson-based nonprofit.

“We knew this was going to happen at some point, especially under this administration,” Matthew Nelson, the association’s executive director, told AZPM this week.

Last year, the Department of Homeland Security awarded nearly $310 million to Fisher Sand & Gravel Company to build 27 miles of new border fence in southeastern Arizona.

Since then, construction has crept through the area — particularly the San Rafael Valley, where an initial 30-foot-tall steel bollard was erected last September. By March, contractors had established about five miles of new border fence, according to an estimate from the Center for Biological Diversity.

The southernmost stretch of the Arizona Trail runs through the Huachuca Mountains — west of the San Rafael Valley — and concludes at the U.S.-Mexico border. A stone obelisk known as Border Monument 102 marks the trail’s official endpoint, often serving as a landmark for hikers and visitors who grace the historic corridor.

That monument, Nelson said, will be obstructed by the new border fence.

“Now, that's going to be behind two 30-foot-tall steel barriers, with a 150-foot-wide road in the middle,” Nelson said.

'Rich with biodiversity'

Nelson recommended that hikers avoid the construction area and instead take advantage of the view from Coronado Peak, farther north into the Huachucas. The summit, he said, offers views of the Sky Islands in both Arizona and Sonora.

“When you're there on the AZT, and you're looking into Mexico, it looks so familiar. It looks just like it does throughout parts of Southern Arizona,” Nelson said. “I think that perspective of these borders being political boundaries, but not so much ecological or topographic, is just a really great perspective.”

Drawing from the idea of Border Monument 102, the Arizona Trail Association and National Park Service plan to establish a physical monument on Coronado Peak that would allow hikers to celebrate starting or completing the trail.

Each year, Nelson said, about 400 to 500 hikers complete the 800-mile Arizona Trail, which runs from the northern to southern edge of the state.

Often, he added, hikers are struck by Arizona’s biodiversity — including the species and landscapes of the Huachucas, the Santa Ritas, and the Canelo Hills.

“Black bears and mountain lions, and bobcats, jaguars, ocelots. It's just so rich with biodiversity. And one of our biggest concerns with this border wall project is it will isolate these species,” Nelson told AZPM.

Conservation groups are continuing to raise concerns over the Trump administration's border wall construction. Last year, the Center for Biological Diversity sued the administration, alleging that DHS violated the U.S. Constitution when it waived federal environmental protections across the San Rafael Valley. This week, the same organization sued the administration over border wall construction through Big Bend National Park in Texas.

As border wall construction continues in Arizona, DHS appears to be establishing a trail of “secondary” fencing along parts of the border where barriers already exist.