Border Wall Photography Expedition

Borderlands Photography Project                                                

I am working with the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP) to organize a photography expedition and public information campaign on the envirnomental impacts of the border wall the US is building on its border with Mexico. We start out in San Diego on January 26. Some of the best nature photographers in the US and in Mexico will be traveling for three weeks along the border, spending time in National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges and on private reserves, to capture the wildlife, landscapes and human communities that are being affected by the border wall.

Hundreds of imperiled species, including the jaguar, Mexican gray wolf and Sonoran pronghorn, live in the borderlands, and in order to speed construction of the border wall, outgoing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has waived dozens of federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act, and Clean Water Act using an unprecedented waiver authority granted to him under the Real ID Act, passed in 2005. The act gave the department unchecked authority to disregard all U.S. laws to build a wall that even Secretary Chertoff admits will not stop illegal traffic, but only slow it down by a few minutes.

During the expedition we'll be uploading photos and a blog to the ILCP website on an interactive map. Afterward, we will use the images to hold an exhibit on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, and to create a multimedia documentary, in hopes of broadening the understanding of rich borderland's ecosystems, and supporting legislation that will help protect them.

To follow our expedition and photography through our blog, or to learn more about this issue, our project, or to donate, visit ilcp.com/borderlands.