A planned 165-mile (266km) border project in west Texas threatens ancient Indigenous rock art, including murals at Seminole Canyon state park and other sites along the proposed route. The project includes four-to-six-foot vehicle barriers and patrol roads running from near Big Bend national park to Lake Amistad.
Construction has not yet been completed, but Customs and Border Protection has indicated it intends to expand a so-called “smart wall” in the region. Archaeologist Carolyn Boyd warns that blasting, excavation and heavy machinery could worsen natural damage to the limestone shelters, while at least 80 known murals could end up on the southern side of the new barrier.
What the project would cross
The proposed route runs through Seminole Canyon state park, which contains 27 murals, including the Fate Bell Shelter. It also passes close to Painted Shelter, a Texas-designated historic landmark on the Zuberbueler family’s private sheep ranch. Painted Shelter includes images made over a period spanning about five millennia and shows several types of weapons, including atlatls and bows.
The area is the longest remaining unwalled stretch of the US-Mexico border. The planned system combines steel bollard fencing, vehicle barriers and surveillance technology, with Fisher Sand and Gravel Co holding a $2.7bn contract to build the barrier at an estimated cost of about $16.5m per mile.
Why researchers fear construction damage
The rock art was painted on porous limestone, where water and temperature changes naturally cause flakes of rock to break away in a process known as spalling. Boyd said vibrations from construction could accelerate that process, potentially damaging painted sections several hundred yards from blasting and excavation.
The route may also pass through areas containing murals that have not yet been documented. Surveying the rugged terrain is slow and technically difficult: examining some sites can require rock-climbing skills and advanced anthropological knowledge, and covering a few miles can take weeks.
Land access and official response
The new barrier could restrict access to murals left south of the fence for researchers and Indigenous people who regard the sites as sacred ancestral places. Maria Rocha, an Indigenous visitor to Lower Pecos rock-art sites, said damage would threaten both the messages in the paintings and connections to creation stories.
Landowners Patrick Zuberbueler and Raymond Skiles said they received letters offering $5,000 for portions of their properties without an eminent-domain process. The Zuberbueler family has refused the offer, while Fisher Sand and Gravel Co has sought access to millions of gallons of water for proposed operations. Both landowners expect blasting because of the rocky terrain.
Customs and Border Protection said it remains committed to environmental and cultural stewardship and will conduct environmental and cultural reviews, seek public input and work with state and federal agencies to reduce impacts. The agency did not answer specific questions about the potential effect on the rock art. It halted work in Big Bend national park after activists publicized videos of bulldozers disturbing ground at Santa Elena Canyon.
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