Bikepackers against the Big Bend border wall

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has revealed plans to fast-track a border wall through the West Texas region, including sections of Big Bend Ranch State Park and Big Bend National Park. Strong local opposition cites the importance of the unique ecosystem and the economic benefits of tourism that are a result of the protections the parks provide. DHS Secretary Krisi Noem is waiving federal environmental regulations that are in place to protect landscapes and communities in order to expedite border wall construction; the waived regulations include the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, and the Clean Water Act. 

Big Bend draws visitors from around the world, contributing over 60 million dollars to the local economies in 2024. Tourists visit for the staggeringly beautiful, unique desert landscape that has inspired the formation of Big Bend Ranch State Park and Big Bend National Park; among these visitors are bikepackers on the Great Plains Gravel Route, the West Texas Showdown event routes, and for the mountain biking and gravel riding opportunities in Big Bend Ranch State Park.

To get a local’s perspective, we reached out to two of our closest collaborators in Texas, Dr. Jerod Foster, creator of the Texas segment of the Great Plains Gravel Route, and Patrick Farnsworth, creator of the Texas Showdown Series which brought riders to the Big Bend region for the first annual West Texas Showdown bikepacking event last November. Continue reading for their vignettes on the importance of Texas’s Big Bend and consider following the closing call to action to help bikepackers speak up against a border wall through Big Bend – for bikepackers, the landscape, and local communities.