Latest / Ranger PamPaw's Park Report / Big Bend Wall Blocked, Chiricahua Awaits, and $26 Million in Park Work Canceled

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Big Bend Wall Blocked, Chiricahua Awaits, and $26 Million in Park Work Canceled · Ranger PamPaw's Park Report

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: A federal judge stops border wall construction across the Big Bend, at least for now.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Arizona is one signature away from a new national park, and the Interior Department quietly cancels$26 million in park projects.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is the park report for Wednesday, October 7, 2026.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Mark Tetzel.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: First up, on Friday, a federal judge in El Paso blocked border wall construction across the entire Big Ben region of West Texas, including Big Ben National Park.
• 0:37
  unknown: U.S.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Duckstrick Judge Kathleen Cordone granted a preliminary injunction.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: She found the plaintiffs are likely to win on at least one of their claims and would suffer serious, irreparable harm without an injunction.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Her order covers the whole Big Ben sector, more than 500 miles of the Rio Grande, including the National Park and Big Ben Ranch State Park.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: She also put on hold the federal waivers that let the government skip dozens of environmental and other laws to build faster.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: The suit filed in April by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Friends of Ruedusa Church, and a local landowner argues those waivers are unconstitutional.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: The timing matters.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Last week we told you a court ordered pause inside the church would expire September 30th.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: It did, and work on a 61-mile stretch in Presidio County was set to restart.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Friday's ruling stops all of it.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: The administration can appeal.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: This preliminary ruling is not the end of the case.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Next, Arizona is one signature away from its fourth national park.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: September 30th, the Senate unanimously passed the Chiraca National Park Act.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: The House passed the identical bill in March, so it now goes to the President.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And as of this recording, he hasn't signed it.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: If he does, Chiraca National Monument in southeastern Arizona becomes Chirikawa National Park.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's about 12,000 acres of rock spires and balanced rocks, protected since 1924 and long known as the Wonderland of Rocks.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: It would be America's 64th national park, Arizona's fourth and the first new national park anywhere since New River Gorge in 2020.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: The bill had bipartisan sponsors, Republican Congressman Juan Siskamoni and Democrat Greg Stanton in the House, and Democrat Senators Mark Kelly and Ruman Gallego.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Siskamani says he expects the president to sign it soon.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: The bill is essentially a name change.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: It includes no new money or staff for the park, though Siskamoni says that from his seat on the House Appropriations, he will push to get the park the resources it needs.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Local tribes have historically had concerns about the park designation out of worry over access to the site for ceremonies.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: This version requires the Park Service to protect traditional cultural and religious sites and to consult with the tribes, and both the San Carlos and Mescalaro Apache tribes support it.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, the Interior Department has canceled about 130 agreements that paid outside partners to do work in national parks.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's nearly$26 million.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: The cancellations happened August 7th, but came to light last week when the Washington Post reviewed Internal Park Service data.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: An agency spokesperson told the Post the organizations were working against administration priorities.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: These partnerships are how a lot of the on-the-ground work gets done.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Wildfire mitigation, trail maintenance, invasive species removal, cultural resource surveys.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: The biggest single loser is the Great Basin Institute, a nonprofit that's put more than 7,500 people to work on public lands since 1998.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: SF Gate reports about half the canceled projects were theirs.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: $12.7 million and 184 positions.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Zion, and Mount Rainier each lost at least a quarter million dollars of that work.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: The Great Basin Institute says it hasn't been told why its projects were cut.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Two quick ones.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Last week we mentioned Major League Baseball scouting Grand Teton for a game.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's over.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Commissioner Rob Manfred wrote that MLB never had a formal plan, and since it's clear the local community doesn't want it, the league will stop looking.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: And at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the 90-foot Holy Sea Arch is gone.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody knocked it down.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is how sea arches end.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: The same waves that carved it out of an old lava flow finally brought it down.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: It was standing September 23rd and had fallen into the Pacific by the night of the 27th.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: And the park says it may have come down while the park was closed for tropical storm NOLO.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now the park is asking people to stay out of the closed area.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Those cliffs drop straight into the rough surf, and people have already been seen going past the closures, putting themselves and rescuers at risk.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now from the ranger's chair.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: This is my opinion and mine alone.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: A few months after the New River Gorge became a national park, I was out on the river there with a guide, and he told us the new title would mean more money for the park.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: I understand why people think that, but it isn't true.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: When a park unit is redesignated or even a brand new park is created, the park service budget generally doesn't go up.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: The only time money enters the pictures is when it's actually written into the legislation.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: And as we just heard, there's none in this one.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: So for most redesignated parks, here's what really changes more visitors without more staff or more money to take care of them.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Part of the draw is the name itself.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: There are plenty of groups on social media focused on visiting all the national parks.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: What they mean is that 63 units called National Park in the title, out of more than 430 overall units.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: The rest get forgotten.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: The monuments, historic sites, seashores, and battlefields that are every bit as much of a part of the system.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: So which places get the title?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: It feels to me like it isn't always the most deserving ones.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's the ones where states congressional delegation has enough power to get a bill through.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Chirikawa, I believe, deserves this designation.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen other units redesignated that weren't for that were far less deserving, and Chirakawa isn't one of them.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: But it's not the only place that's earned it.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: There are others out there that I would add to the soon-to-be 64 national parks.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: If you add Chirakawa to your list, and you should, you should know you'll be visiting the same staff on the same budget, now taking care of a lot more of you.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: And while you're out there, visit a few of those other 430 park units.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: What to watch for in the upcoming days?
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: First, watch the president's desk.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Siskamani has said he expects Chirakawa to be signed into law within 10 days or so of passage.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: And second, watch Big Ben.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Watch whether the administration appeals Friday's ruling.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: It will tell us a lot about whether Big Ben is protected from further border wall construction.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: In corrections this week, actually a clarification from last week.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: I said two lawsuits were challenging the Big Ben construction.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's at least a third filed in April by the Center for Biological Diversity and others.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the one behind Friday's ruling.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you happen to catch something I got wrong or want to provide an update on any story, email parknews at rangerpampall.com.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the park report for today.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Look for the newsletter a little bit later and more on all these stories.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: And join us next Wednesday for the next episode.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Until then, go find your park.