U.S. border ecologies, environmental criticism, and transnational american studies

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

In June 2010, top Republican members of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee sponsored a bill that would exempt the Border Patrol from environmental regulations protecting public lands along the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada. A significant percentage of U.S. border areas are made up of public lands and waterways. Lands administered by the Department of Interior (DOI) cover over 700 miles or nearly half the U.S.-Mexico border area and almost 600 miles or 10% of the U.S.-Canada boundary (“Marijuana and Methamphetamine Trafficking” n. pag.).1 The National Forest Service supervises an additional 24 million acres within fifty miles of the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada. The 5,000-mile U.S.-Canada boundary runs through several wilderness areas, twelve national parks, and four Indian reserves. The 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border traverses national parks, reservation lands, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas, and other environmentally sensitive areas. Like the United States, the governments of Canada and Mexico have imbued boundary land with environmental significance by placing it under national or provincial/municipal stewardship. In combination with reserves in the municipality of Sonora, Mexico, for example, public Arizona borderlands form one of the largest networks of protected areas in North America (Flesch et al. 172).

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationAmerican Studies, Ecocriticism, and Citizenship
Subtitle of host publicationThinking and Acting in the Local and Global Commons
PublisherTaylor and Francis
Pages144-157
Number of pages14
ISBN (Electronic)9781135078843
ISBN (Print)9780415628235
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2013

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
  • General Environmental Science
  • General Arts and Humanities

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'U.S. border ecologies, environmental criticism, and transnational american studies'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this