Public Comments Being Accepted A draft Environmental Assessment on projects intended to help compensate for adverse impacts to environmental resources caused by infrastructure constructed under the authority of the Department of Homeland Security along the southwest border of the United States for purposes of providing increased border security. Public comments on the draft EA will be accepted through May 1, 2011. Read the draft EA(.pdf)

The San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge is located on the U.S.-Mexican border in Cochise County, Arizona, 17 miles east of Douglas. Situated at 3,720 to 3,920 feet elevation in the bottom of a wide valley, the Refuge encompasses a portion of the headwaters of the Yaqui River, which drains primarily western Chihuahua and eastern Sonora, Mexico.

The area included in the San Bernardino NWR has a colorful and varied history mostly due to its water resources. During the 1700s, Jesuit priests were in the area for missionary purposes. The 1822 San Bernardino Land Grant (which included the present-day Refuge), resulted in large-scale cattle grazing for 10 years, until the ranchers were driven out by the Apaches. Cattle ranching returned and farming began when John Slaughter purchased the land in 1887 and both practices continued until 1979.