CBP's consultations with resource agencies and local stakeholders have resulted in numerous changes to the fence alignment and design, location of access roads, placement of staging areas to minimize potential environmental, and other impacts. Through this continuous interaction, CBP has:
- Worked with the USFWS refuge manager in the Rio Grande Valley Sector to relocate an access road along the edge of the refuge instead of through the refuge, even though the original road had been previously approved.
- Continued to work with USFWS and The Nature Conservancy to salvage Sabal Palm trees in the Rio Grande Valley Sector. (These trees are not endangered species; they are special species.)
- Constructed animal passages in the Rio Grande Valley Sector.
- Developed small animal gaps in El Paso, Texas.
- Created "floating fence" where digging would damage levees or risk archeological sites.
- Installed "visually aesthetic fence" around a golf course and city park.
- Worked with ranchers and State and Federal agencies in New Mexico to develop a "deer friendly" fence design that accommodates concerns related to deer movement, while still meeting Border Patrol security requirements.
- Installed extensive sediment and erosion control devices in the Smuggler's Gulch area in San Diego Sector. Until the re-vegetated areas are fully mature, these temporary sediment and erosion controls are - and will continue to be - utilized to prevent significant erosion and sediment run-off. Independent analyses by three different environmental engineering firms have concluded that the Border Infrastructure System (BIS) will provide a net benefit to the Tijuana River and estuary because the hydraulic, hydro geologic, and sediment yield characteristics of the BIS footprint are all being improved relative to the pre-construction conditions.