Earlier this year, four people were convicted of abandonment of property and entering the
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge without a permit because they left water and other supplies in the desert.
MATERIALS AND METHODS--Study Area--The semi-captive breeding enclosure for Sonoran pronghorns is located in the Sonoran Desert on
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, Pima Co., Arizona, at an elevation of 460 m.
Dissuaded from crossing at relatively comfortable spots such as San Diego, El Paso, or Nogales, they crossed from remote Mexican settlements such as Los Vidrios and walked into the backcountry of Organ Pipe, the
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, or the Barry Goldwater Bombing Range.
Two males born into captivity in 2005 on the
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge joined other wild pronghom on the refuge.
They are found in two areas of the Sonoran Desert of southwestern Arizona and northern Mexico, areas that include Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona and coastal plains and bajadas in Sonora, Mexico.
Depending on what point they started along Arizona's almost 300-mile border with Mexico, they press northward: through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, and
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, the Tohono O'Odham Indian Reservation, and other, mostly public, lands.
According to attorney Jim Clark, one of the litigators involved in the case, the federal government's refusal to allow the group to set up a water station in the
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge east of Yuma led to the death of the illegal aliens.
The park would include such existing federal lands as Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument,
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, and the Barry M.
We need this piece of paper before legally entering the
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, which is within the range's boundaries.
The staff at
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge provided logistical and technical assistance.
Significantly, the 860,000-acre (348,000-ha)
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge adjoins the training range, as does Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.