BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK, Texas – At the foot of Santa Elena Canyon – perhaps the most iconic and photographed stretch of Big Bend National Park – Joan Stutts Escamilla sits in silence by the edge of the Rio Grande.

“It’s such a god-given gift,” the 70-year-old said, looking up at the canyon’s 1,500-foot tall limestone cliffs. “There’s just nothing, there’s nothing else like this.”

But within the last week, federal contractors have moved heavy machinery into the national park, bulldozing through desert shrubs and clearing ecologically sensitive land.

Bright pink ribbons now mark a construction path where willow and mesquite trees once stood.

The $1.7 billion construction plans include a combination of vehicle barriers, winding patrol roads and new surveillance technology.

It’s all part of the Trump administration’s effort to stop illegal border crossings into the U.S. The Trump administration is bypassing environmental laws for the project. This month a federal judge declined to block construction.

Just north of Big Bend National Park, work crews clear land for a staging site holding excavators, bulldozers and trailers.

Carlos Morales/for NPR

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Carlos Morales/for NPR

In the Big Bend area, the plans have ignited an impassioned coalition of landowners, outdoor enthusiasts and business owners – people across the political spectrum – who all say any work in the national park would forever change the rugged and beloved land often called “Texas’ gift to the nation.”

“If we lose places like Big Bend, we never get them back,” said Laiken Jordahl with the Center for Biological Diversity, a national conservation nonprofit currently suing the federal government over its border barrier projects. “The destruction that will be inflicted here will truly be irreparable.”

The Trump administration’s initial plans for Big Bend National Park included the construction of 30-foot walls. Following a widespread outcry, contractors will now build patrol roads, vehicle barriers and surveillance systems, according to details shared by Customs and Border Protection.

In a statement to NPR, CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said the work is intended to help border patrol “detect illegal crossings, respond faster, and assist visitors in danger.”