The San Pedro River meanders north out of Sonora and offers shelter to an array of bird and mammal species. Those seeking to halt or slow illegal immigration say the area also is a haven for illegal entrants traveling north into the United States.

James S. Wood / Arizona Daily Star 2004

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U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl will shave the length of a proposed border fence by 15 miles to keep it out of the nationally recognized San Pedro River.

The Arizona Republican will trim the 25-mile-long proposed fence west of Naco, he said in a written statement Friday, after learning from the Border Patrol that a 10-mile fence is all that's needed in that area to keep out illegal entrants.

Originally, the Border Patrol recommended the 25-mile-long fence, he said.

Kyl's action was welcome news to environmentalists. They had been gearing up to oppose the longer fence on the grounds that it would block mammal and bird crossings as well as human migrants.

"We are pleased the San Pedro River is out of the equation," said Jenny Neeley of the Defenders of Wildlife's Tucson office. "We hope to work with the Border Patrol on planning for the rest of the border infrastructure, to make sure environmental considerations are included."

Opponents of illegal immigration criticized the switch. They said the San Pedro area is a major source of illegal traffic across the border. The head of American Border Patrol, Glenn Spencer, said the group plans to produce a video soon documenting how heavy the immigrant flow is along the river.

"It is one of the major headaches for the Border Patrol and the people of the U.S," said Spencer, the group's founder, who said he can see the river from a window at his home a half-mile from the border. "It's an ill-advised decision."

Kyl's statement made no additional reference to environmental concerns, and his office did not respond to subsequent questions e-mailed to him. Border Patrol officials also weren't available for comment late Friday, a spokesman said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee had approved Kyl's proposal for the 25-mile-long fence last week as part of a broader bill that would have built up to 50 miles of total border fencing. The U.S. House has approved a bill calling for 700 miles of border fencing.

Illegal entrant apprehensions in the border's Naco-Douglas corridor, which includes the river, have dropped in the last two years, according to Border Patrol statistics. By contrast, apprehensions increased over the same span in the border's Nogales and west desert corridors, which lie well west of the river area, the Border Patrol said.

But Iris Lynch, who lives two miles north of the river where it heads west to east along the border, said she believes immigrant traffic in and along the San Pedro has increased in recent years.

"We have people dying all over the place as a result of this invasion. Of course I'm disappointed," Lynch said of Kyl's action.

Biologists at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and The Nature Conservancy had said late this week in interviews that large mammals such as deer could be blocked by the fence.

Some large bird species such as blue and green herons might fly into it, added the head of a Bisbee bird research institution, the Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory.

About 80 species of mammals have been seen within the boundaries of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, which runs 40 miles north of the Mexican border. The mammalian diversity there is the richest in the United States and the second-richest in the world, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wrote in 1978.

Up to 400 bird species have been known to breed or migrate through the San Pedro River Valley, also one of the highest numbers in the United States.

Mark Fredlake, a Bureau of Land Management wildlife biologist, said he had no position on the fence.

But, "as a biologist, I like to see as few barriers to wildlife movement as possible, or at least have them create a corridor, at least one to two miles wide," he said.