Railroad iron to be used on vehicle barrier. Photo taken by Chris Lohrengel on 5/31/07 at San Bernardino NWR Headquarters, Cochise County, AZ.

Vehicle barrier near Robertson Cienaga. Photo taken by Chris Lohrengel on 2/23/2007 at San Bernardino NWR, Cochise County, AZ.

San Bernardino NWR received a generous donation of materials to help with the completion of a vehicle barrier that the refuge is installing along the International border.  Through a well timed call by a refuge staff member the refuge received approximately $150,000.00 worth of railroad iron from the Department of Homeland Security.  The call was originally placed to gather contacts for locating the railroad iron, but on hearing of our work and progress on our vehicle barrier DHS offered to supply the refuge with the materials required for completion of the barrier.  This cooperative effort benefits both DHS and the San Bernardino Refuge.  It saves DHS from having to contract out for labor to construct the fence on the refuge and helps the refuge by keeping unwanted vehicle traffic and damage to habitat at a minimum by allowing refuge staff to construct the fence.