The US Southwest is full of fences. The border fence between the USA and Mexico blocks not only “illegal, alien” human beings, it also blocks many other animal species.11“Border Fence,” Jaguar Habitat Campaign, online (accessed 12/07/2015). As fixed as the border/fence might seem, it was drastically moved over 150 years ago, in 1848, when the USA annexed its present day southwestern states, after the Mexican–American war. A popular saying in the area goes:

“WE DID NOT CROSS THE BORDER, THE BORDER CROSSED US”

National parks and forests are also regarded by many, especially racial minorities, as physical and cultural fences that block them from both natural resources and recreation.22Jake Kosek, Understories: The political life of forests in northern New Mexico. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2006; Carolyn Finney, Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the relationship of African Americans to the great outdoors. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2014.