TUCSON — Federal land managers have declined to renew permits for about a dozen water stations run by Tucson-based Humane Borders, cutting access to drinking water on roughly 30% of the nonprofit’s permitted desert sites, the group said.
The Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decisions span Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Ironwood Forest National Monument, and wildlife refuges including Cabeza Prieta and Buenos Aires. Remaining stations sit on private or locally managed land, Humane Borders said.
Nonrenewals began earlier this year. In March the group removed one station at Cabeza Prieta and two at Buenos Aires. Last week BLM told board chair Laurie Cantillo by phone that three Ironwood Forest stations would not be renewed, with 30 days to pull equipment — planned for the end of October. Those barrels typically operate May through October, the hottest stretch of the year.
At Organ Pipe, Superintendent Raquel Montez signed a Sept. 28 letter denying renewal of a six-barrel permit that expired Sept. 30. The Park Service argued the stations can lure people deeper into hazardous terrain under a false sense of safety, cited inconsistent trash cleanup, and said continued permits conflict with border-security cooperation. Executive director Octavio Fuentes disputed that staff had raised those concerns and wrote that “our stations follow the deaths; they do not lead them.”
Humane Borders said 16 sets of human remains have been recovered inside Organ Pipe this year — more than double all of 2025 — and that 19 migrant remains were found across southern Arizona borderlands in July alone, the highest monthly count in two years, citing Pima County medical examiner data. More than 4,500 remains have been found in the region over roughly 25 years.
Founded in 2000, the group marks 55-gallon blue barrels with blue flags where deaths have clustered. Fuentes said the organization will remove Organ Pipe gear by Oct. 30 while pursuing lawful avenues to restore access and continuing partnerships with ranchers and local governments.