The postcard Arizona ranch is one of horses, corals and cowboys – not one of snipped-wire fences, trodden-down grass and trails of trash. With the U.S. border a stones throw away from many Arizona ranches, ranchers now have more chores to keep their ranches open and operational.

Roughly two million immigrants are estimated to enter the United States through Arizona annually. With tighter border security in California and Texas, Arizona has become the principle gateway into the U.S., according to a 2007 study conducted by the University of Arizona’s Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics.

“There’s a lot of garbage out there… backpacks, shaving cream, toothpaste and coats. It’s absolutely amazing the amount of garbage out there and ranches do get there fences cut and there gates left open a lot,” said Kim McReynolds, extension agent in natural resources for the UA Arizona Cooperative Extension.

Tombstone Marshal Larry Talvy said although the marshal’s office receives complaints from ranchers, most are handled by the county.

Ranches do report a large amount of trash left behind, said Carol Capas, spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff’s Department.

“We’ve had that situation here in Bisbee in the wash area,” Capas said. “It’s completely full of clutter.”

But litter is only one problem. Outside of Douglas, Roger Barnett runs a 35-square-mile ranch about five miles from the border.  Barnett said he’s seen his share of “lifts and snips” in his barbwire fence. The result he said, is cattle running loose.

“It’s just a nuisance,” Barnett said.  “It’s more than what a person needs to put up with. It takes time out of the day that a person doesn’t have.”

Things get even more tedious when ranchers find holes in water pipes. With the beating Southwest sun, gallons upon gallons may go to waste when immigrants damage pipes to get drinking water.

The list goes on – after water system damages, is fear.

“A lot of families had to almost pick up and leave because they didn’t feel safe,” said Russell Tronstad, an extension specialist in the UA Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics.
Border Patrol Spokesman Jorge Gomez mentioned instances of break-ins to ranch homes while ranchers were away.

These problems were part of many in the study done by the UA Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics, which asked 97 ranchers in Pima, Santa Cruz, Cochise and Pinal counties to participate. From those surveyed, more than three quarters responded.

According to the study, fence monitoring was the costliest expense for ranchers. The prices associated with rounding up lost cattle, the repair of broken irrigation pipes and cut fence lines along with litter clean up are costly expenses ranchers have to bear. For one ranch that participated in the study, the annual cost of damages done by illegal immigrants totaled a little under $20,000.

But not every rancher reported damages from illegals, Tronstad said. “There was a fair number that said ‘no.’”

The study also revealed there was more damage done to ranches closer to the border.

Barnett, who works within miles of the boarder, said that he has noticed an increase of border crossers within the last two months.

“There’s just more and more coming through,” he said.

Statistics gathered by the Border Patrol also seem to indicate upward trend in crossings.

This year in a one portion of southern Arizona, the Border Patrol apprehended about 23,000 illegal immigrants, a 23 percent increase from last year.

“We’re starting to see an increase but it does fluctuate,” Gomez said. “We’re becoming more effective…we’re able to cover more ground and deploy more resources. We’re seeing more and we’re catching more.”

The Border Patrol scouts border areas in four-wheel drive vehicles, ATVs, bikes and on horseback.  But if nothing is reported, there will not likely be a big patrol, Gomez said.

“It’s a big desert,” Gomez said. “There are only so many agents that we can use. Ranchers will see us out there, not as often but they’ll see us out there.”

For rancher like Barnett, patrol is about all that law enforcement can do.

“They don’t go out there and fix my fence for me,” Barnett said.

Barnett’s ranch hand now has to tend to the fences on top of his daily chores.

“Now every two or three weeks you have to ride the whole fence line and that takes some feet to do,” he said. “It’ll take a good day.”

Despite help from Border Patrol agents from Douglas, Barnett has agents from New Mexico and Texas doing patrols on his ranch to help out.

“It’s becoming a hassle to be constantly reporting everything that happens on the ranch,” Barnett said.