LARRY COPENHAVER

One of Arizona's prized national monuments today landed on the latest list of America's 10 most endangered national parks.

The National Parks Conservation Association said Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is threatened by vigorous use by illegal immigrants crossing from Mexico into the United States.

The illegal immigrants have inundated the monument with hundreds of miles of illegal roads and trails and huge quantities of trash, said Ronald J. Tipton, senior vice president of programs for the association. In addition, the natural water has been drained or polluted, and rare wildlife is jeopardized.

Since 1999, the private, nonprofit advocacy group of the National Parks Service has annually listed 10 of the 389 parks in gravest danger.

The nonpartisan, Washington, D.C.-based group is the nation's leading park advocacy organization.

"Organ Pipe Cactus is one of the world's biosphere reserves, a special designation that recognizes the area's unique plants and wildlife," Tipton said in a written statement.

Immigrants inadvertently create trails through fragile desert habitat, leave behind mounds of trash and damage rare plants and centuries-old historic structures, he said.

Development on the Mexican side of the border, along with efforts by federal agents to tighten border security in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, have caused steady increases of illegal immigration through Organ Pipe, he added.

In addition to threatening the monument's resources, border crossings threaten endangered species, including the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl.

And they threaten visitors and staff.

Drug trafficking also has been recorded in the area. In August 2002, Ranger Kris Eggle, 28, was shot to death by a suspected Mexican drug trafficker.

Fred Patton, chief ranger at the monument, was not available for comment on the endangered listing. Other personnel at the monument declined comment.

Congress, the National Park Service and the U.S. Border Patrol have addressed the monument's problems, including designating $900,000 for nine additional protection rangers and $7 million to build a metal vehicle barrier along the entire Mexican border.

But Tipton said these steps are not enough.

"We are calling on Congress to provide money for four permanent resource staff positions and to repair damage to park resources and wildlife," Tipton said. "This park is under siege and must get immediate attention or we run the risk of losing forever the resources that earned this national treasure a world-class designation as a biosphere reserve."

The 330,000-acre monument was established in 1937 to protect some of the unique plants found in the southwestern desert. Organ pipe and saguaro cactuses are among the dozens of cactuses that thrive here.

The other national park sites and programs listed as endangered by NPCA are Big Thicket National Preserve (Texas), Biscayne National Park (Florida), Everglades National Park (Florida), Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Tennessee and North Carolina), Joshua Tree National Park (California), Shenandoah National Park (Virginia), Underground Railroad Network to Freedom (26 states and Washington, D.C.), Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve (Alaska) and Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, Idaho and Montana).

For more information, go to www.npca.org/endangeredparks.