Otay Mountain is a mountain located in San Diego County, California. It is the highest summit of the San Ysidro Mountains. The mountain is located in the Otay Mountain Wilderness Area. The physical border separating

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

(which can be found near Otay Mountain) has received criticism for the harm it allegedly perpetuated to the environment, both in its construction and in its very nature.

History

The name "Otay" comes from the Kumeyaay word ''otai'', which means "brushy". On March 16, 1991, a Hawker Siddeley HS-125 airplane carrying seven members of singer Reba McEntire's band, plus her business manager and two pilots, crashed into the side of the mountain after taking off from nearby

Brown Field Municipal Airport Brown Field Municipal Airport is in the Otay Mesa neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States, southeast of Downtown San Diego and named in honor of Commander Melville S. Brown, USN, who was killed in an airplane crash in 1936. Its m ...

, killing all ten on board. Otay Mountain has had several wildfire incidents in the past. The plant life in Otay Mountain "burned completely" in 2003, and another wildfire happened later in 2007. A border fence spanning the

Mexico–United States border The Mexico–United States border ( es, frontera Estados Unidos–México) is an international border separating Mexico and the United States, extending from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border trave ...

can be found in the Otay Mountain area in order to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the national border. The border fence has received criticism for its effects on nature and wilderness. In particular, the construction was criticized by author Rob Davis for creating a harsh environment for a species of

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...

due to dust being kicked up by trucks. The fence in the area is estimated to cost approximately $16 million per mile. Otay Mountain Panoramic

References

{{Authority control San Ysidro Mountains Mountains of San Diego County, California Mountains of Southern California