A 200-Year-Old Cottonwood Comes Down for the Border Wall in Arizona
A 200-year-old cottonwood known as the 'grandmother' was pushed over near the U.S.-Mexico border in the ghost town of Lochiel, Arizona, to clear ground for construction of Donald Trump's border wall.
The contractor for this section, Fisher Sand & Gravel, used an excavator to topple the tree, according to the most recent reporting. The 'grandmother' was the last of four cottonwoods marked for removal in the clearance zone, the area workers clear before building. Two 30-foot-tall walls are being built in the San Rafael valley area. The Guardian
The felling followed a dawn raid on Monday. More than 80 federal agents entered the protesters' camp on private land, made arrests and blocked access to the cottonwood. Those involved included Border Patrol officers, who are part of Customs and Border Protection, and Bortac, the Border Patrol's tactical unit trained for high-risk operations. At least 10 protesters were arrested during the raid in Lochiel. High Country News
Agents in a steel basket on an extendable crane lift forcibly removed the person occupying the tree platform. Land defenders had started the tree-sit in late July, taking turns living on a platform high in the canopy to block clearing. The protest began shortly after contractors knocked over three other ancient cottonwood trees nearby on 27 July. The sit in the Lochiel cottonwood lasted more than 70 days.
As the 'grandmother' fell, a second land defender climbed another ancient cottonwood on the border with Mexico. A team from Turning Point USA filmed the toppling while embedded with Border Patrol, with free access to a closed public road. Civilian access to the site was otherwise restricted during the operation.
The broader context here is how the government keeps control around wall construction. The scale of the force on private land, the use of a tactical unit and a crane lift to end a tree-sit, and different access for an embedded media team during a road closure raise questions familiar to people who study border policy. A tree-sit, much like a sit-in at a building entrance, is meant to raise the political and operational cost of clearing land. Agencies tend to answer with large numbers of personnel and closed perimeters. What to watch now is whether the second climb extends the standoff, and how landowners, contractors and federal agencies handle the next clearance sites in the valley.
