 https://www.facebook.com/reel/1058602136675748 |
It is now Day 8 for the Tree Sitter and Supporters. The border wall contractors in the Tucson region who are responsible for the destruction and new surveillance technology are: BCCG, Fisher Sand and Gravel, Sundt Construction, AIS and SLSCO. Scroll down to read more about the contractors. |
Seventh Day: Tree Sitters Halt Border Wall Construction in Arizona
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| https://www.facebook.com/kate.scott.973823 |
Today, on the seventh day at Grandmother Camp, with their tree sitter halting construction of the border wall, the tree sitters said, "We are all the grandmother. We have a responsibility to defend not only ourselves, but our relatives that are on the chopping block, and to also pay respects to our ancestors that have already fallen."
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| Grandmother cottonwood, home to nesting threatened birds, cut down by the death claws for border wall construction in southeastern Arizona. Image from video at https://www.facebook.com/reel/2474426089711333 |
Border Wall Construction Destroying Cottonwoods, 'Green Ribbon' Running Through the Desert
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, August 4, 2026
LOCHIEL, Arizona -- Day 6 at Grandmother Camp, there was no border wall construction since the tree sit began last Wednesday in this rich landscape. The cottonwood trees are the nesting place of migratory birds, including the rare Yellow-billed Cuckoo.
"We've lost three grandmothers that took 250 years to grow. They were obliterated by the monstrous machinations in four hours," Kate said on Monday from the tree sit in Lochiel, about 25 miles east of Nogales, southeast of Tucson.
"But I just saw a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, federally threatened crying over this beautiful meadow."
"This remaining Grandmother, that threatened bird -- we remain hopeful that our efforts here on the ground will be met with thoughtful reasonable conversation and a new direction for Lochiel community," Kate said.
"This remaining Grandmother represents hope and resistance."
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| Tree sit in the path of the death machines. Photo Center for Biological Diversity |
Border Wall Construction Triggers Tree Sit to Save Ancient Arizona Cottonwood
By Center for Biological Diversity
LOCHIEL, Arizona -- (July 29, 2026) Protesters today climbed into an ancient cottonwood tree in Arizona’s San Rafael Valley to stop the Trump administration from cutting it down for construction of two parallel 30-foot-tall border walls.
The action comes after Department of Homeland Security contractors cut down three neighboring Fremont cottonwoods estimated to be 200 to 250 years old.
“Destroying these ancient cottonwoods is a death sentence for an entire ecosystem,” said Russ McSpadden, Southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “These magnificent cottonwoods survived centuries, nourishing wildlife through floods and drought, only to be bulldozed for the Trump administration’s disastrous border wall. The San Rafael Valley is one of the most biologically rich landscapes in North America. It’s both a refuge and crucial corridor for jaguars, ocelots, black bears, pronghorn and hundreds of bird species.”
Today’s action is believed to be the first tree sit aimed at stopping U.S. border wall construction.
The three cottonwoods cut down earlier this week stood along a rare stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border where mature trees once formed a transboundary canopy. The trees provided nesting habitat, shade and shelter within an increasingly scarce riparian ecosystem that supports hundreds of animal species. One protester was arrested Monday while trying to protect those trees and nesting migratory birds.
Federal officials said preconstruction surveys would be conducted during Arizona’s active nesting season, but observers at the site reported that no surveys for nesting migratory birds were completed before the trees were destroyed.
The area also contains prehistoric archaeological sites that preserve evidence of thousands of years of Indigenous presence in the borderlands. Ongoing construction threatens cultural resources that would be permanently lost if disturbed.
The Department of Homeland Security is constructing the border wall under authorities that waive dozens of the nation’s cornerstone environmental and cultural resource protection laws, allowing construction to proceed without reviews normally required under laws including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.
In a letter sent today to the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Center called for an immediate halt to construction in the Lochiel area. The letter urged the agencies to conduct comprehensive biological and cultural resource surveys, consult with Tribes with ancestral and cultural connections to the San Rafael Valley, protect the remaining ancient cottonwoods, and assess the ecological and cultural resources at risk.
Videos and photos for media use are available here.
Cottonwood tree destruction for border wall construction in Lochiel, Arizona. Credit: John Kurc. Image is available for media use.
Contact:
Russ McSpadden, rmcspadden@biologicaldiversity.org
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.8 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Read more at USA Today: Green Ribbon that runs through the desert
In a phone call with USA TODAY, Russ McSpadden described the cottonwoods as "a green ribbon that runs through the desert."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/07/29/activists-stage-tree-sit-in-to-halt-trumps-border-wall-construction/91101191007/
The action comes after Department of Homeland Security contractors cut down three neighboring Fremont cottonwoods estimated to be 200 to 250 years old.
“Destroying these ancient cottonwoods is a death sentence for an entire ecosystem,” said Russ McSpadden, Southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “These magnificent cottonwoods survived centuries, nourishing wildlife through floods and drought, only to be bulldozed for the Trump administration’s disastrous border wall. The San Rafael Valley is one of the most biologically rich landscapes in North America. It’s both a refuge and crucial corridor for jaguars, ocelots, black bears, pronghorn and hundreds of bird species.”
Today’s action is believed to be the first tree sit aimed at stopping U.S. border wall construction.
The three cottonwoods cut down earlier this week stood along a rare stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border where mature trees once formed a transboundary canopy. The trees provided nesting habitat, shade and shelter within an increasingly scarce riparian ecosystem that supports hundreds of animal species. One protester was arrested Monday while trying to protect those trees and nesting migratory birds.
Federal officials said preconstruction surveys would be conducted during Arizona’s active nesting season, but observers at the site reported that no surveys for nesting migratory birds were completed before the trees were destroyed.
The area also contains prehistoric archaeological sites that preserve evidence of thousands of years of Indigenous presence in the borderlands. Ongoing construction threatens cultural resources that would be permanently lost if disturbed.
The Department of Homeland Security is constructing the border wall under authorities that waive dozens of the nation’s cornerstone environmental and cultural resource protection laws, allowing construction to proceed without reviews normally required under laws including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.
In a letter sent today to the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Center called for an immediate halt to construction in the Lochiel area. The letter urged the agencies to conduct comprehensive biological and cultural resource surveys, consult with Tribes with ancestral and cultural connections to the San Rafael Valley, protect the remaining ancient cottonwoods, and assess the ecological and cultural resources at risk.
Videos and photos for media use are available here.
Cottonwood tree destruction for border wall construction in Lochiel, Arizona. Credit: John Kurc. Image is available for media use.Contact:
Russ McSpadden, rmcspadden@biologicaldiversity.org
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.8 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Read more at USA Today: Green Ribbon that runs through the desert
In a phone call with USA TODAY, Russ McSpadden described the cottonwoods as "a green ribbon that runs through the desert."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/07/29/activists-stage-tree-sit-in-to-halt-trumps-border-wall-construction/91101191007/
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| Tree sitter saving the old growth cottonwood. Photo Center for Biological Diversity. |
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| Yellow-billed Cuckoos are in the bulldozers path for the divisive border wall. Update Wednesday It is Day 8 for the tree sitter and supporters defending the cottonwoods from the border wall monster machines.  Today in the Guardian "Demonstrators stage ‘tree sit’ in Arizona town to stop felling of ancient cottonwood grove to make way for border wall Douglas Main Tue 4 Aug 2026 19.20 EDT "Protesters are staging a “tree sit” in a tiny Arizona town to prevent the destruction of a grove of ancient cottonwood trees as federal contractors race to build a row of two 30ft walls along the border with Sonora, Mexico. The gathering ramped up last week in the town of Lochiel, in the remote San Rafael valley of south-east Arizona. On 27 July, contractors working for Fisher Sand and Gravel crushed three of the largest cottonwoods with excavators." Continue reading at the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/04/protesters-occupy-tree-us-mexico-border Contractors, Money Makers, of Border Wall Construction in Arizona Contractor Fisher Sand and Gravel in TexasCustoms and Border Patrol awarded Fisher Sand & Gravel Co. a contract for $309,463,000 to construct approximately 27 miles of new border wall in Santa Cruz County, Arizona within the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector. This contract is funded with CBP’s Fiscal Year 2021 funds. The company is based southwest of Fort Worth, Texas. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem also issued a new waiver, published in the Federal Register on 6/18/25, for border wall construction in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley Sector. https://www.aila.org/library/dhs-announces-contract-for-new-border-wall-in-az-and-waiver-accelerating-construction-in-tx Contractor: AIS in Tennessee AILA reports, "A $2-billion package of border infrastructure work announced this week by Tennessee-based contractor AIS Infrastructure signals a renewed execution phase for U.S.–Mexico border construction across Texas, Arizona and California. "The Chattanooga-based heavy civil contractor said Dec. 16 that the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have awarded four major design-build contracts totalling more than $2 billion to BCSS, its unit focused on border and security-related infrastructure work." The Tucson sector is one of the areas. https://www.aila.org/library/dhs-announces-contract-for-new-border-wall-in-az-and-waiver-accelerating-construction-in-tx Company: BCCG Joint Venture U.S. Homeland Security said, "The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced today 10 new construction contracts totaling approximately $4.5 billion were awarded in September 2025, which will add hundreds of miles of Smart Wall along the southwest border." "The Smart Wall is a border security system that combines steel barriers, waterborne barriers, patrol roads, lights, cameras, and advanced detection technology to give Border Patrol agents the best tools in the world to stop illegal traffic. In total, these projects will add 230 miles of Smart Wall and nearly 400 miles of new technology. The technology additions will further secure existing wall in areas where the Biden Administration policies cancelled contracts to do so." "These 10 contracts, which were awarded Sept. 15-30, are the very first to be funded by President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill and also include minimal prior year funding from Fiscal Year 2021 wall appropriations, funding which was on hold during the Biden Administration." "To cut through bureaucratic red tape and expedite the construction of the Smart Wall, Secretary Noem also issued two new waivers for approximately nine miles of Smart Wall in the Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector and approximately 30 miles of new Smart Wall located in New Mexico within the El Paso Sector." "The first 10 contracts funded by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (and remaining FY 2021 wall appropriations) awarded in September include: "Tucson 1 Project – Awarded to BCCG a Joint Venture for $606,988,300 for the construction of approximately 23 miles of new secondary border wall and approximately 66 miles of system attributes in USBP’s Tucson and Yuma Sectors in Arizona. Continue reading: https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/dhs-cbp-award-45b-new-contracts-under-obbb-smart-wall-construction Construction Dive said, "AIS Infrastructure, a heavy civil and infrastructure construction firm, has obtained approximately $2 billion in contracts from the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection, according to a Dec. 16 announcement shared with Construction Dive. "The projects are located along the southern border between the U.S. and Mexico near Eagle Pass, Texas; Lukeville, Arizona; and Marron Valley and Campo, California, east of San Diego. "Chattanooga, Tennessee-based AIS will complete the work through a subsidiary, BCSS, according to the news release. BCSS will work in a joint venture with Montgomery, Alabama-based Caddell Construction and Burnet, Texas-based Gibraltar to lead and manage all four projects." Continue reading: https://www.constructiondive.com/news/ais-infrastructure-border-wall-projects/808419/ Tucson Border Wall Contractors: BCCG, Fisher Sand and Gravel, Sundt Construction, and SLSCO U.S. Homeland Security said: "Tucson 1 Wall Project – On September 19, 2025, CBP awarded a contract to BCCG a Joint Venture for the construction of approximately 23 miles of secondary border wall and approximately 66 miles of detection technology, in areas where there is existing barrier, in the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson and Yuma Sectors in Arizona. Tucson 2 Wall Project – On December 16, 2025, CBP awarded a contract to Fisher Sand & Gravel Co. to construct approximately 21 miles of primary border wall system, approximately 91 miles of secondary border wall, and 135 miles of detection technology, in areas where there is existing barrier, in the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector in Arizona. Tucson 3 Wall Project – On May 14, 2026, CBP awarded a contract to Fisher Sand & Gravel Co. to construct approximately 66 miles of secondary border wall in the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector in Arizona. Tucson 4 Wall Project – On May 29, 2026, CBP awarded a contract to Sundt Construction to construct approximately 13 miles of primary border wall system and approximately 45 miles of secondary border wall in the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector in Arizona. Tucson 5 Wall Project – On June 26, 2026, CBP awarded a contract to SLSCO LTD to construct approximately 62 miles of primary border wall system in the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector in Arizona." Continue reading https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/along-us-borders/smart-wall-map/faqs Article copyright Censored News. Please share our links. |
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