Episode 180: Activists Take to the Canopy to Defend Centuries-old Cottonwood, Cats, and Connectivity
August 7, 2026
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Photo by Russ McSpadden
Summary
To make way for double 30-foot, steel border walls in Lochiel, Arizona, federal contractors have clearcut a grove of three 200-year-old Fremont cottonwood trees that reached their boughs across the U.S.-Mexico border in a sign of connectivity, friendship, and anchoring the headwaters of the Santa Cruz River. On the heels of this destruction, grassroots activists initiated the first border wall treesit in history to save the fourth and final “Grandmother tree.” Their unprecedented action in the San Rafael Valley halted the heavy machinery in its tracks. In this episode of the Rewilding Earth Podcast, frontline voices, a treesitter, and on-the-ground conservationists join host Jack Humphrey to discuss the immediate physical reality under the canopy, the lawless bypassing of environmental protections, and why keeping this vital corridor open is a critical line in the sand for wildlife and ecosystems of the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico.
Episode Highlights
- Frontline Resistance in Lochiel: Kate Scott, co-founder of the Madrean Archipelago Wildlife Center, and treesitter Maeve share what it is like sitting in the last remaining cottonwood tree, facing down private security threats, and stopping heavy machinery to protect the canopy.
- Reality of the Double Wall: Erick Meza, Sierra Club borderlands coordinator, explains how contractors snuck survey stakes into the San Rafael Valley, bypassing environmental surveys and building double-wall infrastructure that creates deadly traps for wildlife.
- A Continental Jaguar Corridor: Why the San Rafael Valley and Lochiel represent ground zero for jaguar crossings, and how 30-foot steel bollards effectively close the door on natural jaguar dispersal into the U.S.
- Disappearing Riparian Habitats: Russ McSpadden, Southwest conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, offers a 30,000-foot view on the collapse of vanishing water systems and how this treesit is sparking nationwide inspiration.
- How Listeners Can Help: Support the ground crew in the San Rafael Valley and take action against federal environmental waivers regardless of where you live.
“I always remind folks that when we see people doing direct action like this, it’s only because every other system has failed.” — Julia Butterfly Hill
Why Double Walls?
If you’re hearing about the building of secondary walls on the U.S.-Mexico border for the first time, you’re not alone. When you see contractors bulldozing centuries-old, Grandmother trees along delicate desert rivers, in normal times, you’d assume someone at least ran numbers and proved a double wall was the only viable option. But that study does not exist. There was no Environmental Impact Statement, no public review, and no site-specific justification for dropping two parallel, 30-foot steel walls through fragile Arizona/Sonora riparian corridors where native wildlife relies on every drop of water and every bit of shade canopy. This area is hardly a hotspot for border crossings; Sky Island Alliance has shown you are 10 times more likely to see a gray fox than another person.
The federal government is relying on a legal loophole created by a 1990’s-era border law originally tailored for urban San Diego, which was expanded in 2005 to give the Department of Homeland Security unilateral power to waive dozens of environmental and historic preservation laws. By stripping away legal protections and oversight, contractors get to blade massive 150-foot enforcement zones and build double walls straight through wild ecosystems without having to prove a need, answer to local communities, or abide by the rules everyone else has to follow.
Extra Credit
- Support the Lochiel effort: Follow Rally for the Valley on Instagram and make a donation.
- Visit Madrean Archipelago Wildlife Center and Sierra Club Borderlands for more information.
- Get your copy of Borderlings by Russ McSpadden, a book of poetic dispatches that bear witness to the fracturing of ecosystems and cultures.
- The Guardian: Protesters occupy 200-year-old tree at U.S.-Mexico border to stop its destruction: “She’s our Statue of Liberty”
Director of Digital Outreach (D.O.D.O.) for The Rewilding Institute
Host and Producer of the Rewilding Earth Podcast
Jack started Rewilding work as Executive Director of Sky Island Alliance in the mid-1990’s, organizing the Sky Island Wildlands Network design, ripping up illegal roads on forest service lands, installing wolf acclimatization pens on Ted Turner’s Ladder Ranch & conducting howling surveys to help make way for the final stage of the Lobo reintroduction program in the Southwest.
Through the years, Jack has worked with Dave Foreman and the Rewilding Gang to further Rewilding initiatives and education.
