Contractors Dynamite Mountains, Bulldoze Desert In Race To Build Trump’s Border Wall

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Heavy equipment is clearing a path for the border wall next to Coronado National Forest in Southern Arizona. Mexico is on the left.

John Kurc

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John Kurc

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Trump’s wall forcing unplanned experiment on deserts

«There’s no doubt they’re accelerating the rate of construction, says ecologist Ron Pulliam, who has been monitoring the wall’s progress on the Arizona border. «They’re trying to do as much as they can in the next 50 days. And Trump wants to fulfill his promise that he’s securing the border.

Landowners and conservationists are irate. Gary Nabhan, a longtime author and ethnobotanist in the region, says Trump’s wall is forcing an unplanned experiment on the deserts of Southern Arizona.

«The wall is going through such sensitive areas and going up so fast that no one knows what effect it’s going to have on wildlife, he says. «I mean, we have no idea what 24-7 lighting will have on the bats that pollinate at night.

The reason the 30-foot wall with its high-intensity security lights and wide patrol road is sparking such outrage is because of the region’s rich biodiversity and stunning natural beauty. Critics consider this a desecration of some of the last wild places along the U.S.-Mexico divide.

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Contractors are building concrete culverts across creekbeds on the border. Property owners warn the steel bollard wall across the creeks will catch debris and worsen flooding.

John Kurc

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John Kurc is a wedding photographer from Charleston, S.C., who fell in love with the Sonoran desert. He documents destruction caused by wall construction with his drone camera.

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A critical wildlife corridor

«So what I’ll do is I’ll fly fairly close to the top of that ridge to try to determine where they’re going to dynamite, he says, directing his drone toward the defaced slopes in the Coronado.

Nature lovers come here for the oak-dotted canyons, rugged peaks, extravagant vistas, and grasslands so verdant that the nearby San Rafael Valley was used as a setting for the 1955 musical, Oklahoma.

Moreover, the area is a critical wildlife corridor. Two endangered cats — the ocelot and the jaguar — crisscross the international boundary looking for water and prey.

«There’s only a 4-inch gap between the bollards in the wall, says Traphagen, who joined Kurc for the drone excursion, «So it excludes anything larger than a ground squirrel.

The drone descends out of the brilliant blue sky like a giant insect, with the first images of the Border Patrol’s new roads up the west side of the mountain. Kurc says when he visited this place three months ago, it was unscarred.

«And now what I’m seeing is a thousand times worse, he says. «Now I’m documenting destruction versus complete wilderness areas.

Contractors continue their work even though President-elect Joe Biden has said there won’t be another foot of wall constructed in his administration. Biden’s transition team did not answer an email asking when and where the new president may stop wall construction.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the massive $15 billion project, says it will not speculate on actions the incoming administration «may or may not take.

«Unless a Suspension of Work order is issued, USACE expects contractors to continue work as obligated under their contracts, the agency said in statement.

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Contractors are building access roads and retaining walls in this protected wilderness in Arizona’s Coronado National Memorial to erect President Trump’s border barrier.

John Kurc

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John Kurc

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Dynamite raises clouds of dust above Guadalupe Canyon, near the New Mexico-Arizona border. The Diamond A Ranch, which is located next to the construction site, has sued the government, claiming the blasting has sent «car-sized boulders tumbling down onto ranch property.

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Dynamite raises clouds of dust above Guadalupe Canyon, near the New Mexico-Arizona border. The Diamond A Ranch, which is located next to the construction site, has sued the government, claiming the blasting has sent «car-sized boulders tumbling down onto ranch property.

John Kurc

Opponents say the wall will worsen flooding

Like Huish, many landowners are upset by plans for the massive steel-and-concrete barrier in the malpais, or badlands, near the Arizona-New Mexico border. Owners of the Diamond A Ranch sued the government last week in federal court.

«In many portions of the proposed border wall, grades before construction began were so steep that the land was accessible only by foot and mule, reads the complaint.

Blasting crews have used explosives — they call it pioneering — to level the cliff sides for access roads. «Clouds of demolition dust, shrapnel, and car-sized boulders have come tumbling down the Roosevelt Reservation onto ranch property, says the complaint, which calls for an immediate halt to construction.

Opponents also say the wall will worsen flooding. The structure crosses numerous dry creeks and riverbeds. During the rainy season, they turn into torrents that carry tons of debris that could clog the steel-bollard barrier and cause floodwaters to back up.

So far, the Trump administration has won nearly every court challenge to the border wall. And CBP assures that it will dispatch crews to unlock gates in the wall to let the floodwaters pass.

But that has not mollified neighbors. Valer Clark is president of Cuenca Los Ojos, a land conservation group that has spent decades restoring ranchland and wetlands in Mexico on property next to Trump’s wall.

«It’s horrific, she says. «I mean, it’s 40 years of work that I’m seeing dry up, and for what? As an American, I feel ashamed.