In early November, I stood in the shadow of Arizona’s unauthorized “border wall.” This is a crude row of over 200 8,000-pound shipping containers. I’ve seen grasshoppers springing up on the Dirt Access Road and repeatedly tried to clear the new mysterious barrier. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fly high enough. This scene reminded me of a sad Pixar short, except it didn’t even have a happy ending or a story arc.
At the direction of Arizona’s Republican Governor Doug Ducey, Florida-based disaster relief firm AshBritt began staging shipping containers at the Coronado National Memorial, part of the national park system, in October. This project is still in progress and has not received federal approval. Ducey intended to show defiance of the Biden administration, but the wall overwhelms him. The poor condition of the container and the lack of government oversight make the scene feel like a farce. Yet, as the bewildered insects have attested, it has significant environmental impacts on one of the world’s most unique ecosystems.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, also a Republican, will build the first container wall in Eagle Pass, Texas, in 2021. Ducey said he would mimic his strategy in August 2022 and to fill the gap he ordered the construction of his double-stack shipping container of 3,800 feet. A federal border wall near Yuma, Arizona. When Ducey announced the initiative, he argued that “the Biden administration’s lack of urgency in border security is a dereliction of duty” and that Arizona “can’t wait any longer.” Part of that container wall he overturned within a week of being installed. And when the U.S. Reclamation Service sent Ducey a letter demanding that the hasty border wall violate federal law and remove the containers, Ducey sued the federal government, claiming an “unprecedented crisis” of “countless numbers of immigrants.” I responded by quoting.
Russ McSpadden/Biodiversity Center
But at the Coronado National Memorial, no immigrants were visible. Reaching the construction site required driving on U.S. Forest Service dirt roads and savannah-like mountainous terrain overgrown with oak trees and native grass. From a vantage point at the trailhead of the Coronado Peak trail, the new wall looked like a dark line cutting through the landscape, leading to a cloud of dust. Mexico was clearly visible in the south. Across the border is the Rancho Los Fresnos Open Space Reserve, a nature reserve. The nearest large town is Kanania, Sonora, a country 24 miles away like a crow flies.
Along the dirt road approaching the construction site, AshBritt has positioned several empty white pickup trucks. When I noticed it, I thought it was a Border Patrol vehicle. And the most impressive thing about the container wall construction site was that, unlike most other places in the Borderlands, no law enforcement was visible. Construction workers in yellow vests acted as gatekeepers at the entrance to the staging area, but they could not be denied passage on public roads on public land.
Trucks and other heavy equipment walled off the wide open lot on the west side of the road like an assembly line. According to one of his construction workers at the site, a heavy-duty truck he bought at a military auction, a flatbed towed by a tractor, onto his trailer, a forklift hoisted a shipping container. The truck tractor then took the container to the edge of the wall, churning dust on the way, and returned for another.
Russ McSpadden/Biodiversity Center
If you look closely, the container itself is dented, scratched, and rusted. A mix of spray-filled warnings and chalk identification numbers suggested they had a long lifespan. Another construction worker was driving along the wall, welding pieces of metal to fill the spaces between the containers. Some of the gaps were very large due to the rugged terrain of the area. It’s just a “tack”, a temporary connection to hold on to.
Uneven terrain creates gaps between containers and covers them with metal strips.
Russ McSpadden/Biodiversity Center
Despite the wall’s slapdash construction, it poses a significant threat to the unique environment of the region. Its ecosystem changes dramatically with increasing altitude. The area is an important habitat for jaguars, and ocelots have been recorded nearby, according to Myles Traphagen, Borderlands Program coordinator for the Wildlands Network. “It doesn’t get any worse than this,” he said over the phone after my visit.
Containers hinder wildlife crossing better than “bollards” or federal walls with 4-inch spaces between pillars. Ironically, however, containers can climb much easier than bollard fences if humans attempt. “[Containers are] It’s designed with grip points and handles,” says Traphagen.
The container wall is a better barrier to wildlife crossing than the bollard walls installed elsewhere along the U.S.-Mexico border, and small animals are still allowed through. Russ McSpadden/Biodiversity Center
But Emily Barnes of the Sky Island Network, which operates a network of cameras that record wildlife across the US-Mexico border, said in an interview with the US: border chroniclethe stretch of Coronado where the container walls are built, is a place with little foot traffic. high country news As previously reported, it is partly due to the network of watchtowers in the area.
As we drove away, the sounds of cranes and forklifts moving containers disappeared. The landscape became picturesque and quiet again. Some might think that the border through Coronado National Monument is open. But that openness is very important to the ecosystem and the animals that live in it. Landscapes rely on vast spaces for their unique connectivity and biodiversity.
Russ McSpadden/Biodiversity Center
Caroline Tracy is a Climate Justice Fellow High country news. send her an email [email protected] or submit lettersee us Letter to editor policy.
