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ARIZONA BORDER WALL

In September 2019, construction of 30′ walls began on public lands along the Arizona border. To expedite the process, dozens of environmental laws have been waved and swathes of habitat adjacent to the border bulldozed, reducing habitat and blocking movement through wildlife corridors. The federally protected lands earmarked for these barriers include Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Organ Pipe is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, a designation intended to protect the pristine Sonoran Desert ecosystem.
My photo documentation of the effects of the border wall on wildlife and the environment began in 2009. As recently as March, 2020, I was working along the Arizona border. There is a profound contrast between the barren strips of land bulldozed for the new walls and the yet undisturbed desert nearby where I photographed stills and video of a hummingbird bathing at Quitobaquito Springs, just yards from the boundary with Mexico. At dusk, not far from there, I surprised a bobcat hunkered down in an area where bulldozers were pending.

 

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