Protesters have occupied a 200-year-old cottonwood tree in Lochiel, a small town in the San Rafael valley of southeast Arizona, to prevent its destruction as federal contractors build a double 30-foot border wall along the US-Mexico border with Sonora, Mexico.

The tree, known locally as one of the "grandmothers," is the last of the large old cottonwoods directly on the border. On July 27, contractors from Fisher Sand and Gravel felled three of the largest cottonwoods using excavators, escalating concerns among activists.

The protest group has grown to several dozen people, many camping on private land with the owner's permission. Butterfly Hill, a protester, stated, “I always remind folks that when we see people doing direct action like this, it’s only because every other system has failed.”

David Hathaway, sheriff of Santa Cruz County, which includes the western part of the valley, has publicly opposed the border wall construction in the area and noted that illegal immigration is practically nonexistent in the valley.

Russ McSpadden, a conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, emphasized the ecological importance of cottonwoods in arid regions, noting they only grow where underground water is present, such as river corridors. On August 4, McSpadden reported seeing a western yellow-billed cuckoo, a threatened species, in the cottonwood tree the protesters aim to save.

According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), 384 miles of these secondary barriers are currently in development.

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