Russ McSpadden
@peccarynotpig.bsky.social
Desert rambler, writer, activist in the Arizona/Mexico borderlands @ Center for Biological Diversity
BREAKING: This morning masked federal agents from DHS entered private land in Lochiel, AZ to halt protesters from protecting the cottonwood tree-sit that has halted border wall construction for more than two months. The tree sit and the grandmother tree were destroyed. @biologicaldiversity.org
The Center for Biological Diversity and Patagonia Area Resource Alliance sued the Trump administration today over its Sept. 2 approval of the expansion of South32’s massive Hermosa mine onto federal public lands in southern Arizona. @biologicaldiversity.org
BREAKING: Armed and masked agents of the U.S. government have invaded the sovereign Tohono O'odham Nation.
BREAKING: We’ve documented significant clearing of protected desert land inside Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near Quitobaquito Springs for the Trump admin’s second border wall that will run parallel to the existing 30-foot-tall wall. Read: sl1nk.com/jrbj7yv
The historic border wall tree sit in southern Arizona just went binational with a tree sit in a second cottonwood, right on the international boundary, in Mexico. The tree sits block construction of a primary and secondary wall planned for the area. Read: patagoniaregionaltimes.org/border-wall-...
Check out this new footage I found on one of my borderlands trail cameras of a jaguar roaming the wilds of southern AZ near a transnational wildlife movement corridor that is rapidly being closed by border wall construction. More here @biologicaldiversity.org: biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press...
Just me talking to a Mexican spotted owl in a remote canyon in southern Arizona. Only a few thousand of these owls exist in the wild. In 1993 @biologicaldiversity.org Diversity won ESA protections for the species, and later secured critical habitat.
“These magnificent cottonwoods survived centuries, nourishing wildlife through floods and drought, only to be bulldozed for the Trump admin’s disastrous #borderwall. The San Rafael Valley is one of the most biologically rich landscapes in North America." @peccarynotpig.bsky.social #Arizona
Activists climb rare Arizona cottonwood to shield it from Trump border wall construction
Activists are protesting the construction pathway for President Trump’s border wall in Arizona because it would require the removal of an ancient cottonwood tree. A demonstrator was arrested on We…
thehill.com
For more than 6 days now a tree sit in a cottonwood tree in the San Rafael Valley along the Arizona-Sonora border has halted construction of two parallel border walls.. This is the first-ever tree sit to halt border wall construction. Learn more @rally.forthevalley and @peccarrynotpig on IG.
A trail cam check on Monday revealed 3 clips of a beautiful male jaguar in a Sky Island south of Tucson, in the ancestral lands of the Tohono O'odham. Jaguars’ northern range is being ripped apart by border wall, mining, groundwater depletion and climate-driven drought. @biologicaldiversity.org
Hope you can make it to the launch of Borderlings, my new book of poetry, this Saturday, Oct. 18, 6:30-8. Reading at 7. Signed copies available at event. If not, you can order a copy through ArtSpeak Press here: www.artspeakpress.com/shop/p/borde...
The San Xavier District of the Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona has passed one of the most moving and powerful resolutions memorializing the role of the jaguar as a protector of the O’odham with deep cultural and spiritual ties. The resolution also calls on U.S. Fish and Wildlife to…”
This interview with my dear colleague Russ McSpadden is a phenomenal roundup of our work to stop Trump's absurd and irreversibly destructive push to wall off Arizona's San Rafael Valley. And if you're not already following @peccarynotpig.bsky.social, you should!
Jack 🦫@jackhumphrey.com · last yr.Biodiversity Battle in the Borderlands: I recently spoke with Russ McSpadden @peccarynotpig.bsky.social from @biologicaldiversity.org. Hear stories about Jaguars, Ocelots, Bears, a huge number of bird species, and what you can do to help protect them. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ech...
Chasing a rainbow over the northernmost occupied jaguar habitat on the planet. Gotta love Arizona.
Excited to share this! Join us to celebrate the release of BORDERLINGS, the debut book of poems from environmental activist RUSS MCSPADDEN, Saturday October 18, 2025, 6:30pm doors, 7pm reading and book signing. Free & all-ages. Che's Lounge, 350 N. 4th Ave, Tucson Published by Artspeak Press.
Biodiversity Battle in the Borderlands: I recently spoke with Russ McSpadden @peccarynotpig.bsky.social from @biologicaldiversity.org. Hear stories about Jaguars, Ocelots, Bears, a huge number of bird species, and what you can do to help protect them. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ech...
Episode 155: Jaguars, Justice, and the Border Wall – Stories from the Frontlines With Russ McSpadden
YouTube video by Rewilding Institute
youtube.com
BREAKING: The first segments of border wall have gone up in the San Rafael Valley, south of Tucson, Ariz. Construction crews have drilled at least two wells and have turned the area, a corridor for jaguars, pronghorn, bears, mountain lions, ocelots, porcupines, into an devastating industrial site.
There is still time. Will you help me - no matter what state - save all of THIS from foreign copper mining? Pls RT. By Aug. 27, send a quick email to BLM's AZ state & local office (tips and suggestions here: tinyurl.com/3ene6wa6).
Trump smearing us as ‘anti-American’. If Oak Flat is mined, the winners won't be Americans, and definitely not Native Americans, whose sacred site will be destroyed but two foreign mining giants, BHP (Australia) and Rio Tinto (UK) whose largest shareholder is a Chinese state-owned company.
BREAKING: A US judge just denied our request for an injunction to the land transfer of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper. Oak Flat, a sacred site of the Apache and part of the Tonto National Forest, is scheduled to be privatized on Tuesday. With the clock ticking, we have appealed to the 9th Circuit.
The Forest Service intends to convey Oak Flat, an Apache sacred site, to Resolution Copper on August 19. @biologicaldiversity.org, conservation allies & San Carlos Apache Tribe will be in fed court August 6 to argue for a halt to the Oak Flat Land Exchange until our lawsuits are resolved.
Tribal leaders and environmentalists are asking the Bureau of Land Management to reverse course on a southern Arizona mining project it green-lit at the end of June.
Environmentalists, tribes ask BLM to reconsider southern Arizona mining project
The Copper Creek Exploration Project is the beginning stage of what could become an open-pit copper mine across a roughly 25 square mile stretch near the San Pedro River in the Galiuro mountain range ...
kjzz.org
“They…substituted corporate engagement for formal government-to-government consultation,” McSpadden said. “This…Project is a test case for whether BLM…has learned from SunZia or whether it will continue to fast track industry at the expense of tribes, ecosystems and public trust.”
Conservation groups challenge BLM approval of Copper Creek Mine in Pinal County
azpm.org
Then, read the full report by Center staff @peccarynotpig.bsky.social and @laikenjordahl.bsky.social to learn more. This report documents the San Rafael Valley’s biodiversity, the species it sustains, and its indispensable role in the survival of endangered wildlife. ➡️ biodiv.us/4l1iGfb
A recent Center report found that a new border barrier, in a remote part of Arizona, would threaten one of the most important remaining animal migration routes on the state’s southern border. Check out the @nytimes.com feature about it. ⬇️
Trump Wants a New Border Wall. It Would Block a Key Wildlife Corridor.
nytimes.com
Great coverage by @dmain.bsky.social for the New York Times on how new border wall construction could destroy one of the last, best wildlife corridors for jaguars, ocelots, bears and puma in the U.S., and @biologicaldiversity.org ‘s lawsuit to halt it.
Trump Wants a New Border Wall. It Would Block a Key Wildlife Corridor.
nytimes.com
Fourth lawsuit launched to challenge the land transfer of Apache sacred site to Resolution Copper.
'So much has been taken': Apache women sue to halt land swap for Oak Flat copper mine
Four Apache women filed suit in Washington, D.C., asking a judge to block a land exchange needed to build a copper mine at Oak Flat.
azcentral.com
It's #TeamJavelina time... two sets of lil' reds in this squadron... One pair born three weeks ago, the smaller pair is kitten-sized ‼️ and recently born. Look at the umbilical cords and 🔊 up for lip-smacking and grunts! #cameratrap
We just sued the Trump administration for waiving dozens of environmental laws to speed border wall construction through the San Rafael Valley in Arizona’s Sky Island region. More info: biodiv.us/462nspc
