NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO • December 11, 2020
In the Coronado National Memorial in Arizona contractors are pulverizing the wilderness in a rush to put up as many miles of border wall as possible before the Trump administration vacates Washington. They're dynamiting mountainsides and bulldozing pristine desert for a barrier the incoming Biden administration is expected to cancel. This is one of 29 construction projects being performed by 13 different contractors from San Diego to Texas. In Arizona, contractors are working all night under light towers to meet Trump's goal of 450 miles of new barriers before his term is over. The area is a critical wildlife corridor. Valer Clark is president of a conservation group that has spent decades restoring ranchland and wetlands on property next to Trump's wall. "It's horrific," she says. "It's 40 years of work that I'm seeing dry up, and for what? As an American, I feel ashamed."