“The Environmental Consequences of Gov. Ducey’s Rogue ‘Border Wall’”
High Country News, 15 November 2022
“Despite the wall’s slapdash construction, it poses a major threat to the region’s unique environment. The Coronado’s public lands are part of the Sky Islands region, a unique network of mountain ranges that rise up from the Sonoran Desert and whose ecosystems change dramatically as their elevation increases. The area is critical habitat for jaguar, according to Myles Traphagen, Borderlands Program Coordinator at the Wildlands Network, and ocelot have been documented nearby. ‘It couldn’t be a worse location,’ he said in a phone call after my visit.
The containers impede wildlife crossings more than the federal wall, which has four-inch spaces between its “bollards,” or posts. Ironically, however, the containers would be much easier for humans to climb than the bollard fence, if they attempted it. ‘[Containers are] designed with gripping points and handles,’ said Traphagen.”
High Country News, 15 November 2022
“Despite the wall’s slapdash construction, it poses a major threat to the region’s unique environment. The Coronado’s public lands are part of the Sky Islands region, a unique network of mountain ranges that rise up from the Sonoran Desert and whose ecosystems change dramatically as their elevation increases. The area is critical habitat for jaguar, according to Myles Traphagen, Borderlands Program Coordinator at the Wildlands Network, and ocelot have been documented nearby. ‘It couldn’t be a worse location,’ he said in a phone call after my visit.
The containers impede wildlife crossings more than the federal wall, which has four-inch spaces between its “bollards,” or posts. Ironically, however, the containers would be much easier for humans to climb than the bollard fence, if they attempted it. ‘[Containers are] designed with gripping points and handles,’ said Traphagen.”
Photos credit: Russ McSpadden
Caroline Eaton Tracey writes about the environment, migration, and the arts in the US Southwest, Mexico, and their borderlands. She speaks and works in English, Spanish, and Russian. Her first book, SALT LAKES, will be published by W.W. Norton.
Caroline’s reporting appears in the New Yorker, n+1, New York Review of Books, High Country News, and elsewhere, as well as in Spanish in Mexico’s Nexos.
In 2022 she was awarded the Waterston Prize for Desert Writing and in 2023 she received Columbia University’s Ira A. Lipman Fellowship in Journalism and Human and Civil Rights and a Silvers Foundation Work-in-Progress grant. In 2024, she received an Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant.
Caroline holds a PhD in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley. She lives with her wife, Mexican architect and sculptor Mariana GJP, between Tucson, Arizona and Mexico City.
She is represented by Bridget Matzie of Aevitas Creative Management.
Caroline’s reporting appears in the New Yorker, n+1, New York Review of Books, High Country News, and elsewhere, as well as in Spanish in Mexico’s Nexos.
In 2022 she was awarded the Waterston Prize for Desert Writing and in 2023 she received Columbia University’s Ira A. Lipman Fellowship in Journalism and Human and Civil Rights and a Silvers Foundation Work-in-Progress grant. In 2024, she received an Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant.
Caroline holds a PhD in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley. She lives with her wife, Mexican architect and sculptor Mariana GJP, between Tucson, Arizona and Mexico City.
She is represented by Bridget Matzie of Aevitas Creative Management.
Caroline Eaton Tracey escribe sobre el medioambiente, la migración, el arte y la literatura en México, el Suroeste de Estados Unidos y su frontera. Habla ingles, español y ruso. Su primer libro, SALT LAKES, será publicado bajo el sello de la editorial W.W. Norton.
Sus artículos aparecen en The New Yorker, n+1, New York Review of Books y High Country News entre otros lugares. En español escribe frecuentemente para la revista Nexos.
En 2022 ganó el Premio Waterston por Escritura del Desierto y en 2023 recibió la beca Ira A. Lipman de periodismo de derechos humanos y civiles de Columbia University y una beca de la Fundación Silvers. En 2024, recibió una beca para escritura sobre el arte de la fundación Andy Warhol.
Caroline es Doctora en Geografía de la Universidad de California–Berkeley. Vive con su esposa, la arquitecta y escultora mexicana Mariana GJP, entre Tucson, Arizona y la Ciudad de México.
La representa Bridget Matzie de la agencia literaria Aevitas Creative Management.
Sus artículos aparecen en The New Yorker, n+1, New York Review of Books y High Country News entre otros lugares. En español escribe frecuentemente para la revista Nexos.
En 2022 ganó el Premio Waterston por Escritura del Desierto y en 2023 recibió la beca Ira A. Lipman de periodismo de derechos humanos y civiles de Columbia University y una beca de la Fundación Silvers. En 2024, recibió una beca para escritura sobre el arte de la fundación Andy Warhol.
Caroline es Doctora en Geografía de la Universidad de California–Berkeley. Vive con su esposa, la arquitecta y escultora mexicana Mariana GJP, entre Tucson, Arizona y la Ciudad de México.
La representa Bridget Matzie de la agencia literaria Aevitas Creative Management.