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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Douglas Main

Despair after 200-year-old ‘grandmother’ tree toppled for Trump’s border wall: ‘It crushes your heart’

aerial view of downed cottonwood tree remnants on ground
A drone view shows the mangled remains of the ancient cottonwood tree where activists staged a tree-sit to protest the construction of the US-Mexico border fence, in Lochiel, Arizona. Photograph: Rebecca Noble/Reuters

A 200-year-old cottonwood tree near the US-Mexico border, known as the “grandmother”, has been destroyed to make way for the construction of Donald Trump’s border wall, despite a months-long effort by protesters trying to save it.

In late July, land defenders began a tree-sit in the ghost town of Lochiel, Arizona, taking turns occupying a platform high in the tree’s canopy. The group remained there for more than 70 days.

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