An incredible scar’: the harsh toll of Trump’s 400-mile wall through national parks
In the 1980s, when Kevin Dahl first began visiting the Organ Pipe Cactus national monument in southern Arizona, the border was unmarked, save for a simple fence used to keep cattle from a ranch in the US from crossing into Mexico. In those days, park rangers would call in their lunch orders at a diner located just across the border. Since then, a 30ft steel bollard wall has replaced the old barbed wire fence at Organ Pipe.
Protests target Spanish colonial statues that ‘celebrate genocide’ in US west
As a national debate swirls around statues of Confederate officials, a new battle is brewing in the western US over the fate of monuments glorifying the brutal Spanish conquest of the Americas. They include effigies of Diego De Vargas, who ordered the execution of 70 Pueblo Indians and the enslavement of hundreds of women and children, and conquistador Juan De Oñate, who is known for ordering the massacre of 800 Acoma people and for the right feet of 24 captive Acoma warriors to be amputated.
Armed vigilantes under scrutiny after statue protester shot in New Mexico
Officials are scrutinizing armed vigilante groups in New Mexicofollowing the shooting of a protester calling for the removal of a controversial colonial statue. Police are examining whether the shooter belonged to New Mexico Civil Guard, whose members were out in force at the Monday demonstration in Albuquerque. The group has become a familiar and controversial presence at protests over racial injustice across the state.
X marks the spot: treasure hunters in shock after reported $2m find in Rocky Mountains
Treasure hunters have reacted with shock, delight and disbelief to the news that a chest containing gems, gold and antiques worth up to $2m has reportedly been found in the Rocky Mountains. “I’ve had every emotion under the sun,” said Sacha Dent of Kansas, who dedicated years to a quest that resulted in the deaths of up to five people. “First it was shock and sadness, then on Monday a mix of happiness, relief and excitement,” said Dent. “I’ve invested six years into this. Now it’s finally over.
US south-west in grip of historic ‘megadrought’, research finds
Intensified by climate change, the current 20-year arid period is one of the worst on record, with wide-ranging effectsThe Enterprise Bridge passes over a section of Lake Oroville that is nearly dry in 2014 in Oroville, California. The region is in the grip of a 20-year megadrought, research suggests. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesWhen Ken Pimlott began fighting US wildfires at the age of 17, they seemed to him to be a brutal but manageable natural phenomenon.
Not a mask in sight’: thousands flock to Yellowstone as park reopens
On Monday, thousands of visitors from across the country descended on Yellowstone national park, which opened for the first time since its closure in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. “We have been cooped up for weeks,” Jacob Willis told the Guardian near a crowd of onlookers at the Old Faithful Geyser. “When the parks opened, we jumped at the opportunity to travel,” said Willis, who had arrived from Florida.
US national park reopenings raise fears of coronavirus outbreaks
On Wednesday, Zion national park in Utah, one of the most popular natural attractions in the US, received its first visitors in more than a month as the Trump administration continued its push to reopen the nation’s outdoors as well as it cities and businesses. More than 4,000 people poured into the beauty spot from numerous states.
Pandemic fears in border towns as workers flock in to build Trump’s wall
Unlike the rest of the US, the sleepy border community of Ajo, Arizona, is busier than ever these days, as hundreds of border wall construction workers pass through each day. “The rest of us are staying at home just the way the governor has ordered,” said Susan Guinn-Lahm, an Ajo resident in her 60s. “We’re taking this seriously.
Revealed: how poor Mexicans’ blood plasma feeds UK demand
“The first time I went, I wanted to cry,” said Lucía, a mother of three, describing how her economic situation would compel her to do the journey from her home in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juárez to line up outside a blood plasma donation center in El Paso, Texas.
‘Treated like trash’: the project trying to identify the bodies of migrants
Soil is carefully dug and then brushed away and the bags removed from the ground. Inside are bones but also small items that give a touch of humanity and threads of stories where flesh – and names – are missing. A little note. A half-drunk bottle of water. Prayer beads, a soft toy.