As I write this, masked men in bulldozers are flattening the iconic landscape of Big Bend National Park in Texas, and protestors are sitting in a 200-year-old cottonwood tree in Southern Arizona—trying to save it from destruction. The cottonwood is the last standing of several trees that were already destroyed by private contractors building the border wall. In drought-stricken New Mexico, contractors are pumping wells dry to make concrete for the wall and enforcement roads. And in California, contractors are dynamiting a sacred mountain.

All of this is being done with more than $46 billion of our taxpayer money. And yet, the Department of Homeland Security has waived all federal laws that would require it to protect the environment, and wildlife or to seek input from border communities.

To make matters worse, Customs and Border Protection, the federal government agency under DHS, that is in charge of overseeing this massive construction project, which will essentially wall off North America, has largely abdicated its responsibility to the American people, and handed over control to a handful of private companies including Southwest Valley Construction, Fisher, Sand & Gravel, Barnard Construction, BCCG and Spencer Construction that secured their multi-billion contracts through a private bidding process without public input. And you’ll be shocked to hear this, I'm sure — many of these companies have given generously to the campaign coffers of Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, border residents remain in the dark as the construction tears through their communities, leaving devastation in its path. As Bob Krumenaker, chair of Keep Big Bend Wild, noted in a press statement yesterday, as bulldozers flattened vegetation in Big Bend National Park, to build an enforcement road, nonsensically, next to an already existing road.

“CBP still won’t reveal details of the plan it is now busy executing – with bulldozers.” Krumenaker wrote.  “Instead, it continues to claim to be ‘in the initial stages of planning and design.’ If that is true, they are beginning their highly unpopular and unnecessary assault on the integrity of one of America’s iconic national parks without plans.”

At The Border Chronicle we’ve been fielding calls and emails from residents up and down the border about the wall destruction, especially as it has increased with rapid velocity this summer. We’ve written many accountability and investigative articles in response, but it doesn't feel like enough, and frankly the scope of the devastation is happening so quickly, and is so massive, it’s difficult to take it in all at once. That’s why we’ve built an interactive, border-wide community mapping project called Wall Watch so that border residents can document construction, environmental damage, and surveillance infrastructure as it is being built in their communities so that we can get a better understanding of what is happening on the ground. Wall Watch is a project built out of necessity as the Trump administration has left us with little information about its plans, and as Krumenaker noted, even more frightening as this all progresses, it has become increasingly clear that the administration has no plan and has largely abandoned any oversight or accountability to the public.

So, keep an eye out for our launch of Wall Watch on Tuesday. This week we have a handful of border residents who are kindly beta testing the web-based app in the field, and we can’t wait to share it publicly with all of you next week. So stay tuned!

This Week in The Border Chronicle:

Welcome to Indian Country: 250 Years of Democracy and Authoritarianism in the U.S.

Worried about the future of democracy in the United States? Look to Indigenous histories; they have much to teach us about the struggle between liberty and empire.

The Border ChronicleMichael Steven Wilson

The Sonoran Desert’s Endemic Psychedelic: A Q&A with Writer Kimon de Greef

A new book tells the scandal-ridden tale of Sonora’s toad-smoking neo-shaman.

The Border ChronicleCaroline Tracey

More News from Across the Border Region:

Renowned El Paso author, artist Benjamin Alire Sáenz dies at 71 El Paso Matters

A Civilian Plane Crashed in New Mexico. Was the Military’s Tech to Blame? Wired

Hazardous chemical spill in Sonora could affect San Pedro basin, hydrologist says Arizona Daily Star

More questions than answers as contractors descend upon Big Bend National Park Big Bend Sentinel

How one old cottonwood tree became a symbol for border wall protesters Arizona Republic

Exclusive: Major Republican fundraiser winning contracts from Trump administration, emails reveal The Guardian