WEBVTT - The Coming Flood 0:00:14.810 --> 0:00:16.980 On Labor Day, while you all listened to a delightful 0:00:17.020 --> 0:00:19.279 conversation I had with Molly Conger on the subject of 0:00:19.340 --> 0:00:21.780 buffalo and pronghorns and the many other megafauna we get 0:00:21.820 --> 0:00:23.840 to share the land with, I was up on a 0:00:23.860 --> 0:00:26.960 summit whose name I didn't know. Sometimes I call it names, 0:00:27.020 --> 0:00:29.840 but they aren't words I can broadcast. It's steep and loose, 0:00:29.900 --> 0:00:33.519 and at the top, the primary foliage is cholla. You 0:00:33.540 --> 0:00:35.300 can get to the top, and the view is worth it. 0:00:35.700 --> 0:00:37.419 But more likely than not, you're going to have to 0:00:37.470 --> 0:00:40.909 bleed for it. Anyway, there I was just after dawn, 0:00:41.250 --> 0:00:43.949 bleeding on the top of this prominence, looking around with 0:00:43.990 --> 0:00:46.730 my binoculars. It's a good time to look for animals, 0:00:47.150 --> 0:00:49.290 to look at the land in general, and to think 0:00:49.330 --> 0:00:51.409 about where I might explore before it gets too hot. 0:00:53.090 --> 0:00:55.520 Looking out ahead of me, I could see peaks in Mexico, 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:58.200 and in the US. And until a few years ago, 0:00:58.380 --> 0:01:01.300 that's all I would have seen. An unbroken flow of land, 0:01:01.750 --> 0:01:03.690 across which the mountain lions I hear in these hills 0:01:03.710 --> 0:01:06.330 could roam, and the mule deer those mountain lions hunt 0:01:06.370 --> 0:01:10.530 could wander. Now, though, through my binoculars, I can make 0:01:10.610 --> 0:01:13.980 out a giant scar on the landscape. The border wall 0:01:14.020 --> 0:01:17.699 stands out as a wound on a beautiful landscape, the 0:01:17.740 --> 0:01:20.459 state marking its territory in the most ugly and crude 0:01:20.500 --> 0:01:24.420 way possible, a forest of metal and rust amidst a 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:33.100 chaparral and sagebrush. Since 1848, The border here has gone 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:34.920 from being a thing on the map to a thing 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:37.440 on the ground, and that has meant that everything that 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:39.650 lives on this ground now has to live with a 0:01:39.670 --> 0:01:42.050 border it didn't consent to, and that makes no sense 0:01:42.290 --> 0:01:44.990 when it's projected onto the topography of our deserts and mountains. 0:01:46.470 --> 0:01:48.810 Much of that wall is built on land that was 0:01:48.850 --> 0:01:52.480 previously accessible to everybody, and now it's accessible to nobody. 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:57.420 Not far from where I'm sitting, almost exactly six years ago, 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:00.059 I was out in the mountains with some Kumeyaay folks, 0:02:00.810 --> 0:02:03.670 The walls cut across their land, dividing them from each 0:02:03.730 --> 0:02:06.150 other in the name of two states that have arrived 0:02:06.170 --> 0:02:07.730 in the blink of an eye when we compare the 0:02:07.780 --> 0:02:10.579 timescale of the state to the timescale of indigenous history. 0:02:11.500 --> 0:02:14.640 The Kumeyaay people I was with were in ceremony, using 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:17.180 legal protections for the practice of their faith to put 0:02:17.220 --> 0:02:20.700 themselves in between the huge construction vehicles and their ancestors. 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:24.940 In the soil where the first Trump administration wanted to blast, 0:02:25.580 --> 0:02:29.140 Kumeyaay ancestors had been laid to rest. The physical evidence 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:31.480 of their remains have been found by tribal monitors in 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:36.500 countless border sites. In 2020, through court cases and direct action, 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:40.230 some of the wall building was stopped. By using ceremonies 0:02:40.270 --> 0:02:43.210 to slow down construction and their court cases to challenge it, 0:02:43.870 --> 0:02:47.170 folks from across Sukhumi Nation and from other tribes were 0:02:47.210 --> 0:02:50.700 able to stall out the Trump administration. The damage done 0:02:50.940 --> 0:02:54.200 to their homeland was still profound, but it could have 0:02:54.220 --> 0:02:59.810 been worse. In 2025, with Trump back in office, most 0:02:59.850 --> 0:03:03.010 of the laws that had protected this land, including the 0:03:03.050 --> 0:03:06.710 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, were waived by 0:03:06.770 --> 0:03:11.609 Secretary Nome. That wasn't the only law waived. I want 0:03:11.630 --> 0:03:13.310 to read a list of all the laws she waived, 0:03:14.030 --> 0:03:15.700 because I think it gives a good impression of things 0:03:15.740 --> 0:03:18.299 that matter less to these people than building a giant 0:03:18.340 --> 0:03:24.560 monument to grift and hatred. The National Environmental Policy Act, 0:03:24.980 --> 0:03:28.950 the Endangered Species Act, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 0:03:29.570 --> 0:03:33.400 the National Historic Preservation Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, 0:03:33.850 --> 0:03:37.020 the Migratory Bird Conservation Act, the Clean Air Act, the 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:42.060 Archaeological Resources Protection Act, the Paleontological Resources Protection Act, the 0:03:42.100 --> 0:03:46.320 Federal Cave Resources Protection Act of 1988, the National Trail 0:03:46.380 --> 0:03:50.780 System Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Noise Control Act, 0:03:50.980 --> 0:03:53.920 the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the Resource 0:03:53.940 --> 0:03:59.490 Conservation and Recovery Act, the Comprehensive Environment Response Compensation Liability Act, 0:03:59.990 --> 0:04:04.070 the Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act, the Antiquities Act, the 0:04:04.110 --> 0:04:08.650 Historic Sites, Buildings and Antiquities Act, the Eagle Protection Act, 0:04:08.990 --> 0:04:13.230 the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the Administrative 0:04:13.270 --> 0:04:17.950 Procedure Act, Section 438 of the Energy Independence and Security Act, 0:04:18.510 --> 0:04:21.830 the National Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956, the Fish 0:04:21.910 --> 0:04:25.400 and Wildlife Coordination Act, the Farmland Policy Protection Act, the 0:04:25.500 --> 0:04:28.720 Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the Wild Horse and 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:32.550 Burrow Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act and the Otay 0:04:32.610 --> 0:04:39.110 Mountain Wilderness Act of 1999. Each of these laws was 0:04:39.170 --> 0:04:42.630 passed for a reason. It's not easy in this country 0:04:42.990 --> 0:04:46.130 to restrain capitalism through the law. We have in fact 0:04:46.230 --> 0:04:49.029 manifestly failed to do so to an extent that this 0:04:49.070 --> 0:04:53.430 state has facilitated a massive and remarkable extinction of the 0:04:53.490 --> 0:04:56.690 animals on the land it now lays claim to. But now, 0:04:57.170 --> 0:05:00.310 at the border, decades of effort to protect our animals, 0:05:00.450 --> 0:05:03.750 plants and land have all been undone. What we have 0:05:03.790 --> 0:05:05.980 instead is rule by decree. In the case of the 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:08.960 Big Bend sector, where wall construction is destroying a unique 0:05:09.300 --> 0:05:12.560 and beautiful national park in Texas, we got this instead. 0:05:13.140 --> 0:05:16.619 I just landed in Texas, headed to Big Bend National Park. 0:05:17.580 --> 0:05:20.830 Last night I put a pause on all activity in that. 0:05:20.750 --> 0:05:23.190 Park as far as construction goes until I can get 0:05:23.210 --> 0:05:26.530 down there and do a personal evaluation, talk to some stakeholders, 0:05:27.270 --> 0:05:28.169 talk to local. 0:05:27.950 --> 0:05:31.720 Law enforcement in that area, and more to follow this week. 0:05:32.660 --> 0:05:34.760 In case you're not familiar with that voice, that is 0:05:34.820 --> 0:05:38.230 a Commissioner of Border Patrol, Rodney Scott. He also served 0:05:38.250 --> 0:05:40.950 in a leadership position in the first Trump administration. During 0:05:40.970 --> 0:05:43.390 the Biden administration, he went to work for the Texas 0:05:43.430 --> 0:05:47.690 Public Policy Foundation, a right-wing think tank. And in December 0:05:47.710 --> 0:05:52.380 of 2021, a San Diego court judge found that Scott 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:55.900 had made a rape threat to former patrol agent and 0:05:55.980 --> 0:06:00.540 outspoken critic of Border Patrol sexual assaults, Jen Budd, when 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:03.979 he posted on Twitter, quote, lean back, close your eyes 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.500 and just enjoy the show. that was in a court 0:06:07.540 --> 0:06:11.539 case about a restraining order decades of legislation and debate 0:06:12.060 --> 0:06:15.090 expert input and work to preserve what we have left 0:06:15.529 --> 0:06:19.830 all tossed away instead we have a guy who generously 0:06:19.890 --> 0:06:22.350 could not possibly have expertise in all these areas and 0:06:22.410 --> 0:06:25.270 most likely has insight into none of them making a 0:06:25.310 --> 0:06:28.539 decision that impacts the land and the people animals and 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:34.770 plants living there forever Let's talk about what that impact means, 0:06:35.330 --> 0:06:37.740 and begin by returning to where we left off last week, 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:40.680 with the decaying remains of a peninsular bighorn ram in 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:43.200 the border wire. Many of you would have thought it's 0:06:43.220 --> 0:06:45.539 just one sheep, and yeah, it's just one sheep, but 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:48.380 we don't have that many bighorns. And sometimes in particular, 0:06:48.420 --> 0:06:52.060 these rams can act as dispersers, spreading genetic diversity and 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:54.690 growing the species range. If you're looking for an example 0:06:54.730 --> 0:06:57.030 of a disperser, check out the wolves that have colonized 0:06:57.050 --> 0:06:59.589 California of their own free will, on their own paws, 0:07:00.270 --> 0:07:03.010 without the releases and voter initiatives that we saw in Colorado. 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:04.980 But there's more to it than that. 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:09.640 I did want to just comment on this idea that 0:07:10.470 --> 0:07:15.370 a single individual dying doesn't matter in the grand scheme 0:07:15.410 --> 0:07:15.750 of things. 0:07:15.810 --> 0:07:18.450 And I think, you know, I'm a biologist. 0:07:18.590 --> 0:07:21.590 I'm kind of of a similar mindset where we're used 0:07:21.610 --> 0:07:22.630 to seeing animals die. 0:07:22.650 --> 0:07:26.710 I mean, that's part of wildlife. It's part of natural communities. 0:07:27.310 --> 0:07:32.330 But I think these anthropogenic-caused deaths, these human-caused deaths. 0:07:33.410 --> 0:07:36.110 Which I expect to occur. I think there's going to 0:07:36.130 --> 0:07:36.650 be more of them. 0:07:36.690 --> 0:07:39.850 This one ram caught in this razor wire is not 0:07:39.870 --> 0:07:42.650 going to be the end of this. But I think 0:07:42.710 --> 0:07:47.200 what people don't appreciate is that single individuals in Bitcoin 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:50.260 populations in particular, when I talked about them having all 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:53.020 this knowledge of the landscape and living up to 18, 0:07:52.990 --> 0:07:57.060 20 years old, That single individual, if it happens to 0:07:57.100 --> 0:08:00.570 be that 20-year-old you that has the most knowledge in 0:08:00.610 --> 0:08:05.630 that population of all the resources accumulated over those multiple generations, 0:08:05.690 --> 0:08:09.170 and that individual is the one that dies, what else 0:08:09.270 --> 0:08:10.970 is lost with that one death? 0:08:11.410 --> 0:08:12.250 There's a culture. 0:08:12.390 --> 0:08:15.840 You know, we feel uncomfortable saying something like culture in wildlife, 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:18.500 but that's what it is. It's a passing on of 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:23.620 knowledge and information that helps people. that population survived. The 0:08:23.660 --> 0:08:26.330 longer that's retained, the more it's spread and shared. And 0:08:27.130 --> 0:08:29.830 I think we lose that. I think we also lose 0:08:30.090 --> 0:08:34.589 the potential for those long distance, rare migration events that 0:08:34.610 --> 0:08:38.740 can cause that gene flow that's so necessary to keep 0:08:38.780 --> 0:08:43.439 these isolated populations from suffering those effects of inbreeding. 0:08:43.500 --> 0:08:46.300 So that single individual that died could. 0:08:46.179 --> 0:08:48.949 Have been a ram that was You know, this sometimes 0:08:49.010 --> 0:08:53.630 happens once in 10 years where a ram's traveling up 0:08:53.670 --> 0:08:58.570 to 100 miles, like crazy distances on these dispersal, we 0:08:58.590 --> 0:09:04.230 call them walkabouts sometimes. And so I think we, as humans, we, 0:09:04.370 --> 0:09:07.790 you know, can kind of just ignore single deaths. But 0:09:07.860 --> 0:09:11.459 I think if you really understand these wildlife populations, that 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:13.459 they matter more than we give them credit for it. 0:09:31.059 --> 0:09:33.939 On a Sunday morning, in early June, my watch woke 0:09:33.960 --> 0:09:36.520 me up just before 3am. I hadn't got to sleep 0:09:36.570 --> 0:09:39.590 until midnight, nervous about how much water I'd need to pack. 0:09:40.530 --> 0:09:43.449 Despite years of travelling through deserts and mountains, they still 0:09:43.490 --> 0:09:45.810 scare me just a little bit. That's part of what 0:09:45.830 --> 0:09:48.240 I love about them, I just had time to make 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:50.560 a pot of coffee before my friend arrived, and we 0:09:50.580 --> 0:10:00.090 set off for a pre-dawn trip into the canyons. Stepping off... 0:10:00.090 --> 0:10:02.490 into the desert always gives me a sense of feeling small, 0:10:03.410 --> 0:10:05.469 and the plan we had that day was no different. 0:10:06.370 --> 0:10:08.160 In the desert, you could stand in a place that 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:10.479 has not changed a great deal, despite the rise and 0:10:10.540 --> 0:10:13.720 fall of states and empires, that has resisted the ruthless 0:10:13.780 --> 0:10:16.900 exploitation of capitalism, in a country that has delivered the 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:20.180 system and its historic consequences to so much of the world. 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:23.939 You can also run out of water and die. So, 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:27.900 packing a full hydration bladder, a couple of Nalgene's, and 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:31.640 the podcast recorder, self-sealed with gasket maker, we set off. 0:10:41.290 --> 0:10:43.990 Further east in Valley of the Moon, after a steep 0:10:43.990 --> 0:10:49.810 3,500 foot drop-off, lie Meyer and Davis Valleys. These vast 0:10:49.870 --> 0:10:52.500 washes cut through the desert, and bloom in the springtime, 0:10:52.700 --> 0:10:56.120 when the arrowweed and ostetios come to life. In the summer, 0:10:56.500 --> 0:10:58.960 they'll hit temperatures that make the canyons feel like ovens. 0:10:59.900 --> 0:11:01.679 And in the spring, the winds here have been so strong, 0:11:01.740 --> 0:11:03.660 they caught my backpack and knocked me clean off my feet, 0:11:04.110 --> 0:11:07.650 as I scrambled from one valley into another. Deep in 0:11:07.690 --> 0:11:11.489 these canyons, you'll find desert palm oases, little islands of 0:11:11.550 --> 0:11:15.569 green and the sea of brown and beige. There used 0:11:15.590 --> 0:11:17.790 to be big lakes out here, and much more water. 0:11:18.450 --> 0:11:20.930 Now it's all gone. but some kind of spring or 0:11:20.970 --> 0:11:24.809 seep keeps these lush little pockets alive, and offers priceless shade. 0:11:26.820 --> 0:11:29.359 The West was never really wild. It's been someone's home 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:32.020 for thousands of years, but it's certainly rugged out here. 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:34.980 On my topo map, there are three mountains in one 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:39.670 of these valleys, named Kirk, Benny, and Glen. Those are 0:11:39.690 --> 0:11:41.830 their official names, as far as the government is concerned. 0:11:42.809 --> 0:11:44.850 I'm guessing whoever gave them that didn't ask the Kumeyaay 0:11:44.890 --> 0:11:48.959 folks who have lived here for millennia for suggestions. Like 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:51.620 much of the California border, the 60 feet north of 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:54.310 the actual border in these valleys is a national defence 0:11:54.390 --> 0:11:57.250 area now, an extension of the naval air facility in 0:11:57.290 --> 0:11:59.809 El Centro that means we can't go there, and the 0:11:59.830 --> 0:12:03.090 Marines now patrol the desert, protecting us from people who, 0:12:03.210 --> 0:12:05.850 in many cases, are making the same journey their parents 0:12:05.890 --> 0:12:14.120 or grandparents did. But to get to where I'm recording, 0:12:14.580 --> 0:12:17.720 outside of that area, you follow these valleys south, for 0:12:17.740 --> 0:12:20.910 a long time, then step and clamber over some boulders, 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:32.380 then slide down a sandy slope covered with rocks. I 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:36.480 would suggest not making that slide on your butt. After that, 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:39.580 you'll find the mouth of a canyon. That's all I'll 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:41.640 say about exactly where this canyon is, because you probably 0:12:41.700 --> 0:12:44.939 shouldn't go. I want to take a moment to reinforce that. 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:47.720 I don't think you should try and go here. It's 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:50.950 a special place, and it's a dangerous place. I want 0:12:50.970 --> 0:12:52.689 to tell you about it, but I don't want to 0:12:52.730 --> 0:12:59.070 encourage you to visit it. After slogging through thick sand 0:12:59.090 --> 0:13:01.510 in the canyon mouth, my friend and I clambered over 0:13:01.530 --> 0:13:03.550 some boulders and looked down upon the start of the 0:13:03.570 --> 0:13:06.390 canyon proper. The sun hadn't come up over the canyon 0:13:06.410 --> 0:13:08.260 walls yet, and we wanted to be back to our 0:13:08.300 --> 0:13:10.939 car before the day hit the triple-digit highs we expected. 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:15.640 Framed by the walls, as we slid down a sandy 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:18.689 rock slope, was the first of many little white crosses 0:13:18.730 --> 0:13:23.530 that dot this landscape. This one's for Martin. At least 0:13:23.550 --> 0:13:26.670 he had the fortune of being identified, of getting a name. 0:13:27.750 --> 0:13:29.729 Further down the canyon, a little blue cross sits on 0:13:29.770 --> 0:13:33.560 a hillside, where a friend found a child's remains. The 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:39.520 plaque on it just reads Desconocidix. Unknown. To get there 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:43.340 from here, one must pass at least three more memorial markers. 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:46.579 On our way through the canyon, we stopped for a 0:13:46.620 --> 0:13:50.710 moment at each to pay our respects to them. There 0:13:50.730 --> 0:13:53.770 are buckets out here as well. Each of them with 0:13:53.809 --> 0:13:57.450 a threaded lid, sealed, are full of water, food and 0:13:57.470 --> 0:14:06.520 supplies to keep people alive out here. Completely full. The 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:11.120 buckets are working really good out here. Nothing else is really. 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:14.920 Yeah, you can see the orange caps for the Gatorade 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:16.100 scattered about. 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:19.740 Yeah, I've seen them go through even tin cans out here. 0:14:21.100 --> 0:14:23.080 One of those buckets is deep in the canyon, just 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:25.280 a short walk from where friends found the remains of 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:28.030 a child. This one has a message written on it. 0:14:29.380 --> 0:14:31.060 I'm recording something that's been written on the bucket. It 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:38.470 means I believe in you. We're humans. We will be neighbors. Listen, 0:14:39.310 --> 0:14:41.870 we hope you have a good day. I hope you have... 0:14:42.870 --> 0:14:47.950 A peaceful walk. I hope you continue with respect. But 0:14:47.970 --> 0:14:50.630 there are things much older than those buckets here. On 0:14:50.690 --> 0:14:53.770 our journey through the canyon, we find morteros, and pieces 0:14:53.820 --> 0:14:56.500 of Kumeyaay art that are hundreds if not thousands of 0:14:56.520 --> 0:15:01.460 years old. Wow, so many morteros. Look, more over there too. 0:15:03.580 --> 0:15:08.420 More morteros. Wow, so many you can't even count them. 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:15.400 Yeah, wow. Look at this. Some animals have been here. 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:19.420 There's so many. 0:15:21.020 --> 0:15:24.520 These are deeper. I mean, there are maybe more than. 0:15:24.540 --> 0:15:26.340 Generations of people that were here. 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:27.280 Here's an oval. 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:30.900 Yeah. Someone's dug into this. 0:15:31.750 --> 0:15:33.260 More over here. 0:15:35.230 --> 0:15:38.590 The whole canyon is filled with pots, lithic debitage, and 0:15:38.630 --> 0:15:42.770 other cultural resources. I don't want to describe what these 0:15:42.790 --> 0:15:46.910 things mean to Kumeyaay people without having Kumeyaay people explain 0:15:46.950 --> 0:15:48.930 that themselves and I wasn't able to find anybody to 0:15:48.970 --> 0:15:51.570 join me on this show. What I will say is 0:15:51.590 --> 0:15:53.930 that this canyon is also now filled in in several 0:15:53.970 --> 0:15:56.930 spots with a road that DHS appears to have cut 0:15:56.950 --> 0:15:59.540 through the canyon floor. It's big enough to see from 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.780 space and I've tracked its progress for months before stepping 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:05.700 off into the desert before dawn to confirm with my 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:08.080 own eyes that this beautiful place has been forever changed. 0:16:09.930 --> 0:16:13.150 Just approaching a little kind of oasis here. Palm trees. 0:16:15.150 --> 0:16:24.220 And we can see... Yeah, beautiful palm trees. It's funny 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:26.359 to think about this path. It seems such an obvious path, 0:16:26.380 --> 0:16:28.240 you know, because it is. Because people have been taking 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:31.850 it for millennia. It just sort of meanders through the canyon. 0:16:33.690 --> 0:16:39.330 So does this road now. With our super El Nino 0:16:39.370 --> 0:16:42.150 winter on the way, this road, which sits about eight 0:16:42.190 --> 0:16:44.110 foot above the floor of the canyon, will act like 0:16:44.150 --> 0:16:48.630 a dam. DHS has ignored hydrology before. Several sections of 0:16:48.650 --> 0:16:52.140 the wall were built without floodgates. A wall that divides Nogales, 0:16:52.180 --> 0:16:55.580 Arizona from Nogales, Sonora has caused flooding for more than 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:58.720 a decade. In 2021, when sections of the wall were 0:16:58.740 --> 0:17:01.730 destroyed by monsoon rains in Arizona, they found out that 0:17:01.780 --> 0:17:04.949 ignoring best practices and laws doesn't really work and that 0:17:04.990 --> 0:17:07.200 you can waive a law But the state can't simply 0:17:07.260 --> 0:17:09.880 sign a document and make flood water any less powerful. 0:17:10.859 --> 0:17:13.260 The desert here floods fast. That's why you don't camp 0:17:13.300 --> 0:17:16.480 in these washes. They fill up quickly and the water 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:20.260 moves with tremendous force. Every year, somewhere in the southwest, 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:22.899 hikers will get stranded or killed by the power of 0:17:22.940 --> 0:17:25.870 the water flowing through the desert. But now these roads 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:28.490 will change how that water flows. And before the road 0:17:28.530 --> 0:17:31.730 gets washed away, they'll create deep eddies that will churn 0:17:31.770 --> 0:17:34.649 up the canyon floor. churning through all the pot shards 0:17:34.690 --> 0:17:37.430 we were so careful not to touch or disturb, moving 0:17:37.470 --> 0:17:39.770 them around and breaking them up and taking them from 0:17:39.810 --> 0:17:43.630 where they may have been for centuries. This stuff is 0:17:46.020 --> 0:17:48.900 incredible that people have been walking by foot along this 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:54.219 path for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. And 0:17:54.260 --> 0:17:59.880 now there's a road 150 metres away. Incredible to pull 0:17:59.900 --> 0:18:05.109 those away through here. Holy shit. Take a moment to 0:18:05.130 --> 0:18:06.850 just enjoy being in their presence, I think. 0:18:06.869 --> 0:18:21.800 Oh my god, I cannot believe the road is right 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:22.859 fucking here. 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:32.520 It's wild, isn't it? We are now 150 yards from 0:18:32.540 --> 0:18:35.060 a dirt road, I would say. You know, this place 0:18:35.100 --> 0:18:42.090 has been this place since before Cortez, before Columbus, before, 0:18:43.490 --> 0:18:49.510 you know, Washington and through the secure fence and through 0:18:49.550 --> 0:18:52.129 the Operation Gatekeeper and through the first Trump admin. And 0:18:53.330 --> 0:18:56.080 now there's a road here and it'll never go away. 0:18:56.880 --> 0:18:59.800 That piece of desert will never go back. Any human 0:18:59.859 --> 0:19:05.119 remains or Kumeyaay belongings that were there And gone now, forever. 0:19:07.420 --> 0:19:10.619 I know, it kind of... It's very sad to reflect on. 0:19:32.950 --> 0:19:34.650 In this place where life has fought for so long 0:19:34.670 --> 0:19:39.240 to survive, the state is spending millions to make survival impossible. 0:19:40.060 --> 0:19:43.140 And in California, especially in California, that moment is being 0:19:43.180 --> 0:19:47.230 met with a profound and remarkable cowardice by our politicians. 0:19:48.070 --> 0:19:49.080 I think right now, one. 0:19:50.820 --> 0:19:56.340 We've been seeing is a complete lack of politicians speaking 0:19:56.520 --> 0:19:59.980 to this issue, especially in California. There's been a lot 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:04.460 of silence and reluctance to engage on this, although I 0:20:04.580 --> 0:20:07.580 will point to and show the good example of Texas politics. 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:10.300 Where their politicians. 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:13.639 At local and county and, you know, even state and 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:18.580 federal levels are engaging and saying that they don't think 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:23.280 this is the right way to approach border security. I'm 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:28.119 just impressed and grateful that those political entities are speaking 0:20:28.220 --> 0:20:30.920 up because we're not seeing that in California. And so 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:35.010 I encourage everyone to call up at varying levels, you know, 0:20:35.050 --> 0:20:38.760 your representatives and say that you want them to Like, 0:20:38.800 --> 0:20:39.740 speak to this issue. 0:20:42.940 --> 0:20:45.360 Republicans in Big Bend and ecological groups up and down 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:48.060 the border have made statements about the ecological impact of 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:51.530 what's going on. But too many of our California politicians 0:20:51.590 --> 0:20:54.409 remained silent. The only comment I got on the topic 0:20:54.450 --> 0:20:58.690 was from the CDFW, where communications manager Steve Gonzalez said, quote, 0:20:59.109 --> 0:21:02.230 CDFW has been clear with the federal government that border 0:21:02.250 --> 0:21:06.090 wall construction poses serious risks to protected wildlife, including bighorn sheep. 0:21:06.740 --> 0:21:11.760 this is another tragic reminder of those concerns. Of course, 0:21:12.300 --> 0:21:14.540 there's money to be made destroying what should be preserved 0:21:14.580 --> 0:21:17.060 for all of us. Just like the hide hunters who 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:19.580 killed the buffalo to sell their robes, or the fur 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:22.320 traders who pursued the wolf to near extinction in much 0:21:22.380 --> 0:21:24.940 of the West. Some people today are choosing to line 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:27.560 their pockets at the expense of all our future. The 0:21:27.580 --> 0:21:30.260 wall in Okumba is being built by Fisher Sand and Gravel, 0:21:30.700 --> 0:21:33.380 the same company that built the crowdfunded wall in Texas, 0:21:33.580 --> 0:21:35.939 which is in imminent danger of collapsing into the Rio Grande. 0:21:36.630 --> 0:21:40.510 The same company whose founder, Tommy Fisher, pitched his wall 0:21:40.550 --> 0:21:44.109 proposal directly to the president using the most direct method. 0:21:44.670 --> 0:21:45.410 Going on Fox News. 0:21:45.869 --> 0:21:48.450 Tommy Fisher is the president and CEO of the Fisher 0:21:48.490 --> 0:21:51.820 Sand and Gravel Company. He submitted a proposal to build 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:54.360 a portion of the wall. He joins us live to explain. 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:57.260 Thank you for your time this morning. One can assume 0:21:57.320 --> 0:21:59.240 if you want to get involved in this, you back 0:21:59.280 --> 0:22:01.100 the president and what he's trying to do. 0:22:01.380 --> 0:22:04.610 Is that the case and why? That is. 0:22:05.020 --> 0:22:07.010 Anyone who's been to the border knows that there's a 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:10.139 crisis on both sides. And we possess the technology and 0:22:10.160 --> 0:22:13.620 the vertical integration to get this done. So when Homeland 0:22:13.640 --> 0:22:19.160 Security requested from the DOD another 218 miles of strategically 0:22:19.220 --> 0:22:21.540 placed fence, we wanted to. 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:22.619 Rise to the occasion. 0:22:22.700 --> 0:22:25.720 So we basically put a price to not only build 0:22:25.740 --> 0:22:28.740 the fence, but the roads and the technology and get 0:22:28.790 --> 0:22:30.629 it done so they know exactly what it's going to 0:22:30.670 --> 0:22:32.770 cost and how long it will take. And we can 0:22:32.790 --> 0:22:33.510 do that under a year. 0:22:36.270 --> 0:22:37.590 It will shock you to hear that he did not 0:22:37.730 --> 0:22:40.290 accurately estimate the cost and that the Hukumba contract is 0:22:40.350 --> 0:22:43.850 ballooning to more than twice the initial budget estimate. The 0:22:43.890 --> 0:22:48.020 initial project was budgeted at $ 574 million. Today, the contract 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:52.119 sits at $ 1. 2 billion. It has also ballooned in scope, 0:22:52.480 --> 0:22:56.119 with a secondary barrier now being added. This isn't Fisher's 0:22:56.180 --> 0:22:59.310 first rodeo is causing flooding. In fact, they were sued 0:22:59.369 --> 0:23:01.290 by the last Trump administration for building a wall that 0:23:01.310 --> 0:23:06.179 would cause flooding in Texas. How about that wire that 0:23:06.220 --> 0:23:10.060 killed the ram? There are packing receipts left out in 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:14.020 the desert for Allied Tube and Conduit. They make the wire. 0:23:14.940 --> 0:23:18.040 The parent company actually got a sustainability award last year, 0:23:18.060 --> 0:23:20.480 which I think is a very nice encapsulation of exactly 0:23:20.520 --> 0:23:24.410 what greenwashing looks like. That parent company is called Atcore International. 0:23:25.050 --> 0:23:27.629 Government contract data show they've made tens of millions of 0:23:27.670 --> 0:23:31.330 dollars since 2025. And FEC data shows their CEO making 0:23:31.350 --> 0:23:35.109 some donations to Republicans. Not massive ones, I noticed one 0:23:35.130 --> 0:23:36.470 of them was to one of the sponsors of the 0:23:36.490 --> 0:23:40.629 entirely inappropriately named Dignidad Act, which pretends to be immigration reform, 0:23:40.869 --> 0:23:43.800 but aims to create a migrant underclass with no path 0:23:44.080 --> 0:23:47.840 to equality. The company was sued last year for securities fraud, 0:23:48.380 --> 0:23:50.740 and settled this year in a class action, alleging the 0:23:50.780 --> 0:23:54.340 fixing of prices for PVC pipes. This rogue gallery of 0:23:54.420 --> 0:23:57.239 contractors and massive scale of destruction can be stopped by 0:23:57.340 --> 0:24:00.160 one thing though. The only thing the government respects out here. 0:24:00.850 --> 0:24:06.240 Private property. Look at my map as we tried through 0:24:06.260 --> 0:24:09.580 those canyons. I noticed something odd on the land ownership filter, 0:24:09.619 --> 0:24:12.520 which I must have accidentally left on. Everything else out 0:24:12.540 --> 0:24:15.379 here is coloured yellow, for wilderness. But I noticed some 0:24:15.420 --> 0:24:18.639 boundary lines. It turns out that several plots of private 0:24:18.660 --> 0:24:21.030 land sit in the middle of the wilderness. They were 0:24:21.070 --> 0:24:24.810 never incorporated in 1994, when this particular wilderness was created 0:24:24.850 --> 0:24:27.790 by an act of Congress. The wall construction I could 0:24:27.830 --> 0:24:30.429 see seemed very close to, if not on, some of 0:24:30.470 --> 0:24:33.490 that land on satellite images. so I called the listed 0:24:33.510 --> 0:24:36.369 landowners to see if they were aware. They never got 0:24:36.390 --> 0:24:39.490 back to me. But since then, the CVP smart wall 0:24:39.510 --> 0:24:43.070