Representative image of the San Rafael Valley. (Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons)
A 200-year-old cottonwood tree in Lochiel, Arizona, was cut down on 5 October 2026 after protesters occupied its branches for more than 70 days. More than 80 federal agents arrived at the private land that morning and removed the last person occupying the tree and prevented demonstrators from reaching it, according to The Guardian . Prior to the destruction, another ancient cottonwood in the area was felled on 27 July earlier this year.
The tree was locally known as the “grandmother” and became the focal point of protest against a project slated to run two 30-foot-high parallel walls through San Rafael Valley. Afterwards, she was held in custody, according to information submitted by the authorities to her lawyers. Speaking on the experience, Butterfly Hill told the Guardian, “She’s a hero of the highest order.”
An excavator was used by contractors from Fisher Sand & Gravel to push the cottonwood to the ground. Participants had taken turns occupying a platform high in the tree, while supporters gathered and prayed near the construction site. Even after the grandmother tree fell, the protest continued, driven by the efforts of demonstrators trying to delay the construction along the border. The demonstration gained support from environmentalist Julia Butterfly Hill, who spent two years in the late 1990s in a California redwood, and condemned the act as horrifying.
