Russ McSpadden
Desert rambler, writer, activist in the Arizona/Mexico borderlands @ Center for Biological Diversity
- Hope you can make it to the launch of Borderlings, my new book of poetry, this Saturday, Oct. 18, 6:30-8. Reading at 7. Signed copies available at event. If not, you can order a copy through ArtSpeak Press here: www.artspeakpress.com/shop/p/borde...
- The San Xavier District of the Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona has passed one of the most moving and powerful resolutions memorializing the role of the jaguar as a protector of the O’odham with deep cultural and spiritual ties. The resolution also calls on U.S. Fish and Wildlife to…”
- “…protect jaguar habitat, safeguard connectivity from border walls and reintroduce jaguars to their native range in the U.S. Southwest.”
- “…this resolution condemns the destruction, damage, and disruption of the natural habitat of jaguars on Tribal and federal lands that are aboriginal homelands of the O’odham; and contends that the…”
- “…destruction of jaguar habitats amounts to a violation of the Constitutionally guaranteed First Amendment religious liberties of the Tohono O’odham communities.”
- Reposted by Russ McSpaddenThis interview with my dear colleague Russ McSpadden is a phenomenal roundup of our work to stop Trump's absurd and irreversibly destructive push to wall off Arizona's San Rafael Valley. And if you're not already following @peccarynotpig.bsky.social, you should!
- Biodiversity Battle in the Borderlands: I recently spoke with Russ McSpadden @peccarynotpig.bsky.social from @biologicaldiversity.org. Hear stories about Jaguars, Ocelots, Bears, a huge number of bird species, and what you can do to help protect them. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ech...
- Chasing a rainbow over the northernmost occupied jaguar habitat on the planet. Gotta love Arizona.
- Excited to share this! Join us to celebrate the release of BORDERLINGS, the debut book of poems from environmental activist RUSS MCSPADDEN, Saturday October 18, 2025, 6:30pm doors, 7pm reading and book signing. Free & all-ages. Che's Lounge, 350 N. 4th Ave, Tucson Published by Artspeak Press.
- Reposted by Russ McSpaddenBiodiversity Battle in the Borderlands: I recently spoke with Russ McSpadden @peccarynotpig.bsky.social from @biologicaldiversity.org. Hear stories about Jaguars, Ocelots, Bears, a huge number of bird species, and what you can do to help protect them. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ech...
- BREAKING: The first segments of border wall have gone up in the San Rafael Valley, south of Tucson, Ariz. Construction crews have drilled at least two wells and have turned the area, a corridor for jaguars, pronghorn, bears, mountain lions, ocelots, porcupines, into an devastating industrial site.
- Reposted by Russ McSpaddenThere is still time. Will you help me - no matter what state - save all of THIS from foreign copper mining? Pls RT. By Aug. 27, send a quick email to BLM's AZ state & local office (tips and suggestions here: tinyurl.com/3ene6wa6).
- Trump smearing us as ‘anti-American’. If Oak Flat is mined, the winners won't be Americans, and definitely not Native Americans, whose sacred site will be destroyed but two foreign mining giants, BHP (Australia) and Rio Tinto (UK) whose largest shareholder is a Chinese state-owned company.
- Reposted by Russ McSpadden
- BREAKING: A US judge just denied our request for an injunction to the land transfer of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper. Oak Flat, a sacred site of the Apache and part of the Tonto National Forest, is scheduled to be privatized on Tuesday. With the clock ticking, we have appealed to the 9th Circuit.
- Read more here: biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press...
- The Forest Service intends to convey Oak Flat, an Apache sacred site, to Resolution Copper on August 19. @biologicaldiversity.org, conservation allies & San Carlos Apache Tribe will be in fed court August 6 to argue for a halt to the Oak Flat Land Exchange until our lawsuits are resolved.
- Tribal leaders and environmentalists are asking the Bureau of Land Management to reverse course on a southern Arizona mining project it green-lit at the end of June.
- “They…substituted corporate engagement for formal government-to-government consultation,” McSpadden said. “This…Project is a test case for whether BLM…has learned from SunZia or whether it will continue to fast track industry at the expense of tribes, ecosystems and public trust.”
- Reposted by Russ McSpaddenThen, read the full report by Center staff @peccarynotpig.bsky.social and @laikenjordahl.bsky.social to learn more. This report documents the San Rafael Valley’s biodiversity, the species it sustains, and its indispensable role in the survival of endangered wildlife. ➡️ biodiv.us/4l1iGfb
- Reposted by Russ McSpaddenA recent Center report found that a new border barrier, in a remote part of Arizona, would threaten one of the most important remaining animal migration routes on the state’s southern border. Check out the @nytimes.com feature about it. ⬇️
- Great coverage by @dmain.bsky.social for the New York Times on how new border wall construction could destroy one of the last, best wildlife corridors for jaguars, ocelots, bears and puma in the U.S., and @biologicaldiversity.org ‘s lawsuit to halt it.
- Fourth lawsuit launched to challenge the land transfer of Apache sacred site to Resolution Copper.
- Reposted by Russ McSpaddenIt's #TeamJavelina time... two sets of lil' reds in this squadron... One pair born three weeks ago, the smaller pair is kitten-sized ‼️ and recently born. Look at the umbilical cords and 🔊 up for lip-smacking and grunts! #cameratrap
- Reposted by Russ McSpaddenWe just sued the Trump administration for waiving dozens of environmental laws to speed border wall construction through the San Rafael Valley in Arizona’s Sky Island region. More info: biodiv.us/462nspc
- BREAKING: The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump Admin today for unconstitutionally waiving dozens of enviro laws to speed border wall construction across San Rafael Valley in AZ’s Sky Island region, a biodiversity hotspot w/the most significant jaguar corridor remaining along border.
- Reposted by Russ McSpaddenCheck out our new report by Center staff @peccarynotpig.bsky.social and @laikenjordahl.bsky.social that exposes how plans for new border wall construction in southeast Arizona pose dire threats to one of the last remaining jaguar corridors between the U.S. and Mexico. ➡️ biodiv.us/4nCzRX3
- New @biologicaldiversity.org report by my colleague @laikenjordahl.bsky.social and I on the impending border wall construction across a jaguar corridor linking Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. The jaguars El Jefe, Yo’oko and O:shad have relied on this corridor. biologicaldiversity.org/species/mamm...
- U.S. Customs & Border Protection has waived environmental, public health & Native American cultural protection laws, & awarded a > quarter of a billion dollar contract to Fisher Sand & Gravel to construct 27 miles of new border wall across critical habitat in the jaguar’s northern range.
- Historically some 33 jaguar records exist in this corridor, including 3 jaguars since 2015: El Jefe, Yo’oko and O:shad.
- Pima County should divest from the economy of death, not woo it into our communities.
- Another missile monger coming to southern Arizona?
- We’re looking for a rad attorney for the Southwest Program at the Center for Biological Diversity. Love Southwest wildlife and wildlife? Take a look! biologicaldiversity.bamboohr.com/careers/121
- BREAKING: A federal judge just blocked the Trump admin’s push to fast-track the Oak Flat land swap—halting the giveaway of sacred Apache land + rare desert ecosystems to a foreign mining giant until SCOTUS rules.
- BREAKING: A federal judge just hit pause on the Oak Flat land exchange, blocking the Forest Service from advancing the project until the Supreme Court rules on the case. This protects a sacred site, rare desert ecosystems and public lands from being handed over to a foreign mining giant.
- Militarizing wild lands under the guise of national security will sacrifice ecosystems and wildlife to a manufactured emergency, turning public lands into designated war zones.
- In a political landscape divided by complacent Dems & fascistic Republicans, Congressman Raúl Grijalva stood as a steadfast champion for both people and the environment. We mourn the loss of a leader whose legacy will continue to inspire bold, progressive politics.
- Reposted by Russ McSpaddenNew: Responding to a public rulemaking petition, the AZ Game and Fish Dept. and Commission colluded with state legislators to sever the agency's own legal authority to limit dog pack hunting and, in turn, harassment of endangered jaguars and ocelots. biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press...
- Of course…
- Navajo Nation officials have contacted the governors of Arizona and New Mexico to address concerns about Navajo citizens being detained by ICE. www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...
- Trump Amin’s argument to suspend birthright citizenship questions Native Americans’ citizenship, citing 1866 Act:”all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the U.S.” www.msn.com/en-us/news/o...
- BREAKING: Lawsuit Forces Agencies to Halt Arizona Highway Plan Threatening Monuments, Endangered Species Interstate 11’s approval was based on a deeply flawed environmental analysis that the Federal Highway Administration now has a chance to fix. biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press...
- The top image shows California Gulch flowing into Sonora, Mex. This is one of the last homes for the endangered Sonoran chub, a fish clinging to survival. But in the fall of 2024, this sanctuary was obliterated. The bottom image shows the aftermath, a stark and lifeless reminder of what was lost.
- My religious beliefs in a nutshell…
- Interspecies drama from a New Mexico remote camera. An endangered Mexican gray wolf in the Gila returns to munch on a carcass and is blocked by a big ol' sleeping bear.
- Earlier this year a beautiful and rare wild ocelot appeared on one of my trail cameras in a Sky Island south of Tucson, Ariz. Take a look. This cat likely crossed the U.S-Mexico border west of Nogales sometime in early 2024 and has traveled great distances in the U.S.
- Border wall construction in southern Arizona's Pajarito Mts 4 years ago decimated the Mariposa Canyon watershed as well as jaguar & Mexican spotted owl critical habitat. The area remains in ruin today. Work crews continue to try to stabilize the site & the wall from collapse. The wall is useless.
- Breaking: @centerforbiodiv.bsky.social is calling on AZ Game & Fish Commission to ban dog pack hunting for mountain lions, bears, coati & other wildlife. Currently hunters use GPS-collared dogs to track wildlife for miles via smart phone apps & satellites, putting jaguars & ocelots at risk.
- Read more 👉🏼 biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press...
- Who is the greatest country musician of all time and why is it Sturgill Simpson?
- Reposted by Russ McSpaddenWhile the number of people crossing the border increased exponentially since Trump’s wall went up a new study reveals an 86% reduction in wildlife crossings. At well over $20 million dollars a mile, Trump’s wall is both a wastefully expensive tactical failure & an ecological disaster.
