The Keystone XL pipeline, a project meant to deliver Canadian oil to points across the U.S., has been the subject of controversy since it was commissioned in 2010. Activists have fought its construction across the country—but one man, named David Daniel, whose property was seized to make way for the pipeline, has led a particularly daring and creative resistance. Above, meet Daniel and the Tar Sands Blockade, a group of neighbors and activists who challenged Keystone XL using ropes, cables, and a makeshift village strung between the trees.

To learn more about David Daniel and the struggle over Keystone XL, read “Pipeline Fighters,” a photo essay by writer Bonnie Nadzam and photographer John Fiege, in the January/February 2016 issue of Orion.