earth notes

Excessive road noise is a scourge of modern life. Barrier walls along busy highways don’t always reduce the ruckus because sound waves can jump the walls—especially on windy days.

For some, autumn means celebrating by raising a glass of a crisp lager or October ale. But the Nature Conservancy wants patrons of local breweries to know you can’t have beer without a healthy forest.

The Mormon Lake Guard Station was the first ranger station on the Coconino National Forest in northern Arizona. It was built in 1908 and saw a variety of uses through the 20th century, but had fallen into disrepair. Recently though, volunteers gave the historic structure a facelift.

In hot dry climates, urban trees can reduce the intensity of sunlight, block infrared heat exchange—and act as natural evaporative coolers.  Having shade trees to the center or east of a building’s southern façade can cool it by several degrees.

In 2001, Flagstaff became the epicenter of a rabies outbreak among skunks and gray foxes. State health officials reported rabies undetected in wildlife in northern Arizona before that time.  Since then, additional rabies outbreaks have occurred in the Flagstaff area every few years.