earth notes

Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe. But here on Earth it’s in much shorter supply. As demand has increased, companies have aggressively ramped up helium exploration in the U.S.—including northern Arizona.

In recent decades northern leopard frogs have become refugees in their own land.

The Triassic period was a time of giants on Earth: lumbering reptiles with armored plates, and fifteen-foot-long crocodiles. The fossils of these extinct beasts are preserved in the rainbow-colored rocks of the Petrified Forest National Park in northern Arizona. But the same rocks hold the secrets of tiny creatures too.

Studies show that kids who garden perform better in science, eat healthier and develop a strong sense of social and emotional well-being. But the harvests of school gardens often can’t be served in the cafeteria because of health codes. A Farm-to-School initiative in Arizona aims to change that by allowing harvests from school gardens and locally grown foods to be used in campus meal programs.

Millions of birds are killed every year by electrical power lines—especially in the wide-open country of the Colorado Plateau where power lines and poles are often all that’s available for birds to nest and roost on.