California prepares for the next burn
It’s on its way again . . . always. In a fire-prone region, can better mapping tools help municipal officials and firefighters better plan how to avoid or fight wildfires? Probably—but some homeowners aren’t happy to be told they live in harm’s way. My research for this High Country News story was supported by a [...]
Listen to Earth Notes
Since 2001, Earth Notes has presented stories of people and place each week to public radio listeners in northern Arizona and New Mexico. Each week’s show is less than two minutes long, but it’s a capsule view of something that makes the Colorado Plateau region such a great place to live. You can listen to [...]
Listen to “Transmutations,” an essay from Orion
It begins with a plaintive, minor-key whistle in the distance as a freight works its way up the side of the mesa toward our house.
Flight Plan
A new article in Audubon shows how scientists are trying to understand one of nature’s most amazing spectacles: how birds flock. With photography by Richard Barnes. Read the story here.
Nature’s Restoration
On a deserted Bermudan island, a man spends forty years single-handedly restoring the nesting habitat of a rare seabird. In Chicago and its suburbs, legions of volunteers replant prairies in the shadow of freeways. In America’s Southwest, entrepreneurs work to make pine forest restoration pay for itself; in Virginia, a farmer tries to bring back [...]
The Suburban Wild
Set in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago, amid traffic, pollution, and ever-spreading neighborhoods, these meditative personal essays explore the importance of our connection with the natural world, history, and memory. From the humming of cicadas on summer evenings and the seasonal migrations of ducks to the myriad hues in a green heron’s feathers, The [...]
Earth Notes: Exploring the Southwest’s Canyon Country from the Airwaves
Edited by Peter Friederici A collection, published by the Grand Canyon Association, of greatest hits from KNAU’s Earth Notes show. Beautifully illustrated by Diane Iverson, and with contributions by eleven different writers. This slim volume is perfectly designed to fit into a daypack! Order it here.
A New Plateau
Edited by Peter Friederici and Rose Houk A collaboration between Renewing the Countryside and Northern Arizona University’s Center for Sustainable Environments, this beautifully illustrated book showcases the work dozens of sustainability pioneers are doing on the Colorado Plateau. They’re growing heirloom vegetables, building energy-efficient homes, working in the woods—pointing the way toward a future that [...]
Ecological Restoration of Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests
Edited by Peter Friederici “The big green book,” as it’s become known to foresters, is a compendium of what’s known on one of the frontiers of ecological restoration. Not light reading, but necessary for those who seek to restore to health some of the millions of acres of ponderosa pine forests that cloak the southwestern [...]
National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Southwestern States
By Peter Alden and Peter Friederici Perfectly sized to fit into a daypack or jacket pocket, this lavishly illustrated guide to southwestern animals, plants, places, and more is perfect for residents and visitors alike. It’s the perfect generalist’s guide to my favorite region. Read more about it here.
