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You may as well collect! The upcoming dry summer months are probably the last thing on your mind during heavy late winter and spring rains. At this time of year, it may seem like it will never dry out, but it’s important to remember that a hot summer is just around the corner. So why not collect that [...]

The five Great Lakes provide us with some of the finest drinking water found anywhere. Drinking water quality was measured in the Great Lakes region, scoring the water on 10 different health-related measurements. The Great Lakes were found to have “some of the finest drinking water sources found anywhere in the world,” according to State [...]

A “snag” is a standing dead tree. If it does not have the potential to fall on any buildings, a snag can be a good thing to have. And, the removal of any tree can be very expensive. Snags make excellent habitats for owls, bats, insects and other fascinating creatures. All the residents of your [...]

Grasshoppers are an all-too-common invader of gardens across the country. They’re difficult to control because they are highly mobile and can do large amounts of damage in a very short period of time. You might think grasshoppers are just a summer problem, but there’s plenty you can do this spring to gauge what this year’s [...]

March 7-14 is California Arbor Week! Trees add beauty to our landscape and they also provide many other benefits:

Just one acre of forest puts out about four tons of oxygen – enough for four people for an entire year.
Adding trees around your home can increase its value by up to 15 percent.
One young, healthy tree [...]

Many homes and buildings are adjacent to woodlands and parks, which provide beautiful views and peaceful settings.  But wildfire risk can be especially high in this “wildland-urban interface,” where the built environment blends with natural landscapes.
Viewer Tip: You can protect your home from wildfire by reducing the amount of flammable material between your home and a natural area. An easy way [...]

Winter strips everything down to the bare essentials and often adds a coat of white in the process. Most people plan their gardens with shapes that are full of color, striving to maximize excitement during the spring and summer months. New England winters are quite long, often providing cold temperatures for five to six months of the [...]

With half of the world’s population now living in cities, many urban dwellers have never experienced the wonderment of pristinely dark skies and maybe never will. This loss, caused by light pollution, is a concern on many fronts: safety, energy conservation and effects on wildlife, as well as our ability to view the stars. Some [...]

February 21-27 is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Oklahoma.  This is a great time to make sure you and your family are prepared for the kinds of severe weather experienced in Oklahoma, including tornadoes, flash floods and thunderstorms.
Viewer Tip: Consider building or updating your family emergency preparedness kit this week.  Having supplies set aside will help ensure you and [...]

February 21-27 is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Louisiana.  This is a great time to make sure you and your family are prepared for the kinds of severe weather experienced in Louisiana, including flash floods, thunderstorms, tornadoes and hurricanes.
Viewer Tip: Consider building or updating your family emergency preparedness kit this week.  Having supplies set aside will help ensure you [...]

February 22-26 is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Arkansas.  This is a great time to make sure you and your family are prepared for the kinds of severe weather experienced in Arkansas, including flash floods, thunderstorms and tornadoes.
Viewer Tip: Consider building or updating your family emergency preparedness kit this week.  Having supplies set aside will [...]

February 22-26 is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Arizona.  This is a great time to make sure you and your family are prepared for the kinds of severe weather experienced in Arizona, including flash floods, thunderstorms and damaging winds.
Viewer Tip: Consider building or updating your family emergency preparedness kit this week.  Having supplies set aside [...]

February 22-26 is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Alabama.  This is a great time to make sure you and your family are prepared for the kinds of severe weather experienced in Alabama, including flash floods, thunderstorms, tornadoes and hurricanes.
Viewer Tip: Consider building or updating your family emergency preparedness kit this week.  Having supplies set aside [...]

February 21-27 is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Texas.  This is a great time to make sure you and your family are prepared for the kinds of severe weather experienced in Texas, including flash floods, thunderstorms, tornadoes and hurricanes.
Viewer Tip: Consider building or updating your family emergency preparedness kit this week.  Having supplies set aside will help ensure you [...]

Our forests are finely attuned to seasonal changes in weather. Cold damage, like fire damage, is a natural disturbance that strongly affects ecosystems. Ice storms may break the branches of trees or cause them to fall completely. Winter rains soften the ground so that tree roots loosen their grip, ice weighs heavily upon their upper [...]

The Great Lakes account for nine-tenths of North America’s surface freshwater, but less than one percent of their water is renewed each year by snow and rain. It would take 100 years for nature to replace even one gallon of water lost from the lakes. This slow recharge rate means we must take care to [...]

Winter storm season results in changes along Puget Sound beaches. While every beach is different, in the winter many beaches are covered in gravel or larger sized rocks called “cobbles.”  It usually takes the force of a winter storm to move rocks around and most importantly, to wash lighter–weight sand offshore, leaving a smaller, rockier beach.  These [...]

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Mid-winter is the perfect time to put out a birdhouse. Even though there is still snow on the ground in many places and many bird species are still far to the south, it’s not too early. Chickadees, bluebirds, screech owls and woodpeckers are among the bird species that will [...]

In terms of area, property damage and deaths, eight of the most significant floods in the 20th century were snowmelt-related. Several factors contribute to snowmelt flooding:

High soil moisture content: Soil that is saturated with water in late fall may not have time to drain and dry out before it freezes, resulting in deep ground frost [...]

The U.S. EPA recently released the National Lakes Assessment (NLA) – the first ever baseline study of the condition of U.S. lakes, ponds and reservoirs. EPA surveyed more than 1,000 water bodies for water quality indicators like dissolved oxygen, algae, toxins and pathogens, and shoreline conditions. In the Southern Plains region of the U.S., EPA [...]