Melissa Sevigny

Flagstaff

Science and Technology Reporter at KNAU-FM (Flagstaff, AZ)

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Articles

Flagstaff author goes on a quest for Costa Rica’s missing golden toad

1 week ago | knau.org | Melissa Sevigny

A childhood story about the disappearance of a Costa Rican toad sent Trevor Ritland on a quest. The Flagstaff writer and documentary filmmaker tells the story in his new book, The Golden Toad: An Ecological Mystery and the Search for a Lost Species. He'll celebrate his book launch at Bright Side Bookshop tonight at 6pm. Tell me when you first heard about the golden toad. I first heard about the golden toad in a story from my dad when I was like five or six years old. He was a biology teacher.
Arizona’s Meteor Crater is first stop on the way to the moon

1 week ago | knau.org | Melissa Sevigny

The desert rises to what seems like an ordinary hill, until you hike to the edge and see the mile-wide hole in the ground. Two Canadian geologists, Sharini Kanni Suresh Babu and Ashka Thaker, stand on the crater’s edge. "We are looking at a lot of white stones which are shocked Kaibab," Kanni Suresh Babu explains.
AI-powered cameras assist in wildfire detection

2 weeks ago | knau.org | Melissa Sevigny

Local agencies now have a new tool to speed up wildfire response… AI-powered cameras. Arizona Public Service plans to install 30 of them by the end of the month. In the forest west of Flagstaff, wildfire mitigation supervisor Brian Kelley offers real-time look at how the technology works. You’re expanding your camera network with this new kind of camera that uses artificial intelligence. Tell me how those ones work.
Federal officials complete slough work on Colorado River

3 weeks ago | knau.org | Melissa Sevigny

Federal agencies have finished digging out a side channel below Glen Canyon Dam that's been a breeding ground for nonnative fish. The -12 mile slough is a shallow, mostly disconnected part of the Colorado River in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Since March officials with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and National Park Service have worked to reconnect it to the main channel to bring in colder, faster, water. That should discourage nonnative species from breeding there.
Construction begins on wildlife overpass south of Flagstaff

1 month ago | knau.org | Melissa Sevigny

Work has begun on a long-awaited wildlife overpass on Interstate 17 south of Flagstaff. It’s the first of three intended for the area, which wildlife biologists say will dramatically reduce car crashes with elk and other animals. KNAU's Melissa Sevigny spoke with Jeff Gagnon of the Arizona Game and Fish Department at the construction site. KNAU: "Tell me where we’re standing right now and what we’re looking at.
Scientists worry over fate of U.S. climate change research

1 month ago | knau.org | Melissa Sevigny

The Trump Administration cut funding and dismissed staff at the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which releases a Congressionally-mandated assessment of climate change every few years. It’s unclear if the program will be revived in the summer legislative budget. Northern Arizona University climate scientist Ted Schuur spoke about the loss of American expertise. What effect will that have on the science of climate change research?
New book describes ‘epic’ trek down Grand Canyon's length

1 month ago | knau.org | Melissa Sevigny

Dr. Tom Myers has worked as a physician on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon since 1990, and he knows all the ways people can get into trouble on a difficult hike. In fact. he co-authored the book Death in Grand Canyon. But that didn’t stop him from completing an epic journey on foot down the canyon’s entire length. His new book is The Grandest Trek. So you and your son went on this adventure kind of in segments over the course of… how long did it take you?
Earth Notes: Suckley’s Cuckoo Bumble Bee

1 month ago | knau.org | Melissa Sevigny

The Suckley’s cuckoo bumble bee has a unique life cycle. Like cuckoo birds, they lay their eggs in the nests of other species instead of rearing their own young. True bumblebees live in colonies with workers and queens. But cuckoo bumble bees have a different strategy for survival. Males die after mating and females hibernate all winter in logs, stumps or holes in the ground. They emerge later in the spring than other bees, find a hive, kill the queen and take over the workers.
Colorado River gets scanty runoff from winter’s snow

1 month ago | knau.org | Melissa Sevigny

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation says it’s likely Arizona will continue to take cuts in its Colorado River supply next year. The region’s historic drought shows no signs of easing. The federal agency’s annual spring projections come from the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center. Snowpack levels measured by the Center were just below normal, but scientists say warm temperatures led to early melt and increased evaporation. Extra-dry soils also sopped up the water before it reached the river.
Flagstaff activists and community leaders speak out against Trump’s environmental harms

1 month ago | knau.org | Melissa Sevigny

Flagstaff community leaders and environmental activists spoke Wednesday at a press conference about the Trump administration’s first 100 days. They say it’s left Arizonans “dangerously vulnerable” to wildfires and other effects of climate change. Flagstaff Major Becky Daggett denounced mass federal layoffs and funding cuts. She estimates the Coconino National Forest has lost 15 to 20 percent of its staff to resignations.