Melissa Sevigny
Melissa grew up in Tucson, Arizona, where she fell in love with the ecology and geology of the Sonoran desert. She has a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Arizona and an M.FA. in Creative Writing and Environment from Iowa State University. Her first book, Mythical River, forthcoming from the University of Iowa Press, is about water issues in the Southwest. She has worked as a science communicator for NASA’s Phoenix Mars Scout Mission, the Water Resources Research Center, and the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Melissa relocated to Flagstaff in 2015 to join KNAU’s team. She enjoys hiking, fishing and reading fantasy novels.
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A Navajo woman who found success in Silicon Valley returned home to start a new business incubator on her reservation.
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Your whole idea of the Triassic period is about to be disrupted. Paleontologists are shifting their focus from dinosaurs to fossils so small they have to be reassembled under microscopes.
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A century-old gas station on Route 66 in Arizona was once the heart of the Hualapai Nation. The building is crumbling, but the tribe has plans to breathe new life into the landmark.
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Kids at a Flagstaff, Arizona, elementary school have been through a lot since 2019: the pandemic, and then wildfires and a big flood. Teachers are using horticulture therapy to teach them resilience.
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When a massive coal mine closed in 2019, thousands of Hopi people lost access to free coal to heat their homes. Grassroots efforts to replace coal with firewood have sprung up and are winning funding.
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As NASA prepares to return humans to the moon in 2025, it is testing a rover and other gear on a piece of land in Arizona where astronauts and engineers tried out Apollo mission gear 60 years ago.
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For a decade, artificial floods in the Grand Canyon have helped restore habitat for endangered fish, but the drought has put a stop to those. Ecologists and recreationists are worried.
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As Emory oak trees in parts of Arizona disappear, members of several Apache tribes are working on a collaborative plan with the U.S. Forest Service and researchers to preserve them.
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As Emory oak trees in parts of Arizona disappear, members of several Apache tribes are working on a collaborative plan with the U.S. Forest Service and researchers to preserve them.
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When the dam that created a major American reservoir was built decades ago, Native American cliff dwellings and artifacts were submerged. Now, they're emerging as drought lowers water levels.