Land Fill Reclamation

New Life awaits the peak of what was once a steaming, stinking, seagull-infested mountain of trash, a peak that is now green, or greenish, or maybe more like a green-hued brown, the tall grasses having been recently mown by the sanitation workers still operating at Fresh Kills, on the western shore of Staten Island. The sun dries the once slime-covered slopes, as a few hawks circle in big, slow swoops and a jet makes a lazy approach to Newark, just across the Arthur Kill. The sky, when viewed from atop a twenty-story heap of slowly decomposing garbage—the so-called South Mound, a Tribeca-size drumlin surrounded by other trash mounds, some as long as a mile—is the kind of big blue that you expect to see somewhere else, like the middle of Missouri. It’s a great wide-open bowl, fringed with green hills (some real, some garbage-filled) that are some of the highest points on the Atlantic seaboard south of Maine. Meanwhile, at your feet, hook-shaped white plastic tubes vent methane, the gas that builds up naturally in a landfill, a by-product of refuse being slowly digested by underground bacteria. The hissing of landfill gas is soft and gentle, like the sound of a far-off mountain stream or the stove left on in your apartment. The rest of the New York Times article can be found here:
http://nymag.com/news/features/52452/

Silphium is fantastic finch food and water source

Few forbes represent the Midwestern tall grass prairie as well as the plants of the genus Silphium. The compass plant, Silphium laciniatum, served as an orienteering device for early explorers: the tall, deeply cut leaves turn north and south based on the sun's direction in order to conserve water. The leaves of the plant are arranged in a perfoliate fashion, which means the leaves wrap around the entire stem, creating a small cup which captures the morning dew and rainfall. the morning dew collected is ofetn the only water source for birds and butterflies. Prairie dock, Silphium terebinthinaceum, towers several feet over the rest of the prairie when it blooms in the late summer. At an average height of 12 feet, Cup plant, Silphium perfoliatum, thrives in the dense, rich prairie.
Based on ethnobotanical history, modern researchers are investigating the medicinal properties of prairie plants. The sap from S. perfoliatum not only provides protection from HIV in infected cells, but is a known anti-cancer organic extract. The healing properties of the genus Echinacea are well known, as are the anti-cancer treatments afforded by the genus Ceonanthus.

Metamophosis cicada emerging

After 2, 13 or 17 years below the ground, in May or early June the mature nymphs bore to the surface, and sometimes even construct mud "chimneys" up to 3 inches tall. They climb onto nearby vegetation or any vertical surface. They then molt into winged adults. Their shredded outer skins or "exoskeletons" are frequently found attached to tree trunks and twigs. Their emergence is often tightly synchronized, with most nymphs appearing within a few nights.

The male's courtship songs attract females for mating. After mating, females use their saw-like ovipositors to split open the bark of hardwood trigs and insert eggs in two rows. They lay their eggs in twigs 1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter. One to several dozen eggs can be laid in one branch, with up to 500 eggs being laid by each female in about 50 sites. Cicada eggs remain in the twigs for 6 to 10 weeks before hatching. After the eggs hatch, the tiny ant-like first stage nymphs drop to the soil to borrow in 6 to 18 inches underground to feed for the next 2 or more years. (Periodical cicadas develop for a thirteen to seventeen years cycle). The nymphs feed on the roots of many kinds of trees.