Environment

We Paved Cicada Paradise

How construction and development makes life difficult for cicada broods.
Mark Byrnes

Seventeen years is a long time in the development cycle of a city. In 17 years, neighborhoods turn over, highways grow wider, and new high-rises nudge from conception to construction to capacity. In 17 years, whole housing markets boom and bust as built-from-scratch communities curl out farther into the countryside. In 17 years, a forest easily becomes a subdivision, a meadow a new mall.

Now imagine you're a cicada.