A few months ago, producer Marina Henke saw two skunks sprint under her porch. Since then, she can’t stop wondering what’s really going on beneath her feet.

And as it turns out, she’s not the only one. Every day across the country, homeowners are waging wars with the animals who stake out our porches, decks and crawl spaces. Have we as humans inadvertently designed luxury apartments for “unwelcome” wildlife? And is that necessarily a bad thing?

In a new edition of our (long-retired!) 10x10 series we’re going under the porch. So, grab your headlamps, put on a different pair of pants and watch out for skunks.

Featuring Christopher Schell, Kieran Lindsey, Josh Sparks and Maynard Stanley.

LINKS

Want more 10x10s? We’ve got ‘em! Listen here for traffic circles, gutters, sand beaches, kettle bogs and vernal pools.

You can read more about the “biological deserts fallacy” here.

The Schell Lab at UC Berkeley is up to all kinds of urban ecology research.

CREDITS

Host: Nate Hegyi

Reported, produced and mixed by Marina Henke

Editing by Taylor Quimby

Our staff includes Justine Paradis, Felix Poon and Kate Dario

Executive producer: Taylor Quimby

Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio

Music by Blue Dot Sessions, El Flaco Collective and Spring Gang

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

We want to hear from you! Hate what’s under your porch? Love what’s under your porch? You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).