The webinar was designed to fill in the knowledge gap for the Okanogan River Airshed Partners that resulted from the cancellation of the spring 2020 in-person meeting. We learned why predictions for this year’s smoke season are higher than average but will depend on less predictable weather patterns.  We also looked at tools that are available for making activity decisions for individuals and communities.  These resources can be found on the Washington State Department of Health smoke from wildfire toolkit page - Wildfire Smoke Toolkit

Presenters

Nic Loyd, Senior Smoke Management Specialist, with the Department of Ecology gathered all the latest wildfire and smoke prediction for this summer and talked about how that will affect our communities.

Kaitlyn Kelly, Air Quality and Harmful Algal Bloom Policy Specialist with the Department of Health

During wildfire smoke events, The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) provides health guidance to protect the public. Increases in the frequency and intensity have led to a greater need for statewide preparedness and guidance, communication and health messages. Kaitlyn talked about public health decision making during smoke events, best practices, and available guidance and resources.

Kris Ray, Air Quality Program Manager, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Facilitated the webinar and provided a brief introduction.

Co-sponsored by our partners at Washington State Ecology, Department of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency

What can our communities do to prepare for the upcoming smoke season?

The webinar was an on-line meeting to gain information about how to effectively engage with our community on what to do when there is a smoke event and how to minimize exposure. We welcomed all interested partners including decision and policy makers, government representatives, business owners, and citizens.   We discussed the effects of wildfire smoke on human health and the impact it has on the communities within the Colville Reservation and Okanogan River Airshed. 

Presentations:

Creating a Smoke Ready Community Introduction, Kris Ray, Air Quality Program Manager Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, PDF

What Does Smoke Ready Mean, Kris Ray, Air Quality Program Manager Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, PDF

Preparing for Wildfire Smoke, Air Quality Data Resources, Ranil Dhammapala, PhD Atmospheric Scientist, Air Quality Program, Washington Department of Ecology, PDF

Public Health Recommendations for Wildfire Smoke, Nancy P. Bernard, MPH, REHS, CPSI, Program Manager, School Environmental Health and Safety Indoor Air Quality, Washington State Department of Health, PDF

Smoke Ready, EPA Tools and Resources, Mike McGown, Smoke Management, EPA Region 10, Idaho Operations Office, PDF

The Complete Webinar Video

The webinar was hosted by the Okanogan River Airshed Partnership (ORAP) and the Air Quality Program of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. Made possible by our federal partners from EPA, FEMA and the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco as part of a climate resilience technical assistance pilot project

We met remotely over two days to update our partners and discuss future possibilities (Agenda)

April 13 Meeting Recording and April 14 Meeting Recording

The first day we received updates about ongoing projects that continued throughout last year.

The woodstove replacement program continued removing uncertified older stoves out of use by replacing them with certified cleaner burning units.  The replacements are done by the Air Quality Program of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and contractor Valley Lumber.  See the Woodstove Replacement Program presentation for more details (PDF) .

The Okanogan Conservation District continued to help the cities with cleanup days and chipping of branches.  People signup for the chipping event and piled their vegetation by the road. The chipping crew moved through the town taking care of the piles.  Chips are provided to the community at a designated location.  The program removed 159 tons for vegetation from the burn cycle thus lowering our exposure to smoke (PDF).

Who would have predicted that composting with worms, Vermiculture, would be so much fun. The Okanogan School garden, Bumblebee Haven, demonstrates that kids can work hard, learn, work together and enjoy themselves greatly. Looking at the pictures will bring you great joy.  Jim Anderson also brings an artistic touch to garden design that we all should experience (PDF).

To understand our exposure to smoke we should have an idea on what the monitoring data tells us. Ranil Dhammapala provides some unique analysis of data from the Omak monitor that showed we are exposed to smoke throughout the year (PDF).

The second day focused more on what possibilities lies with the partnership. We began by hearing what Clean Air Methow has been up to. Projects include: clean air ambassadors, woodstove replacements and chipping wood waste. Website - https://www.cleanairmethow.org/, Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/methowvalleycleanair/, Instagram -  https://www.instagram.com/cleanairmethow/.

In the next session we talked about research needs that would benefit the ORAP area. University of Washington researcher Nicole Errett discussed possible collaborations and working with partners in Okanogan County (PDF).  Previous partnerships included evaluating box fan/filter distribution, gathering smoke stories and effectiveness of risk communications. A great discussion ensued that highlighted the need to understand our communications strategy for smoke related outreach and education. The UW EDGE Center can also provide resources for research data gathering, evaluation of actions, and outreach and synthesis of existing information.

Kris Ray recapped the five webinars held in 2020 for ORAP (PDF).  These focused mainly on smoke readiness, presenting information on what the term means, strategies for mitigation and future actions.   During November 2020 three workshops were held to gain input form the community and decision makers on what we should do to become smoke ready.     

ORAP acknowledged the great effort the Public Works Departments of Okanogan and Omak put in each year to remove vegetative material from being burned.  The cities have collected over 308 tons of leaves and branches between 2017 and 2021 from 800 residents. All our partners are appreciative of this effort to make the communities better (PDF).

 At the end of each day we held an open discussion on any topic of interest or questions about the presentations.  As always these conversations provide ideas and inspiration to continue the work we are doing.  Below are resources referenced during these discussion and those added to the chat function of the meeting. 

Hannah Tomlinson: NRCS can cost share on orchard chipping debris. For more information on the cost share program pleases contact your local NRCS office: Okanogan Office: 1251 2nd Ave S #101, Okanogan, WA 98840, Phone: (509) 422-2750; Reservation Office - Colville Tribal Office,10 Nez Perce Rd, Nespelem, WA 99155, Phone:(509) 634-2316

Kimi Matsushima Ecology: Feel free to contact her for outreach inspiration at kmat461@ecy.wa.gov or 509-454-7898.

Kim Kogler Conservation District: Was thinking about spreading the word more and realizing that with all the various organizations that participate in ORAP, we may be able to share outreach efforts. For instance, Okanogan CD manages a Facebook and Instagram accounts where we share information about our air quality programs and the gardens. ORAP could share those posts fairly easily and not have to take time to rewrite outreach material. That could be done with each organization's posts. It could be that ORAP monitors those posts, or that each organization can send something to ORAP FB managers and say, "I just posted something related to ORAP, if you would like to share"

Kimi Matsushima Ecology: That's a good point Kim. I know that Ecology definitely tries to cross post messages/events for partners. We're open to helping and you can always reach out to me directly so I can coordinate with our PIO.

Carolyn Kelly DNR: Smoke Ready Week 2021, June 14 to 19! Use #SmokeReady in your media posts.

Nicole A Errett : The publication that Liz Walker referred to - Establishing a Community Air Monitoring Network in a Wildfire Smoke-Prone Rural Community: The Motivations, Experiences, Challenges, and Ideas of Clean Air Methow’s Clean Air Ambassadors. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8393/htm   

Nicole A Errett UW: Referenced in research discussion on understanding effectiveness of social media - https://europepmc.org/article/med/29283953. Content, Accessibility, and Dissemination of Disaster Information via Social Media During the 2016 Louisiana Floods. Contact Nicole, nerrett@uw.edu, for suggestions on research projects or to locate resources of information

Publication from 2018 Wildfire Smoke Risk Communication Stakeholder Synthesis Symposium; Building a Practice-Based Research Agenda for Wildfire Smoke and Health: A Report of the 2018 Washington Wildfire Smoke Risk Communication Stakeholder Synthesis Symposium. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6651870/

Linda McLean /WSU Extension: Keep WSU Colville Reservation Extension in mind as projects move forward. https://www.facebook.com/WSU-Colville-Reservation-Extension-670853783106346  or their website - Colville Reservation | Washington State University (wsu.edu) 

Carolyn Kelly DNR: Washington Department of Natural Resources Smoke Portal - https://burnportal.dnr.wa.gov/.The Burn Portal is a one stop shop for the public to see where burning is likely to occur, burners can apply and pay for permits, put in burn requests, and maintain their post burn data. DNR staff can assign applications to the correct fire forester, who will condition/approve/deny/extend/suspend/revoke permits, and pull data on burns, financial information and statistics on permitting. Division and Regional staff also use the portal to enter request approvals/denials and the dashboard is there to provide quick links to smoke/burning related issues, documents, forms, etc. Regional phone numbers are also listed in case anyone has specific questions. Also, here is the link to the wildfire ready pilot project: https://wildfireready.dnr.wa.gov/.