Forest management could help Montanans breathe easier next fire season
We’ve all watched the white haze roll in on an otherwise sunny afternoon and lost the mountains and buttes on the horizon with it. While this haze produces some awesome sunsets, wildfire smoke also brings a slew of issues with it. There’s the omnipresent tickle in your throat to start, and if the fires are bad enough or close enough, they can cancel outdoor activities and make others extremely difficult and uncomfortable. Not to mention the looming possibility of having to evacuate should the fires get too close for comfort.
This discomfort can even become harmful. Over the last few years, activities across Montana have been postponed or canceled because of the detrimental air quality during wildfire season. For children, recess and outdoor summer camps have been either canceled or greatly modified. In Oregon earlier this summer, officials had to cancel sports camps as any intense activity has the potential to make the kids sick.
Sensitive groups are defined as the young and the elderly, as well as those with asthma and other pulmonary conditions. However, when air quality gets bad enough, even those who are healthy as a horse are affected with runny noses, itchy throats, and coughs. Wildfire smoke is hands down bad news, but we don’t need to tell you that.
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