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.  

While wildfire and smoke risks are increasing across the nation, endangering and taking lives, there are people fighting for corrective action. Fortunately, those fighting for responsible forest management include a broad swath of the population including Native Tribes, private landowners, public foresters, firefighters, conservation organizations, national parks, agencies such as the National Interagency Fire Center, and lawmakers.  

One thing that could help our fire seasons—other than more rainfall and snowpack— is proper forestry management. This is always a focus of our land management agencies, but the general public often overlooks the issue in favor of casting blame solely on climate change. The reality is a lot of our forests need to be thinned and replanted in a healthier way. However, when the whole world is advocating to fix a climate crisis, cutting down natural carbon sinks can be a hard sell without the proper context.  

Some recent funding for restoration work in Montana is being provided by federal programs, such as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. The Fix Our Forests, Save Our Sequias and FOREST Acts introduced by House Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman, would allow for this forest management to take place on public land and incentivize private landowners to partake in reforestation and conservation efforts that are crucial to our Montana ecosystems.  

Land management, community planning, and effective policies are all part of “firefighting.” Instead of adopting the failed fire suppression strategies of the past, restoration work in Montana includes advancing nature-based solutions, reducing hazardous fuels, restoring watersheds, preventing species extinction, and controlling invasive plant species. Crucially, the funding includes assessments of the climate change vulnerability of water supplies. 

Guidance for how to build housing given the increased risks of wildfires is available from organizations such as Headwaters Economics, which recently released “Building for Wildfire in Montana: Protecting Communities with Statewide Wildfire Safety Standards.” 

Both of our organizations advocate for responsible forest management to help combat these natural disasters. Maintaining healthy forests for the future, and ensuring these carbon sinks continue to pull greenhouse gasses out of the air includes increasing the pace and scale of active forest management, with methods such as prescribed fire and mechanical thinning. Incentivizing private landowners to manage their forests in a way that benefits our ecosystems, preserves healthy forests, and protects them from other uses will also help mitigate wildfires. 

Together, public entities, private citizens, and everyone in between can come together to maintain healthy forests, help each other reduce deadly wildfire risk, and see the forest through the trees.  

Hattie Hobart, based in Bozeman, is the Western Regional Director at the American Conservation Coalition (ACC). Alex Amonette, located in Big Timber, is a volunteer with Citizens’ Climate Lobby.