Missoula Air Update

Smoky Skies: Missoula’s Haze From Out-of-State Fires

Missoula's air quality deteriorated between this morning and this afternoon, and as of 2 p.m. was listed as "moderate." (To check air quality at the Health Department's web page, click here.) The Missoula City-County Health Department said this afternoon that the smoky haze in the city air is from wildfires in British Columbia, Alaska, Washington and Oregon, as well as from smaller fires in Idaho and Montana.

The health department says "very sensitive" individuals might want to consider limiting their exposure and avoid prolonged exertion outside.

Editor's note: this story is an update.

New Report Questions Fire Plan Logging

A new report on the effectiveness of thinning forests under the National Fire Plan shows that most logging occurs far from communities, thus questioning their effectiveness. Plus the majority of lands that should be treated lie not on federal lands, but private lands. The report gives new credence to critics such as myself who maintain that most fuel reduction logging operations are wasting tax dollars and causing more harm than good.

The Fire This Time

Firefighting Needs Major Overhaul, Study Shows

Wildfire prevention efforts should focus far more on homeowners and key ecosystems -- and far less on random fires deep in the wilderness, according to a new study by the University of Montana, University of Colorado and Colorado State University.

The study -- which calls for an overhaul of the National Fire Plan --takes a hard look at federal efforts to prevent wildfires that are increasingly scorching the West and threatening homes near forests and wilderness. Only 11 percent of National Fire Plan wildfire-mitigation efforts in the last five years have occurred near people’s homes or offices, where it's critically needed, the researchers conclude.

FireSafe Montana Conference

Rural Growth, Climate and the Wildland-Urban Interface

The wildfire issue is a pressing one in the New West. Fire seasons are getting longer and drier by the year, fires are more severe, and, to top it off, the modern western migration is bringing an unprecedented influx of homes into the wildland-urban interface (WUI).

As wildland fire suppression operations increasingly consume dwindling Forest Service budgets and taxpayers grow ever wearier of footing the pricey bill of defending homes in the WUI, the onus for preparation and protection is increasingly falling on homeowners and local communities.

In 2006, interested parties from the public and private sector gathered in Helena at the Montana Communities and Wildfire Conference to begin a new discussion on the WUI and the West’s changing fire seasons. According to organizers, participants expressed overwhelming support for the formation of a non-governmental non-profit to perform public education, outreach and on-the-ground assistance in wildfire mitigation in the WUI. The result is FireSafe Montana, which held its first annual conference in Bozeman this week.

wilderness lecture series

Climate Change Impacts More Than Glacier’s Glaciers

Thanks to a changing climate, not only may Glacier National Park need a new name, but eventually a new mascot. The park’s iconic mountain goats are already feeling the impacts of climate change, said Dan Fagre, a research ecologist for the U.S. Geological Survey’s Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center in Glacier National Park.

“This is ironic because the mountain goat is the icon of Glacier National Park,” Fagre told a mixed crowd of students and community members at the University of Montana Tuesday night.

Mountain goats are not the only species impacted by a changing climate. Rising temperatures and altered precipitation patterns will provide some species opportunity expand their range, while others will shrink or die out altogether.

Sawmill Complex Fire Daily Update: Sept. 10

Sawmill Complex Fire Daily Update: Sept. 8

Sawmill Complex Fire Daily Update: Sept. 7

Forest Grove Fire Daily Update: Sept. 6