{"id":32054,"date":"2023-08-29T00:03:06","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T06:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fires-are-here-to-stay-but-a-small-nonprofit-cant-clean-the-air-alone\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:51:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:51:44","slug":"fires-are-here-to-stay-but-a-small-nonprofit-cant-clean-the-air-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fires-are-here-to-stay-but-a-small-nonprofit-cant-clean-the-air-alone\/","title":{"rendered":"Fires are here to stay, but a small nonprofit can\u2019t clean the air alone"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Eytan
Eytan Krasilovsky, the deputy director at Forest Stewards Guild, pulls down a HEPA air filter in the nonprofit\u2019s Santa Fe Office on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. The small loan program is the only one of its kind in the state. (Danielle Prokop \/ Source New Mexico)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

SANTA FE \u2013 In the days after lightning struck in the Santa Fe National Forest in late August 2020, smoke from the Medio Fire darkened the region\u2019s skies and obscured the Sangre De Cristos.<\/p>\n

As the smoke increased, so did the calls to a small forestry nonprofit from people asking for help cleaning the air in their homes. Requests poured in for air purifier loans, which extended far beyond the capacity of the small program at Forest Stewards Guild \u2013 recalled Eytan Krasilovsky, the nonprofit\u2019s deputy director.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt became clear that we loaned out all our filters, we tried to get all the ones from those other places over here, to loan out,\u201d he said about 2020. \u201cBut then the waitlist was 60 to 70 people long. The little program was just not able to handle an incident of any size or duration.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, they encouraged the purchase of air filters, or the construction of Corsi-Rosenthal boxes \u2013 which use box fans and furnace filters to cheaply build an effective air filter.<\/p>\n

However, beyond 2020, large wildfires have worsened air quality within the state and across the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for a program like this to really meet the needs for clean air in fire-prone landscapes, you need health departments, you need state or local government to really step in and provide a solution at-scale,\u201d Krasilovsky said.<\/p>\n

What is the program?<\/div>\n

Forest Stewards Guild assists with forest management, that includes using prescribed burns and running programs such as youth corps.<\/p>\n

One small program is lending out air purifiers during prescribed burns \u2013 unique across the state.<\/p>\n

The organization started the program in 2018, acknowledging that prescribed burns, while crucial to forest health, pose potential harms. Forest Stewards Guild provided a mitigation tool for people living close to prescribed burns.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re gonna put smoke in the air, it\u2019s important to acknowledge the seriousness of that,\u201d Krasilovsky said.<\/p>\n

Smoke is complex, often a mixture of gasses and pieces of varying sizes released as materials burn. Most smoke has carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and other particles.<\/p>\n

\"Eytan
Eytan Krasilovsky shows the different layers of filters inside the Winix 5500-2 that the nonprofit will loan out during prescribed burns. (Danielle Prokop \/ Source New Mexico)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

High-quality air filters or purifiers can filter out very small particles. The greatest concerns are extremely small particles, often called 2.5 PM. Since they are so small, they can travel deep into the lungs and affect heart health.<\/p>\n

Smoke can irritate the eyes, cause wheezing, coughing, inability to breath and headaches. And it can aggravate existing lung and heart conditions.<\/p>\n

Forest Stewards Guild started out with nine filters in Santa Fe, purchased with the help of the Santa Fe Fire Department. With additional funding from New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension, they expanded to 25 air filters and four sites. There\u2019s Santa Fe, the Fire Department in Angel Fire, and forestry offices in Chama, and El Rito. Two programs \u2013 one in Cuba, the other, Taos \u2013 are paused.<\/p>\n

Forest Stewards Guild isn\u2019t a public health agency, said Krasilovsky, and the nonprofit is limited, only having 15 members of staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis effort is largely shoestring, not because we don\u2019t value it, but because it\u2019s not easy to fund,\u201d Krasilovsky said.<\/p>\n

He said he hopes state agencies and tribal governments will look for ways to better indoor air quality for much of the state. Krasilovsky pointed to larger grants for which state and tribal governments also qualify, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s Wildfire Smoke Preparedness in Community Buildings, or environmental justice grants.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can make the case that large swathes of New Mexico are in need of clean air support because of topography, ecosystems, regional wildfires and smoke,\u201d he said. \u201cYou could probably help a lot of people with respiratory issues by getting a multimillion dollar loan for New Mexico to administer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who else is doing this?<\/div>\n

In 2022, lawmakers in Oregon passed a $220 million package to mitigate the impacts of wildfire. This included providing the Oregon Health Authority $4.7 million to purchase and distribute 5,000 air purifiers within the state.<\/p>\n

Predominantly, the filters went to people enrolled in Medicaid, since the program was targeted for low-income people with health risks, said Erica Heartquist, a spokesperson for the Oregon Health Authority.<\/p>\n

The program will be a permanent part of Oregon\u2019s Medicaid program going forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are distributing again in 2023,\u201d Heartquist wrote in an email responding to Source NM questions. \u201cWe will be transitioning it to a Medicaid-funded program in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other smoke mitigation Oregon is looking to do, but hasn\u2019t implemented yet includes using nonemergency transport to get people to clean air centers during smokey days.<\/p>\n

Eytan Krasilovsky said the program\u2019s impact is hard to quantify since it\u2019s so personal. \"Sometimes the smoke can be debilitating for people or just the anxiety around the smoke can be debilitating. And just having the unit helps people get on with their day-to-day.\u2019 (Photo by Danielle Prokop \/ Source New Mexico)
Eytan Krasilovsky said the program\u2019s impact is hard to quantify since it\u2019s so personal. \"Sometimes the smoke can be debilitating for people or just the anxiety around the smoke can be debilitating. And just having the unit helps people get on with their day-to-day.\u2019 (Photo by Danielle Prokop \/ Source New Mexico)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Karuk Tribal Health and Human Services Program in California, which has used prescribed burning for thousands of years as a cultural practice, also provides air purifiers for loan to households in the Klamath River channel.<\/p>\n

New Mexico does not have a similar program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe New Mexico Department of Health does not stock HEPA filters or air purifiers,\u201d wrote David Morgan, a spokesperson for NMDOH, in a request for comment.<\/p>\n

When asked if New Mexico would consider implementing a program, Morgan noted it may be under a different agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Human Services Department would have to determine if such items would qualify for purchase using New Mexico\u2019s allocated Medicaid funds,\u201d Morgan wrote.<\/p>\n

New Mexico HSD does not have a program either, according to spokesperson Tim Fowler, saying the agency would need permission from federal officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo establish a HEPA filter program, we will need to review medical necessity criteria, determine a financial impact and seek guidance and approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,\u201d Fowler said in an emailed response.<\/p>\n

Other programs HSD provided during 2022 wildfires were emergency food aids, utility assistance and crisis counseling, Fowler said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Fires will be with us in perpetuity\u2019<\/p>\n

Doug Cram, a forest and fire specialist at NMSU\u2019s Cooperative Extension Service, said the loan program was a novel idea to help people keep clean air during prescribed burns, which can offer autonomy and alleviate health concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the filter they can mitigate the smoke, typically for a prescribed burn it\u2019s a defined window, and get clean air,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He sees the uncomfortable irony in advocating for prescribed burns in New Mexico, but said it\u2019s a vital way to manage watersheds and forests.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a hollow statistic that 98% of the time, these burns do go as planned,\u201d he said. \u201cUnfortunately, in the West, after a lot of fuel buildup, it can go wrong, and be pretty devastating for communities and individuals and watersheds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
A house that the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire burned down. Pictured on Monday, Sept. 12. (Megan Gleason \/ Source NM)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Cram, who grew up in Los Alamos, said he got into the field, fascinated by mountain ecosystems and fire. This includes the 2001 Cerro Grande Fire, which was started by an escaped prescribed burn.<\/p>\n

Prescribed burns from the U.S. Forest Service ignited the state\u2019s largest wildfires in 2022, including the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire, and the Cerro Pelado Fire.<\/p>\n

Despite the devastating nature of those fires, Cram said the science is clear that prescribed burns are key to reducing fuels for bigger forest fires. A warmer and drier climate is only adding fuel to future wildfires.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor decades we tried the opposite approach,\u201d he said. \u201cWe tried, saying, \u2018we live in an arid environment, let\u2019s prevent any and all fires,\u2019 and that just simply doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if all prescribed burns stopped, there\u2019s other means of fires.<\/p>\n

\u201cLightning is not going away, so fires will be with us in perpetuity,\u201d Cram said.<\/p>\n

Cram said lawmakers\u2019 passage this past session of a law limiting prescribed burns during bad fire conditions, could point to investing in a public health effort to provide clean air during prescribed burns or other smoke events.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state is sort of embracing this idea that prescribed fire is a useful tool. And so it makes sense that at some point that maybe there\u2019ll be some funding for the health department type approach,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

alongside fire means recognizing the importance of protecting our health and indoor air<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[138,84],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-32054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-new-mexico","tag-wildfire"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32054"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81661,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32054\/revisions\/81661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32054"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=32054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}