Happy Wednesday FACNM Community!
June 9-15 marked Smoke Ready Week for folks in Washington and Oregon; this annual awareness campaign, while based in the Pacific Northwest, is applicable to everyone residing in smoke-vulnerable places, including the Southwest. Smoke is a known health hazard and our air can become unhealthy to breathe because of smoke from wildfires close by or thousands of miles away. Smoke especially affects sensitive groups such as people under the age of 18 and over the age of 65, pregnant women, and people who are predisposed to respiratory ailments. In contrast to prescribed fires, which usually only burn vegetation, the composition of wildfire smoke can include particulate matter from burned homes, vehicles and hazardous materials. This week we are focusing on air quality, smoke impacts, and how we can make our families and our communities better prepared and safer during times of poor or hazardous air.
Supporting Smoke Ready Communities is one of the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network’s (FAC Net) national goals for 2025. In the coming month, FAC Net will release a new "Smoke Ready Communities" graphic, modeled after the well-known FAC Wheel, to help illustrate key strategies and actions. Stay tuned!
This Wildfire Wednesday features:
Smoke Ready Resources
How to clean your indoor air - DIY and commercial filter options and research
How to be prepared for smoke exposure - UNR Living with Smoke fact sheet
Help build a library of resources - submit your smoke and education materials now!
Hope you all are well!
- Megan
Smoke Ready Resources
ArcGIS Fire and Smoke Viewer
This map, provided by Tahoe Resource Conservation District, includes current smoke, current air quality, satellite detected fires from MODI and VIIRS satellites, and fire locations (as a point, updated as soon as possible).
How to Clean Your Air
Research and resources on air filtration options
The Washington State Department of Health offers a robust webpage on wildfire smoke education and actions. They recommend three options for improving air quality in the home:
If you have a heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system, use a filter rated for particle removal. This will reduce fine particles from wildfire smoke throughout your home.
HEPA portable air cleaners can improve indoor air quality by removing particles from smoke in a single room or designated space. HEPA air cleaners that include carbon filters can also remove some harmful gases from indoor air.
Making your own box fan filter (also called a DIY box fan filter) can be a less costly option to filter air and improve indoor air quality in a single room or designated space.
Air filtration systems, such as home HEPA Filters and Electrostatic Filters for HVAC, can drastically improve indoor air quality during times of poor environmental air conditions. These simple technologies are especially important for at-risk groups who may experience more severe symptoms and consequences from breathing polluted air; however, commercial options can be cost-prohibitive and out of reach, especially in rural areas. DIY (Do-It-Yourself, or homemade) air filters may be a more readily available and cheaper option for homes and schools.
In 2023, the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health published a meta-analysis on the efficacy, cost, and operation of DIY air cleaners. Their review showed that DIY air cleaners performed similarly to commercial portable air cleaners in terms of clean air delivery rate (CADR) and energy efficiency but were much more cost efficient that commercially available air cleaners. However, they also found that CADR can vary substantially depending on material quality and how well the DIY filters are constructed.
The group reviewed publications that tested the effectiveness of five models of DIY filter that all used box fans and sheet filters:
A) One filter and one fan (1×1 design); B) Two filters and one fan (2×1 or “wedge” design); C) Three filters and two fans (3×2 design); D) Four filters and one fan (4×1 or Corsi-Rosenthal box); E) Five filters and one fan (5×1 design) with supports to elevate the device; F) Bottom view of 5×1 design showing the fifth filter and improvised cardboard legs. Black arrows show the direction of airflow and all units feature a cardboard shroud taped to the front of the fan. Photo credit: Molly Mastel, BCCDC.
Although the metric of CADR varied between studies, the meta-analysis showed that DIY air filtration systems perform as well as, or better than, commercial systems across the board. The size of the space being filtered and tolerable speed of the fan (e.g. classrooms ran the fans on the lowest setting to reduce noise) both influence the efficacy of the filtration systems.
Excerpt of a table comparing DIY air cleaner designs and commercial units. Clean air delivery rate (CADR) and noise generation values were those measured at highest fan speed.
This research came with two important caveats:
DIY air cleaners made with newer model fans are unlikely to pose a fire or burn risk, but should be kept clear of obstructions and operated with common sense precautions. The filters should be changed when soiled; duration of filter lifespan will vary with use and conditions.
Portable air cleaners are only part of a comprehensive indoor air quality strategy. They do not replace the need for ventilation and should be used in conjunction with other appropriate health protective measures.
Finally, the study indicates that these three things can improve the effectiveness and safety of your DIY filter:
Seal the gaps. DIY air cleaner resources typically recommend sealing the gaps between fans and filters with a strong, wide tape such as masking tape or duct tape.
Use a cardboard fan “shroud.” A shroud on the fan’s outward face prevents the air expelled from the inner part of the fan from being re-entrained and pulled back in through the corners of the fan box where the blades do not reach.
Use a newer fan (2012 or newer) to minimize risk of burns and fire.
How to be Prepared for Smoke Exposure
The University of Nevada, Reno Extension’s Living With Fire Program has developed a fact sheet titled Living with Smoke: How to Be Prepared for Smoke Exposure. This resource explains what wildfire smoke contains, why it poses health risks, and offers practical guidance on how to protect yourself, especially when staying indoors isn’t an option.
If you cannot remain indoors during smoky conditions, the following tips will help reduce your exposure and health impacts:
Stay hydrated. Adequate hydration keeps your airway lubricated, which keeps you safer from health impacts related to smoke.
Use NIOSH N95 or P100 respirators if you must be outside. Cloth, surgical or dust masks will not protect against ozone or particulate matter
If possible, reduce strenuous activities, and take frequent breaks indoors to limit the amount of smoke inhaled.
To reduce the amount of smoke while driving in a vehicle, close windows and vents and use the air conditioner on “recirculate mode.
FACNM HEPA Filter Loan Program
With support from NMSU, FAC Net, and the Forest Stewards Guild, FACNM is able to offer a HEPA Filter Loan program. Filters are available to smoke sensitive individuals during periods of smoke impacts in the Santa Fe, Chama, and El Rito area. A small amount of portable air cleaners are available to filter the air in a large room such as a living room or bedroom. Filters will be distributed on a first come first served basis for predetermined time periods. You will need to provide contact info and come to office listed for your area to sign for the filter and pick it up. Please look over the HEPA Air Filter Check-Out Contract.
For general information about the program contact Sam Berry at the Forest Stewards Guild at sam@forestguild.org.
Outreach for Public Health & Smoke Management
The Southern Group of State Foresters are compiling existing communication materials on public health related to smoke management, such as templates, handouts, graphics, videos and other resources, into one shared library. Their aim is to make it easier for prescribed fire practitioners, wildfire managers, and health professionals to deliver consistent and effective public health messaging and mitigation tools. If you have resources to contribute, please visit the form.
FACNM Leader Spotlight
Jan-Willem Jansens is the owner and principal of Ecotone Landscape Planning, LLC, based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, serving communities across northern New Mexico. As a FACNM Leader, Jan-Willem brings over 30 years of experience working in New Mexico, with a focus on landscape management planning, ecological restoration design, and land stewardship education.
Below highlights some of Jan-Willem’s experiences and takeaways since joining the FACNM Network.
Q: Describe a life experience that helped shape your dedication and/or passion for your current work in building fire adapted communities.
A: My current work in building fire adapted communities stems from my deep interest in and passion for work that seeks to maintain a dynamic equilibrium between ecosystem health and people’s needs; in other words, in how to connect people with the landscape in a respectful, durable, and productive way. This is deeply important to me because I believe that working in this field contributes to the quality of life and eventual survival of communities and my own family in this region.
Intellectually, this interest is grounded in my understanding that natural, low- and mixed-intensity wildfire events are part of the essential ecological dynamics in Southwest ecosystems. Wildfire plays a critical role in the ecological succession and rejuvenation process of soil and plant communities. In that way, it maintains land health and the many ecosystem services that healthy ecosystems provide. Yet, the ecological functions of wildfire and its values for people are still poorly understood by large parts of the population (and its elected officials) in this country which leads to land uses and people’s expectations of the landscape, including fire behavior, that perpetuate ecosystems that are out of balance, do not have optimal ecological functioning conditions, and do not adequately provide nature’s benefits to people.
Witnessing ecosystem degradation during my lifetime, and particularly since the mega-drought in the Southwest that started in 1996, has shaped my curiosity and insights in the role of wildfire and how communities would need to adapt to wildfire. I apply a landscape-scale approach toward ecosystem restoration, which is beneficial in understanding the role of wildfire in ecosystems and how human communities ideally interact with fire dynamics.
Q: When you think about your work in wildfire preparedness, what is your vision for your community?
“My community” comprises several communities: my neighborhood, the city and county where I live, northern New Mexico as my primary work area, and the professional community of people I work with. It is my vision for this mosaic of communities that they “come to unity”, in the literal meaning of “community”, on how to live with wildfire. I hold a vision that people in all these communities participate in a civic process of listening and learning about their environment and human actions, and as a result, make good decisions in anticipation of and in response to needed adjustments in our relationships with the landscape and each other. This would then lead to a process of social, economic, land use, and stewardship adjustments in our relation to the land that supports the dynamic equilibrium I mentioned above as the root understanding of my vision.
Q: What are one or two projects, partnerships, or efforts you’re especially proud of?
A: I believe that it is useful to identify projects or collaborations that are illustrative or educational to bring forward for others to explore. Such initiatives would naturally be those that are collaborative, long-term, and landscape-scale in nature. For me, those include my work between 1998 and the present in developing landscape-wide collaboration for ecosystem conservation and restoration in the Galisteo Basin, including the recent completion of a CWPP for the greater Eldorado area; my work between 2009 and the present in developing landscape-wide community awareness, collaboration, and planning initiatives that led to many ecosystem restoration projects for forests, wetlands, and Piñon-Juniper ecosystems in the Lower Embudo Valley, including a forest plan for the Las Trampas area and a CWPP for the Dixon Fire District; and ongoing planning work of the last few years toward achieving a common understanding of needed land health improvements and how to implement them in the post-fire landscape of the Southeast Jemez Plateau area, together with local pueblos and many other partners. At a smaller scale, my contribution of a research study and conceptual plan for forest management – aimed at snow and water retention – in the Cimarron Range as part of a watershed conservation plan for the Cimarron watershed between 2019 and 2021 illustrates how holistic, focused, and creative research in forest planning can generate far reaching results. This plan led – in part – to the completion of a CWPP for Colfax County, the award of a FAWRA grant for private land forest restoration in the area, a congressional appropriation for forest restoration on the Philmont Scout Ranch, and several large CWDG grants for large scale forest restoration in the Cimarron Range and the Moreno Valley.
Q: What challenges or barriers have you faced in your work, and how have you worked through them?
A: The challenges and barriers I encountered have been many. The basic recipe for working through them includes being patient, persistent, curious, creative, showing an understanding of people associated with the challenges, and keeping an eye on the larger end goal. Most challenges are either procedural (including limited resources commensurate to the task or process) or behavioral (communication and teamwork). Good communication, a positive, constructive attitude, and management skills, including team role management, are essential to persevere.
Q: How has being a part of the FACNM Network supported or shaped your work?
A: Being part of the FACNM community provides a network of peers with a broad background in experiences and a community of people with similar goals and aspirations. This has been important for me for learning purposes and for working with the knowledge that “we were all in it together” and feeling far from alone in this work despite of its enormous scale and scope.
Q: What advice would you give to someone stepping into a similar role or just beginning this work?
A: People interested in becoming involved with building fire adapted communities might benefit from approaching their involvement with patience, curiosity, humility, and a listening and learning attitude rather than bringing a specific action agenda. Much of the work of building fire adapted communities is that of collaborative learning. They may benefit from the wisdom embodied in the “4-Returns Framework” of Commonland, which highlights community-driven planning steps, such as seeking a common understanding, pursuing outcomes such as inspirational returns (hope, collaboration, cultural and artistic improvements), ecosystem returns, social returns, and financial returns, working at a landscape scale, and approaching one’s commitment with the notion that it takes a generation (25+ years) to make meaningful changes. People engaging in fire adapted communities might benefit from exploring how to build productive connections among people and between people and the land.
Upcoming Events
Rancher Led Grazing Management & Prescribed Burn Workshop - August 15-16, 2025
Hosted by the New Mexico Section of the Society for Range Management, this FREE event will take place in Santa Rosa, NM. Designed for ranchers and landowners, the event will focus on prescribed burning as a land management tool. The agenda for August 16 includes creating a prescribed burn plan, prescribed burning principles, prepping the land for a prescribed burn, and conducting a “100% hands on” prescribed burn.
For more information, contact Jim Armendariz at 432-803-2411 or register here.
CWPP Webinar Series
Session 3: Post-Fire Recovery Chapters in CWPPs
Are you thinking about integrating post-fire recovery planning with your CWPP? Join the discussion for tips and resources! The format of this virtual learning opportunity will be a mix of presentation and participatory discussion in break out rooms --- come ready to discuss your own local plans, questions and experiences with your peers!
The webinar is being hosted by FAC Net, featuring The Ember Alliance and Sophia Fox from Washington Resource Conservation and Development Council.