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29 September 2023
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University of Oregon launches new smoke research centre, US
The University of Oregon in Eugene is launching a new research programme to study effects of wildfire smoke and examine options for reducing risks. University of Oregon research professor Cass Moseley said that the centre’s launch is due in part to efforts by Oregon’s US Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, who secured $800 000 in funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Research will focus in part on new ways to protect homes from smoke infiltration, along with more efficient communication with communities in emergencies and developing community action plans tailored to different regions in the Northwest.
The new Wildfire Smoke Research and Practice Centre builds on research already completed through the Ecosystem Workforce Programme (EWP), a joint venture between the University of Oregon and Oregon State University.
The EWP’s senior policy advisor Cass Moseley will head up the new centre; she said recent incidents in the Pacific Northwest, particularly the 2020 Labour Day fires, highlighted the need for new smoke research. Much of Oregon, particularly the southern Willamette Valley, was choked with wildfire smoke for weeks during the 2020 fire season.
Those fires and the severe levels of smoke really emphasised the need for new research, according to Moseley. “And we saw this fall in Oakridge, several weeks of highly dense smoke as the fire there settled into that valley and really stayed; that community spent a lot of time and energy responding to that smoke event.”
“For a long time, we thought of managing wildfire as managing flames and forests,” Moseley said. “But as wildfires have gotten bigger and we better understand the health impacts of smoke,” smoke has become an increasingly urgent point of focus.
“There's a lot of inequity in the way people encounter smoke,” Moseley added, saying the effects are particularly great on people with asthma or other respiratory diseases, as well as unhoused people, low-income people and those who work outdoors. Vulnerable groups are often least able to control their own smoke exposure, underscoring the importance of community-level interventions, she said.
The team is already doing smoke-related work in communities near Eugene, such as Oakridge. The new funding for the center will allow the team to take this kind of community-based work even further. As part of the UO’s new Institute for Resilient Organisations, Communities, and Environments, the centre is well-situated to address the many intersecting ways that wildfire smoke impacts Oregonians.
“Every summer, smoke plagues our communities for longer and longer periods of time, harming Oregonians’ health and livelihoods,” Wyden said. “I am proud to have fought to secure funding to further study how communities large and small can mitigate the harmful effects of wildfire smoke.”
“Nearly every Oregonian has in some way experienced the growing threat that wildfires pose to our lives, livelihoods, and health,” said Merkley, chair of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, which funded the grant that supports the centre. “This critical funding for the University of Oregon’s Center for Wildfire Smoke Research and Practice will help to expand our understanding and improve our abilities to mitigate and reduce the harmful effects wildfire smoke has on Oregonians across the state.”
The centre’s launch was announced by Merkley and Wyden, who secured the funding to help communities prepare for wildfire smoke. One area of interest is the toxins released when manmade structures burn, as these risks became obvious during western Oregon fires in wildland/urban interface areas over the last few years.
Most smoke research has focused on burning timber and wooden structures, and part of the new planned research will study effects of smoke from burning plastics, glass, fuels and other synthetic materials. Moseley said the centre has three co-investigators and a principal investigator leading the group, along with research assistants and graduate and undergraduate student assistants.
Source: University of Oregon
Research will focus in part on new ways to protect homes from smoke infiltration, along with more efficient communication with communities in emergencies and developing community action plans tailored to different regions in the Northwest.
The new Wildfire Smoke Research and Practice Centre builds on research already completed through the Ecosystem Workforce Programme (EWP), a joint venture between the University of Oregon and Oregon State University.
The EWP’s senior policy advisor Cass Moseley will head up the new centre; she said recent incidents in the Pacific Northwest, particularly the 2020 Labour Day fires, highlighted the need for new smoke research. Much of Oregon, particularly the southern Willamette Valley, was choked with wildfire smoke for weeks during the 2020 fire season.
Those fires and the severe levels of smoke really emphasised the need for new research, according to Moseley. “And we saw this fall in Oakridge, several weeks of highly dense smoke as the fire there settled into that valley and really stayed; that community spent a lot of time and energy responding to that smoke event.”
“For a long time, we thought of managing wildfire as managing flames and forests,” Moseley said. “But as wildfires have gotten bigger and we better understand the health impacts of smoke,” smoke has become an increasingly urgent point of focus.
“There's a lot of inequity in the way people encounter smoke,” Moseley added, saying the effects are particularly great on people with asthma or other respiratory diseases, as well as unhoused people, low-income people and those who work outdoors. Vulnerable groups are often least able to control their own smoke exposure, underscoring the importance of community-level interventions, she said.
The team is already doing smoke-related work in communities near Eugene, such as Oakridge. The new funding for the center will allow the team to take this kind of community-based work even further. As part of the UO’s new Institute for Resilient Organisations, Communities, and Environments, the centre is well-situated to address the many intersecting ways that wildfire smoke impacts Oregonians.
“Every summer, smoke plagues our communities for longer and longer periods of time, harming Oregonians’ health and livelihoods,” Wyden said. “I am proud to have fought to secure funding to further study how communities large and small can mitigate the harmful effects of wildfire smoke.”
“Nearly every Oregonian has in some way experienced the growing threat that wildfires pose to our lives, livelihoods, and health,” said Merkley, chair of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, which funded the grant that supports the centre. “This critical funding for the University of Oregon’s Center for Wildfire Smoke Research and Practice will help to expand our understanding and improve our abilities to mitigate and reduce the harmful effects wildfire smoke has on Oregonians across the state.”
The centre’s launch was announced by Merkley and Wyden, who secured the funding to help communities prepare for wildfire smoke. One area of interest is the toxins released when manmade structures burn, as these risks became obvious during western Oregon fires in wildland/urban interface areas over the last few years.
Most smoke research has focused on burning timber and wooden structures, and part of the new planned research will study effects of smoke from burning plastics, glass, fuels and other synthetic materials. Moseley said the centre has three co-investigators and a principal investigator leading the group, along with research assistants and graduate and undergraduate student assistants.
Source: University of Oregon