Fire season is now upon us - and local experts are speaking out on best practices for dealing with large wildfires, which seem to be Nevada's "new normal."

Continuing drought and high temperatures, linked to climate change, have created the same conditions that led to 610 fires last year, which burned more than 134,000 acres.

University of Nevada, Reno Assistant Professor Christina Restaino directs the "Living with Fire" program that teaches communities how to get ready.

"You need to prepare your own home and the property around your home," said Restaino, "by doing proper defensible space. Also through creating an evacuation plan for both family and your animals."

In addition, Restaino said people need to plan for smoky skies and poor air quality. And she said she believes more people are needed to help educate the community, study wildfire risk, and reduce the fuel load on the wildland/urban interface.

Tim Brown, the director of the Western Regional Climate Center at the Desert Research Institute in Reno, said the impact on people will be twofold.

"It's going to be respiratory issues - last year, compounded with COVID," said Brown. "On the mental side, it's the stress of dealing with those physical impacts, but also wondering just how bad is this season going to be?"

Jennifer Cantley - Nevada field coordinator for Moms Clean Air Force and an advisor to Gov. Steve Sisolak's Environmental Justice Team - said she relies on Environmental Protection Agency data from the website 'Airnow.gov.'

At one point, she said, it showed Douglas County with more 'red' air-quality days than Washoe or Clark counties.

"It showed that the rural communities do have dirty air just as much as the big cities, even though it's overlooked," said Cantley. "And most of the time, they don't have air monitoring systems."

Data from the Nevada Department of Wildlife indicate the problem is only getting worse.

More than 9 million acres of Nevada's landscape burned between 2000 and 2020, which is double the acreage lost to wildfire between 1980 and 1999.

Recent extreme wildfires in Wyoming burned nearly 500,000 acres and among those recovering are ranchers and their surviving livestock.

Wildfires burned through large swaths of ranch lands in northern Wyoming and southern Montana last month, including the House Draw Fire, which blazed across nearly 175,000 acres in Johnson and Campbell counties. No homes or human lives were lost, but important ranching resources were, such as hundreds of miles of fencing, winter forage and summer grazing grounds.

Micah Most, agriculture and natural resources educator for the University of Wyoming Extension, said livestock deaths are hard to tally, but the injuries are apparent.

"We're seeing a lot of cattle with injured feet, burned feet, from walking through or over the hot ground as they were escaping," Most pointed out. "A lot of stress just generally on those animals."

Most emphasized the outpouring of support from people in Wyoming and beyond has been "deeply meaningful." The office is coordinating hay donations, locals are helping with livestock relocation and a community network is hosting a drive for fencing supplies. Financial donations can be made to Wyoming Rancher Fire Relief and elsewhere.

Most explained some injured animals may need to be culled from the herd and sold at a discounted price. Extension offices across the state have been revisiting their emergency preparedness and response materials to help people and ranchers deal with increasingly extreme weather events.

"Finding ways to kind of harden your home area, maybe the home ranch place, and limit some of the risk factors," Most stressed.

The fires also burned through important habitat for pronghorn, mule deer and breeding grounds important to the greater sage grouse.

Environmental leaders are set to gather in Durham to address how climate change is impacting human health and well-being.

Emily Wolfe, health manager for CleanAIRE NC, said the cascading effects of climate change are clear. The ninth annual NC BREATHE Conference aims to connect climate leaders and environmental health professionals to address challenges.

"We'll be talking about policy and policy change as it relates to environmental impacts on human health and well-being and community health," Wolfe outlined. "We'll be talking about specific pollutants and connections to human health and well-being."

Wolfe pointed out the conference will cover topics from air quality to heat exposure. Keynote speaker Harold Mitchell will share his personal experience transitioning from an environmental health victim to an advocate for policy change. The conference will take place on Oct. 1-2 at the JB Duke Hotel.

According to the World Health Organization, climate change affects health in various ways, from illness to extreme weather to food system disruptions.

Jeff Robbins, executive director of CleanAIRE NC, said while much focus is on resolving the root causes of the issues, the mental toll of environmental crises is often overlooked. He emphasized a key goal of the conference is to address stressors.

"One of the things that we really wanted to explore this year is the mental health aspects of the environmental impacts on folks," Robbins explained. "This is new for us this year in terms of how do we explore that, how do we start to identify some of those issues, and then how does that then inform what we do going forward."

Another major topic is PFAS, harmful chemicals linked to cancer and immune-system damage. While PFAS contamination in water is well known, Robbins stressed new research will shed light on how the chemicals affect the environment in other ways.

"This research is kind of going to shed some light on what are the findings and some of the issues relative to airborne PFAS," Robbins added.

Organizers hope the conference fosters collaboration and generates actionable ideas to protect communities from the growing threats of pollution and climate change.


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Indigenous water protectors and allies met at Michigan's Straits of Mackinac last week, to spotlight the dangers of the 71-year-old Line 5, deemed North America's riskiest crude oil pipeline.

Headlined by the nonprofit Oil and Water Don't Mix, the protests featured two main events: The "Pipe Out Paddle Up" in St. Ignace which showcased a flotilla against Enbridge's Line Five oil spill risk, followed by the "Water is Life Festival" in Petoskey, celebrating local music and advocacy for ending Line Five's threat.

Nichole Keway Biber, Michigan organizer for Clean Water Action, a member of the Oil and Water Don't Mix coalition, explained Indigenous people have been given stewardship over the waters.

"Also really critical to us having lived relationship to our culture and what our teachings are and our instructions are," Keway Biber explained. "So much of that is to protect and oversee the water and the wildlife."

Keway Biber emphasized the events focused on the preservation of the Indigenous way of life. Enbridge has maintained Line Five's safety is exclusively regulated by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Keway Biber noted there are many individuals, both from Michigan and beyond, who treasure and deeply value the Great Lakes but remain unaware of the significant threats posed by Line Five.

"They may not know we're constantly just a moment away from this catastrophic kind of ruination of those precious fresh waters," Keway Biber stressed. "It's powerful for them to first and foremost here about it from people who are committed to protecting the water and the people and the wildlife."

Enbridge moves up to 540,000 barrels of light crude oil, light synthetic crude oil and liquefied natural gas through Line Five.