Siskiyou

Wildfire Smoke Exposure Increases Cardiovascular Risks

If you’re breathing the wildfire smoke, your health is being affected in many ways. 

Some may immediately be noticeable (heart attack, asthma, coughing, etc.) and other effects are more sinister, creeping-up and killing you more slowly. 

New research by the American Heart and Lung Association is a MUST READ:  

https://newsroom.heart.org/news/wildfires-may-fuel-heart-health-hazards-smoke-exposure-increases-cardiovascular-risks

Restoring our native species herbivory, starting with the most logical and readily available herbivore, the wild horse, will cost-effectively reduce KEY 1-hour class wildfire fuels (Grass and Brush) in remote areas unsuited for livestock grazing or mechanized methods. 

Prescribed burning is well proven now as a BAD Prescription for our landscape, and there’s about 30-million acres of remotely located wildfire fuels (grass and brush)!  It would be sheer insanity to even suggest burning even 1-million acres, let alone 30-million acres annually (grass and brush are occurring wildfire fuels).

Grass and Brush fuels are associated with the most destructive and deadly wildires!

This article by a scientist at Washington State U (Cliff Mass) examines grass and brush wildfire fuels: https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-essential-ingredients-of-most.html

In ecologically sensitive wilderness areas, wild horses are the number choice for wildfire grazing for these reasons:

1. Lower ground-loading and soils disturbance than cattle (ground loading in pounds-per-square-inch ‘PSI’ is calculated by calculating the surface area of the hoof (area) and applying the body weight. Horses load the ground with approx. 30% less PSI than a cow. More here: https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2017/09/25/evolution-wild-horses-cattle-effect-range-damage/

2. Unlike all ruminants (cattle, sheep, goats, deer), horses don’t digest the seeds of native flora. This allows the seeds they consume to pass through intact and can germinate. In the wilderness, that reseeding function benefits all the other fauna, including the ruminant deer and elk, and even pollinators. More here: https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2018/01/08/fire-grazing-wild-horses-better-cattle/

Watch this video; the smoke in Yreka, CA is deadly! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGOtIW87EFI


Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*