Written by: Noah Abrams

Published: 23 September 2022

This is the third and final story in a series from KRCB in collaboration with the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism California Fellowship, looking at the detrimental health effects of wildfire smoke and the dangers Sonoma County's agricultural workers face.

 

Living and working in the midst of wildfires and the smoke they produce is becoming a more prevalent part of late summer life in Northern California. The consequences of breathing wildfire smoke without proper protection can last well after the smoke has cleared. For Sonoma County's agricultural workers, those dangers can be acute, but progress has been made.

"We've been fighting for this cause for a long time," Sandra de Leon said. "And now that we're finally seeing something being done about it, I can't help [but] feel happy."

In August, after months of contentious government meetings, and organizing by both workers and employers, new protections for agricultural workers entered into law through the Sonoma County’s Ag Pass program, in part due to accounts from workers detailing wrongs.

Some, like de Leon, are taking the time to celebrate what they see as a hard-fought victory. Others still feel there’s a ways to go.

 

One worker, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid any potential for retaliation or being passed over for work, shared his thoughts via a translator.

"Just treating us more like people because we are; we're often treated more as things rather than actual people and I want more equality within the workers," said the ag worker. 

 

The call for greater official agricultural worker protections in Sonoma County got louder after 2020’s Wallbridge-LNU complex fire. County supervisor Lynda Hopkins represents the district where much of that fire burned.

"We achieved some substantial acknowledgement of human dignity and rights for farm workers." Hopkins said.

As noted by Sonoma County officials, there is still potential for abuse within the regulatory framework.

 

Ag worker Anabel Garcia, who has pushed for greater protections within mandatory evacuation zones, described her experiences during previous fires.

"I have had to work and not only have workers had to put their health at risk, but their families as well, because they have to leave them behind and we were not provided any masks and pretty much had to make do with what we had." Garcia said.

Again, Sandra de Leon.

"One of the first times I worked after the 2017 fires, I had to work directly in the smoke," de Leon said. "It almost felt like the ash was part of the grape while we were picking, and it worries me."

Since 2017 in Sonoma County there have been ten inspections opened by CalOSHA, into farm labor contractors, crew leaders, and management service companies. Seven of those inspections have resulted in fines.

Hopkins said the Ag Pass program is meant to increase oversight and reporting.

"And then we also directed staff to come back with enforcement, you know, and ensuring that there is some kind of a complaint hotline that farm workers could access." Hopkins said. "If someone is violating the terms of the Ag Access Pass. I think one of the really critical things is ensuring that farm workers feel safe to be able to question whether the program is being followed."

But when it comes to protections against wildfire smoke, the new Ag Pass protections defer to CalOSHA regulations.

"CalOSHA has a very minimal presence in Sonoma County," County Supervisor Chris Coursey said.

 

His concerns about wildfire smoke protections stem not only from CalOSHA’s minimal enforcement presence, but from ambiguous language within the regulations.

"We've got language in this that says when the particulate level gets to a certain number, they have to provide N95 masks, but we don't actually require anybody to have N95 masks available," Coursey said. "I think a requirement to have a stock of masks on hand at all times when you're in an evacuation zone is not an unreasonable request, but that's not included."

As it stands now, If an employer measures an air quality index reading below 151 at a job site they do not have to provide protective respiratory masks. Even at an AQI reading above 151, an employer is not required to provide respiratory protection if work will occur for less than one hour. For reference, anything measured above 100 on the air quality index is considered unhealthy.

Despite the lax thresholds of the new regulations, at least they are something, say workers like Garcia.

"I'm very proud and happy of all the work we've done and the battle we've been having is not in vain." Garcia relayed.

And de Leon.

"During the first set of fires, we never were provided any sort of masks and if we wanted any, we had to buy them ourselves" de Leon said. "Or we had to use, bandanas, which really didn't help. Now that they have to provide them, I'm feeling very happy that they have to consider the fact that we help contribute to their profits. So to be finally be treated with any sort of respect is very good."

The slate of new laws, statewide and locally acknowledges the reality of the consequences climate-related issues have on our health. Time will tell how well these efforts to safeguard the people who care for and grow what we eat and drink will work.

Reporting for this series was done in collaboration between KRCB and the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism 2022 California Fellowship, with translation from Peter Morales Garcia.

Read more: Some question efficacy of new wildfire smoke protections in Sonoma County; others celebrate progress

Written by: Noah Abrams

Published: 22 September 2022

This is part two in series from KRCB in collaboration with the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism 2022 California Fellowship looking into the danger wildfire smoke poses to Sonoma County's agricultural workers.

Wildfire smoke can leave wounds that last long after the fire has been put out. In October of 2017, the Tubbs Fire burned for nearly the entire month, turning over 5600 homes and businesses into cinder and ashes..and making the North Bay air noxious with smoke for days on end.

Coinciding with harvest time, it renewed questions over health and safety of agricultural workers, compelled to work in unhealthy conditions.

Over the past five years, a focus has been on access to and work within mandatory evacuation zones. Sonoma County’s recently-approved Ag Pass program has provisions geared towards protecting workers from wildfire smoke exposure.

According to data from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, since the Tubbs Fire, parts of Sonoma County have experienced at least 24 days of air quality considered unhealthy for some, ten of those unhealthy for everyone. That’s when the small particulate matter produced by wildfire smoke and other pollutants causes adverse health effects.

Doctor Jenny Fish is a local physician who counts many low income individuals, farm workers, and immigrants to Sonoma County among her patients. She said air quality above 100 on what’s called the Air Quality Index, or AQI, needs to be taken seriously.

"As a physician, I understand the both short and the long term health consequences of having extended exposure to AQI’s over 150." Fish said. "If there's a wildfire and the AQI, for example, is over a hundred, I'm not going outside or spending any amount of time outside without like an N95 mask."

In Sonoma County, harvest season coincides with the period of greatest wildfire risk - September, October, and November.

"The reality is that farm workers, even if there isn't an evacuation zone, farm workers are working in that, hours and hours and hours on a day without appropriate PPE, without necessarily safety training." Fish said.

She said she has seen these health impacts firsthand.

"What I see in my office, for example, we see increased asthma." Fish said. "There's well documented scientific evidence for increased, both pulmonary and cardiac, so both heart and lung consequences. So there's the short term, and then there's the long term exposure. And that's where you're really getting the heart problem, lung problems, chronic problems, asthma, COPD."

Research has shown wildfire smoke can be as much as ten times more harmful than similarly-sized air pollution from different sources. Doctor Fish said the ailments are not only physical.

"The other piece of what I'm seeing is the psychological impacts of being a community that is not protected and is disregarded." Fish said. "That includes increased anxiety, PTSD. I have patients that lost their homes in fires while they were out working, picking grapes. And so the mental health toll is also incredibly profound."

There’s been an acknowledgement of wildfire smoke dangers at the state level - where much of the regulatory power lies. 2021’s Assembly Bill 73 added wildfire smoke events as health emergencies and designated agricultural workers as ‘essential workers.’ That makes them eligible to receive protective equipment from a state PPE stockpile. And this year’s Assembly Bill 2243 could lower the threshold at which respirators must be provided to workers, from 500 on the air quality index to 301, if not lower.

 

On the local level, the recent approval of Sonoma County’s Ag Pass program could make an impact.

"We're in a better place today than we were two or three years ago." Sonoma County 3rd District Supervisor Chris Coursey said. "You know, I think that the decision we made makes an improvement on the situation."

According to the rules laid out under the Ag Pass system, approved on August 30th, employers are now required to take a more active part in protecting workers. For one, they must provide adequate education and information on wildfire smoke. In addition they must reduce exposure or provide sufficient protective respiratory equipment if exposure cannot be limited, and encourage voluntary use of that protective equipment.

Coursey said he remains concerned about whether the precautions - both state and local - will truly be carried out.

"I think that we can do better and, and we should do better." Coursey said. "This is basically a situation of trusting people to do what we say are the things that they have to do. Unfortunately we've heard over and over again that even though all of the rules are already on the books, we hear that those, those are violated and they aren't enforced by us at the county. They are California rules, and they're enforced supposedly by OSHA, Cal OSHA."

Workers share Coursey’s skepticism about follow-through. Among day laborers we spoke to in Santa Rosa - who asked to remain anonymous - vulnerability is widely felt. Their knowledge of worker protections and Sonoma County’s Ag Pass program is summarized with the help of local translator Peter Morales Garcia.

"They stated that they had no knowledge of these protections nor about the program." Morales Garcia relayed. "And one group did say that while they were aware of it, their bosses or the people they were working under did not necessarily enforce or enact upon those protections."

We also asked if they had previously worked during wildfires and/or smoke events.

"A few said that they did, but they had to provide their own mask." Morales Garcia said. "The people they were working under did not provide any sort of equipment for them to deal with the smoke."

With the new additional precautions under Sonoma County’s Ag Pass program - and the increased scrutiny it has brought to health, safety, and labor concerns within Sonoma County’s agricultural sector, workers on the farms and in the fields of Sonoma County have more protections than ever - on paper.

"Most people are gonna follow the rules." Supervisor Coursey said. "But the reason that we have rules is because always somebody won't follow the rules."

How well those written protections translate into practice remains to be seen in the wildfire-prone months and years to come.

 

Reporting for this story was done in collaboration with the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism California Fellowship and KRCB with translation assistance from Peter Morales Garcia.

 

Read more: Greater protections from wildfire smoke are in place but effectiveness largely untested

Written by: Olivia Wynkoop/Bay City News

Published: 22 September 2022

Sonoma and Marin counties will soon launch a partnership program that supports farmers initiating climate-friendly practices designed to create an exchange of climate-smart agricultural products between the two counties.

Announced last Wednesday, the counties are set to receive up to $10 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program, which is a federal effort to accelerate the implementation of climate-smart agricultural practices.

Though the exact grant amount is still to be set in November, the funds have the potential to provide up to 100 farms in the area with support for carbon farming techniques over the course of five years. This could reduce hundreds of thousands of metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in the next 20 years, both counties said.

The partnership, labeled the Sonoma Marin Ag and County Climate Coalition, aims to form a regional supply chain of dairy and livestock products that use practices that either reduce emissions or sequester carbon, also known as "carbon farming."

"Carbon farming" is a holistic approach to optimizing a landscape's capacity to store carbon in its plant material and soil, while also improving its overall resilience to farming practices.

There are about 35 techniques that are recognized by the Natural Resource Conservation Service as adequate ways to enhance rates of carbon capture, depending on the industry and the landscape.

For example, in the livestock and dairy industries, carbon farming can include adding compost in soil to not only increase its organic matter content, but to increase the soil's water retention in times of drought. The service predicts that a one-percent increase in soil organic matter has the potential to hold an additional 20,000 gallons of water per acre.

Nancy Scolari, executive director of project partner Marin Resource Conservation District, said the county has already successfully transitioned 20 farms to carbon farming, and with this funding, they'll reach 30. A lot of work has already been done on the ground to help farmers with established, multi-generational operations transition to greener practices, and a percentage of this funding will be dedicated to reaching out to more struggling farms.

"They need a little more assistance, a little more aid in getting those practices implemented on the ground," Scolari said. "I think that's what the beauty of this grant is, that it's going to help us design a new way to work with a more extended farming community."

She said there's a long waitlist of producers eager to transition to carbon farming.

"We don't have a fear of people not participating, it's more like, 'do we have enough funding to help everyone that is on the list?'" said Scolari. "It's well-received -- either folks are out there trying to reduce greenhouse gases or they're trying to sequester carbon."

Valerie Minton Quinto, executive director of the Sonoma Resource Conservation District, said Sonoma County has completed about 35 carbon farm plans, and this grant will nearly double that number. She said the pilot program will balance planning and implementation throughout the five years, as the work is site-specific.

"I think that often government funding tends to favor the more implementation side of 'Let's just get something done on the ground,' and that's super important to us," said Quinto. "RCDs are doers and that's really where the rubber hits the road, but we also know that it will be most valuable and effective if we do thoughtful planning."

Because both conservation districts have already started establishing a foundation in the region implementing concepts that seem to work well for local land uses, Scolari said the potential to get this message out to the consumer is the next step.

"I think it's exciting to kind of share that message with a wider audience, with the people who are actually consuming this stuff. They have a much greater stake in how their purchases can help manage our landscapes," said Scolari.

Andy Naja-Riese, CEO of the Agricultural Institute of Marin, said that successful carbon farming does not just end at the farm -- it's also about ensuring these climate-friendly agricultural products move their way to local farmer's markets and grocery stores and encouraging the public to buy them.

The region is seeing a greater demand for local and organic foods across all income levels, he said, and this grant will help launch an EBT program at farmers' markets so low-income families can buy local, organic and regenerative meat and dairy products.

Making local products more accessible to the public also ensures that small farm owners can stay afloat amid drought, inflation and labor shortages, Naja-Riese said.

Soon to come is a region-wide marketing campaign to spell what climate-smart agriculture really is, as it "isn't exactly a household concept," he said. The counties will create 100 virtual stories of local farmers using carbon farming techniques on their lands.

"The more money that's spent locally, the more it gets recirculated in our economy too. The more we can get people to sell local, responsible products, the more we can help people to buy them. It helps to ensure people will have food security and it also supports our local food system," Naja-Riese said.

Anna Yip, climate analyst for Sonoma County, said county plans for climate resilience are important, but she continuously hears from residents about how they can make a difference in mitigating climate emissions. Including consumers in the conversation gives them a chance to do so, she said.

"We live in a very special place in both Sonoma and Marin counties where people are passionate and engaged and want to do stuff," said Yip. "I think that this project will give people something that they can do."

The Biden-Harris Administration in February pledged to contribute $2.8 billion to agricultural pilot projects from local governments, small businesses, nonprofits and other organizations. The USDA predicts that the 70 selected projects -- picked out of a pool of hundreds of applicants -- will engage over 25 million acres of land in climate-friendly techniques like cover crops, no-till and nutrient management.

The USDA is continuing to evaluate proposals for the second round of funding that focuses on small farms and those in "minority-serving institutions" and is set to announce awardees later this year.

"America's farmers, ranchers, producers and forested landowners have never shied away from tackling big challenges," said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in a press conference. "I know they are proud of what they do every single day and what they contribute to our great nation. And I know that they're also anxious to pass on the farm, the field and the forest in better shape to the next generation."

Read more: Sonoma, Marin counties receive $10 million for carbon farming partnership

Written by: Noah Abrams

Published: 21 September 2022

This is part one in a three part series by KRCB, in collaboration with the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism 2022 California Fellowship on wildfire smoke, its effect on our health, and how workers in the farms and fields of Sonoma County are responding to the threat.

Wildfires are changing. With their new intensity and near year-round possibility, fires are remaking landscapes across the globe. From Siberia to Australia to right here in Sonoma County.

 

While wildfire can in most instances be escaped, its companion - smoke - is the part we can not so easily run from.

 

Producing hazy red skies, ash that swirls underfoot, and a burnt acrid flavor to the air, wildfire smoke can inundate areas dozens or even hundreds of miles from an active fire. The inescapable nature of wildfire smoke leaves those exposed susceptible to the destructive health effects, both acute and long-lasting, of smoke inhalation as noted by Tom Corringham.

 

"People who’re outdoors, engaged in strenuous activity during these wildfire smoke events are at significant risk."

 

Corringham is a researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and is part of a Scripps team that studies health risks posed by wildfire smoke.

 

The researchers found that wildfire smoke, which like other smog and air pollution, is made up of fine particulate matter, poses an even more serious and severe risk to human health than similarly-sized air pollution.

 

"We looked at a number of different respiratory conditions that could be impacted by wildfire smoke, including upper respiratory tract infections, asthma, COPD." Corringham said. "And we found that all of these increased with exposure to wildfire smoke."

 

The main components of wildfire smoke are miniscule particles that measure under 2.5 microns, or less than one twentieth the width of a human hair. The detrimental effects come from their ability to lodge themselves within the deepest reaches of our lungs, even entering the bloodstream.

 

"At the population level this wildfire smoke increases hospital admissions for these respiratory conditions in a significant way that other forms of air pollution don't." Corringham said.

 

Those increased rates of hospitalization were found to have increased in certain instances by up to 10% when wildfire smoke was the main air pollutant as compared to other pollutants at similar concentrations.

 

Corringham said certain workers are particularly vulnerable to the detrimental effects.

 

"For farm workers, other folks who have to work outdoors, construction workers, for example, to the extent that people can stay indoors during these heavy smoke conditions they should do." Corringham said. "There is a trade off between the economic benefits from having people doing this work and the economic costs in terms of the health costs. And it's difficult to know how to balance that."

 

Most obviously vulnerable to working in hazardous and smoky conditions in Sonoma County: the large population of agricultural workers.

 

Estimates on the number of vineyard workers alone in Sonoma County range between 7,000 and 11,000 people. And their work under dangerous conditions and in close proximity to active fires is, as Michael Mendez, a professor of urban planning and public policy at UC Irvine noted - becoming even more common.

 

"Increasingly these wildfires in 2017, 2019 and 2020 collided with harvest season and much of the harvest of the wine grapes did not occur prior to the fire." Mendez said. "So these fires were happening between August and October, which is prime harvest season for this region."

 

Mendez has conducted research on the effects of climate change on the conditions of agricultural workers across California, including the safety of vineyard workers in Sonoma County during the LNU complex and Glass fires.

 

Mendez said his research into the working conditions of vineyard workers during the fires of 2020 aims to provide public awareness of the reality agricultural workers face as fires become more common.

 

"Many times they're just anecdotal stories that people don't really take too seriously." Mendez said. "So that's what was the intent of our policy brief is taking the own data from Sonoma County and really analyzing it to see those disparities and the burdens of, of disaster."

 

The main focus of Mendez’s investigation was Sonoma County’s Agricultural Pass system - operated on an ad hoc basis at the time of his research.

 

"We wanted to assess documents that Sonoma County had for what is called an agricultural pass, which enables employers, contractors, farm owners, to fill out a very simple two page application to request, to allow their farm workers and other essential workers to enter into these mandatory evacuation zones, to harvest the crops, or tend to other important activities on their properties." Mendez said.

 

He said the previously ad hoc system had resulted in a major lack of oversight.

 

"Our research shows that disproportionately hundreds of these farm workers and a majority of them undocumented farm workers were entering into these mandatory evacuation zones with lax government oversights." Mendez said. "There was really no follow up or understanding of how many people were actually going into these evacuation zones on a daily basis, their duration, and what sort of conditions they were experiencing out there in the job sites."

 

Corringham said there are simple and obvious steps to safeguard workers' health.

 

"The easiest solution that comes to my mind is ensuring that the people who do have to work outside have appropriate protective equipment." Corringham said. "So we're all familiar with N95 masks at this point, but they're not cheap, especially if you have to use a new one every day. So providing those to farm workers, for example, to construction workers, either free or at a discount, I think would be a possible policy solution here."

 

And Mendez said oversight is a must.

 

"Data accuracy and making sure there's checks and balances of this program." Mendez said. "That there's accounting and transparency; there's tracking of who's entering into these zones. And what are the occupational health and safety standards that are, are best for these workers?"

 

Data collection and protective equipment provisions have both been included in Sonoma County's official agricultural access pass program adopted late last month.

 

This is part one in a series from KRCB, in collaboration with the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism 2022 California Fellowship, looking into the harsh wildfire conditions agricultural workers in Sonoma County face.

Read more: Wildfires capture attention - but smoke remains the inescapable threat