Impacts from Wildfires on Livestock Health and Production: Producer Perspectives

Abstract

Wildfires are increasing in frequency and severity across the Western United States. However, there is limited information available on the impacts these fires are having on the livelihood of livestock producers and their animals. This work presents the results of a survey evaluating the direct and indirect impacts of the 2020 wildfire season on beef cattle, dairy cattle, sheep, and goat, producers in California, Oregon, and Nevada. Seventy completed surveys were collected between May and July 2021. While dairy producers reported no direct impacts from the fires, beef, sheep, and goat producers were impacted by evacuations and pasture lost to fires. Only beef producers reported losses due to burns and burn-associated deaths or euthanasia. Dairy, beef, sheep, and goat producers observed reduced conception, poor weight gain, and drops in milk production. All but dairy producers also observed pneumonia. Lower birthweights, increased abortion rates, and unexplained deaths were reported in beef cattle, sheep, and goats. This work documents the wide-ranging impacts of wildfires on livestock producers and highlights the need for additional work defining the health impacts of fire and smoke exposure in livestock, as well as the policy changes needed to support producers experiencing direct and indirect losses.

Data Linkages for Wildfire Exposures and Human Health Studies: A Scoping Review

“…Three animal studies were included for the potential to serve as surrogate data sources for human health impacts. One study conducted an indirect assessment of food security by surveying livestock producers on wildfire‐related impacts to production and herd health (O’Hara et al., 2021 ), and another article assessed the impact of wildfire smoke on cow milk production (Beaupied et al., 2022 ). Finally, one study assessed immune and lung function in adolescent rhesus macaque monkeys exposed to ambient wildfire smoke during infancy (Black et al., 2017 ).…”

“…Sixteen studies used spatial proximity to a wildfire event or evacuation perimeters as a proxy exposure method rather than assessing a specific pollutant. Seven of these studies used surveys to obtain self‐reported information on general proximity to fire events and evacuation status as an exposure metric (Haikerwal et al., 2021 ; Hyde et al., 2021 ; Masri et al., 2021 ; O’Hara et al., 2021 ; Pazderka, Brown, Agyapong, et al., 2021 ; Pazderka, Brown, McDonald‐Harker, et al., 2021 ; Rodney et al., 2021 ). Two studies utilized personal air monitors or photometers to collect particle samples as measures of personal exposures among older adult populations, one in Los Angeles, CA (Delfino et al., 2010 ) and one in Finland (Huttunen et al., 2012 ).…”

“…Additionally, studies that had no direct connection to human health, assessed animal populations or human tissue samples, or focused solely on occupational or non‐wildfire related exposures were excluded. However, after completing the initial review, 14 articles (Beaupied et al., 2022 ; Black et al., 2017 ; Buchholz et al., 2022 ; Delfino et al., 2002 , 2010 ; Ghetu et al., 2022 ; Huttunen et al., 2012 ; Liang et al., 2021 ; Messier et al., 2019 ; Nguyen et al., 2021 ; O’Hara et al., 2021 ; Ré et al., 2021 ; Solomon et al., 2021 ; Wan et al., 2021 ) within these categories were included to capture the use of novel data sources or for potential relevance to human health outcomes. Information from full text articles was organized in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.…”

Farming and Ranching through Wildfire: Producers' Critical Role in Fire Risk Management and Emergency Response

“…Wildfires threaten the quality of life, safety, and livelihoods of producers. They threaten infrastructure, crops (Dillis et al, 2022;Zakowski et al, 2023) , and livestock (O'Hara et al, 2021). Additionally, wildfires lead to closed markets during evacuations, power outages, smoke-related illnesses, and post-traumatic stress.…”

A Protocol for Collecting Burned Area Time Series Cross-Check Data

“…Fast spreading fire has been implicated in dramatic changes in vegetation structure and composition [1,2], which in turn can cause negative downstream effects on water [3,4] and soil conditions [5]. The sudden emission of large quantities of smoke [6] and the rapidly advancing flames of a wildfire can pose a threat to human [7,8] and non-human health [9,10]. In addition to the associated safety risks, fast-spreading fires are particularly difficult for firefighters to control [11].…”