{"id":93097,"date":"2021-08-09T05:43:38","date_gmt":"2021-08-09T11:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=93097"},"modified":"2026-04-13T15:05:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T20:05:33","slug":"remembering-smokeless-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/08\/09\/remembering-smokeless-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Smokeless Days"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WestWest Desert mountain range view – May 26, 2021\u00a0 \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 18mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Smoke from western wildfires has been an issue here in northern Utah for quite some time now. Our wildfire season has grown longer, stronger, and the fires themselves are more destructive.<\/p>\n

The smoke we are experiencing in northern Utah has mostly been coming from Oregon and California. Last week the small California town of Greenville<\/span><\/a> was destroyed when the Dixie Fire swept through it.<\/p>\n

The smoke we are breathing here in northern Utah contains the particulates of devastation from our neighbors to the west. The Dixie Fire, one of 107 wildfires currently burning in the west, has now burned more than 500,000 acres.<\/p>\n

Because the Salt Lake Valley is surrounded by mountains the smoke gets trapped here sometimes for days on end. It starts to get hard to remember what smokeless days look like.<\/p>\n

I’ve been restricting my journeys out into the field on days when I think the smoke will bother me. It gives me headaches, makes my eyes burn, and can make it hard to breathe. I haven’t been getting out much at all and that is likely to continue into the fall.<\/p>\n

Fire can be good. It can<\/em> rejuvenate. But these fires are more destructive now<\/span><\/a> because of climate change<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The photo I shared today isn’t of anything special. It is a West Desert mountain range view. That smokeless blue sky though? I’d give so much to see that again here today.<\/p>\n

With every smoky sky I see I am vividly aware that they contain particulates of devastation. The loss of homes for people and wildlife. People’s hopes, dreams, and their hard work. Bits of the forests that will be altered for generations.<\/p>\n

My brain has a hard time processing all that has been lost and that is carried here to Utah by the prevailing winds. When I think about it it becomes so damn overwhelming.<\/p>\n

Life is good but we have to do our part now to make it better. For everyone and every thing.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my West Desert scenery photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The photo I shared today isn’t of anything special. It is a West Desert mountain range view. That smokeless blue sky though? I’d give so much to see that again here today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":174683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[358,26,773],"tags":[3940,4101,5181,4098,4109,3914,4674,2691,4069,2817,4057,4677,4018,10452,165,4210,2690],"class_list":["post-93097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-canyon","tag-clouds","tag-conifers","tag-desert","tag-grasses","tag-juniper","tag-junipers","tag-juniperus-osteosperma","tag-mountains","tag-sage","tag-sagebrush","tag-shadows","tag-sky","tag-sky-island-mountains","tag-spring","tag-stansbury-mountains","tag-utah-juniper"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t