Clean Air Methow is dedicated to seeking solutions for a sustainably clean airshed.

The program was started by Dr. Raleigh Bowden, with fiscal sponsorship from the Methow Valley Citizen’s Council (MVCC), in the winter of 2013 to address poor air quality mostly resulting from weather inversions and home-heating wood smoke. When the Carlton Complex Fire ripped through the valley in 2014, followed by days of poor air quality, community needs around summer smoke emerged. Extreme smoke events impact our community in many ways, including our economy, our physical health, and overall well-being. Our willingness to change our behavior, such as finding alternatives to outdoor burning, will ultimately improve the qualities of our lives.

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Today

Today, Clean Air Methow operates as a project of MVCC and has a year-round air quality program focusing on serving the community’s needs and questions related to air quality; providing solutions to improve air quality where possible; and activity promoting a sustainably clean airshed and breathing room for everyone. We partner with community members, other nonprofits and organizations, government, schools, etc. in a collaborative approach to solutions. We incorporate both learning and teaching approaches to improving air quality, asking what needs and questions the community has while sharing impactful information about air quality and health. We disseminate and publish ideas, tools, and best practices to the rural west, contributing on local, regional and national scales to the challenges of poor air quality. We ensure big and lasting impact of our work through bringing attention to the severity of rural air quality issues and advocating effective environmental and public health policy changes.

 

Staff

 
 
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Anna Jones

Program Manager

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Anna began visiting the Methow during summers while her parents were guides on the Methow River -frolicking in its icy cold waters and camping underneath the stars for weeks on end. It was always a dream to come back and stay forever. Before moving to the Methow Valley full time in 2019, Anna obtained a BS in Microbiology and Environmental Health from Montana State in Bozeman, MT. While working on a water quality project for Gallatin County, Anna took an interest in the field of environmental health -ultimately leading her to pursue to a Masters of Science in Environmental Health from the University of Washington. During the months of June and July, Anna and her partner, Alec, run commercial fishing vessels in Bristol Bay, Alaska. Hockey, skiing, biking, and spending time with friends and family are top priorities when Anna is back home from Alaska and not in the office.

 
 
 

Liz Walker

Advisor, Clean Air Methow

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Liz is grateful for the opportunity to live, love, and play with her two kiddos in the wild and vibrant beauty of the Methow Valley. Her commitment to clean air and climate change is informed and inspired by her graduate work in toxicology at the University of Washington’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, where she is also an Affiliate Assistant Professor. Liz additionally represents our rural community’s firsthand experience and needs to state, regional, and national teams developing programs and policy to address smoke management and wildfire smoke impacts. Liz is honored to work within the community in support of healthy humans and forests in a resilient, climate-adapted Methow.

 
 

Advisory Board

 
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Craig Olson

Craig is a retired Forest Biologist who worked in forest planning, inventory and monitoring. He also spent a number of years doing forest fire research, and is the Clean Air Ambassador hosting our Benson Creek sensor.

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George Wooten

George studied microbiology at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. His role with Clean Air Methow is to be the bridge between the need of controlled fire to benefit the ecosystem and reduce the smoke production for human health.

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Lorah Super

Lorah Super is the Program Director for MVCC, and a Board Supervisor for Okanogan Conservation District. She and her family live on a 100% solar powered ranch in the lower Methow where they raise a variety of produce and animals. As a survivor of the 2014 Carlton Complex that burned all around her home, Lorah spends an inordinate amount of time preparing for the next wildfire, and enjoys watching the landscape change and recover.

 
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Sean Hopkins

Sean is the Smoke Management Team Lead for WA State Department of Ecology. He does air quality regulation, monitor, forecasting and outreach for the Central Region of WA State which includes Okanogan County. His role as an advisory member is to explain the state smoke management laws to the group and offer both regulatory and non-regulatory solutions to local smoke pollution issues. Sean recently secured funding to buy back and change out old wood stoves in the Methow Valley. Ecology also pays for the local chipping events to help reduce public smoke exposure from outdoor residential burning.

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Jason Paulsen

Jason serves as Executive Director at the Methow Conservancy, and volunteers as President of Methow Valley Long Term Recovery, an organization formed after the Carlton Complex fires of 2014 to ensure that the Methow Valley community is better prepared for wildfire and other natural disasters into the future. Jason has advised the work of Methow Clean Air since its inception, and believes the Methow Valley can be a model for community education, coordination and engagement as we work to improve both air quality and landscape health in our community.

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Phil Millam

In a past life Phil was the Branch Chief for Air Quality at EPA's Northwest Region. Now retired, he serves on the board of MVCC and makes beautiful “Dog Paw” knives.

 
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Christopher James

Christopher A. James advises regulators, advocates, and businesses on how to reduce greenhouse gas, criteria, and toxic pollutants to meet existing and new air standards, improve water quality, and protect consumers. James has 30 years of experience working in air quality, and has a keen interest in citizen science and helping people understand air pollution and the health effects that result from exposure to pollutants. He feels that education is essential to help people appreciate clean air and think about the ways their personal actions can improve air quality. He is also an avid cyclist and beer-drinker.

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Raleigh Bowden

Raleigh Bowden is a house-call physician in the Methow Valley. She became interested in air quality in 2013 because of the effect of winter wood smoke on her patients with lung disease. Further, she noticed people continued to do outdoor burning during burn bans and realized there was not a good communication system to inform people about all aspect of woodsmoke and when burn bans were in place. She helped start Clean Air Methow to improve winter air quality and continues to contribute to the present day vision of how we can improve air quality in our Valley as climate change impacts air quality year round.

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Jasmine Minbashian

Jasmine Minbashian is the Executive Director of Methow Valley Citizen Council. Jasmine has two decades of experience advocating for the environment. She has led successful campaigns to protect and restore forests, including the Cedar River watershed – now the largest lowland ecological preserve in the central Cascades.