Local Air Sensors to be Installed
Board members from the Adams County Soil and Water Conservation District ACSWCD) met with county commissioners in February to tell them they planned to purchase two, Purple Air Sensors, at a cost of $289 a piece, and that they would install one in Council and another in Indian Valley in March.
Board member Kris Stone said the sensors will measure particle pollution and that they may place a sensor near the school, so that students see how air quality changes over time, but they could also place the sensor near the ACSWCD office, next to the University of Idaho Extension Office.
Once the sensors are installed, this information will be available to the public if they go to the PurpleAir website, purpleair.com.
She is not yet sure where they will place the sensor slated for Indian Valley.
Stone said the sensors are needed, especially after last summer’s lengthy, smoky fire season. She said there is already a PurpleAir sensor at the New Meadows Fire Station.
For those unfamiliar with the ACSWCD, it is a five-member volunteer board, whose mission is to help farmers and ranchers use best practices in their activities on private land. It is not a taxing district; every four years board members are elected by the citizens of Adams County, but if they are all running unopposed, they do not appear on the ballot.
The State of Idaho funds them, and they partner with a number of other agencies, including Adams County, Idaho Association of Soil Conservation Districts, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Idaho Department of Fish and Game and many others.
In the United States, soil conservation districts were established by the USDA in response to the Dust Bowl in 1940. Idaho has 44 such districts.
The first one in Idaho was started in 1944. Adams County was one of the last three districts formed in 1967.
Their mission is primarily to help Idaho landowners and land users with the conservation, sustainment, improvement, and enhancement of the county’s natural resources.
They have access to grant writers and have helped replace sprinklers, culverts, installed fences, and managed erosion control. She said they recently helped two cattle ranchers in the New Meadows area put up fences to keep their cattle out of the Little Salmon River.
Stone said that when they collaborate with the county or city, they get close to a double match from the state.
