Unlike us, wildfire smoke has little health effect on Michigan’s tree canopy

Michigan’s air quality declined dangerously earlier this month due to wildfire smoke from Minnesota and Canada. 

Pollutants in the smoke can have long-term health consequences for humans, pets, and wildlife. However, for trees themselves the health effects are less consequential.  

Wayne State University forestry professor Dan Kashian says that while our tree canopy is important for converting carbon dioxide into life-supporting oxygen, days or even weeks of heavy smoke plumes is unlikely to harm Michigan’s trees. He says the main effect would be on the amount of sunlight on smokey days. 

Kashian says,  “Trees need to photosynthesize…anything that affects the amount of light that they’re receiving is going to affect how well they can grow.”

According to Kashian, harmful pollutants from wildfire smoke can settle on leaves but are often washed away by rain without lasting harm to the tree’s health.  

“But when you’re talking about a couple of days of heavy smoke like this, especially when it’s hot, it can actually help them because they don’t really like really high temperatures either,” Kashian says.