In the Pacific Northwest, the community is very involved in industrial development and recreational activities. With the recent COVID-19 development, many people have not been able to do their normal recreation activities including hiking, swimming, and boating. Because of this lockdown, the country’s consumption of gasoline has dropped significantly due to the stay at home orders and many companies choosing to work remotely. A recent study by IQAir shows that during the lockdown, there has been a drastic decrease in air pollution. A decrease in transportation by motor vehicles is one of the main contributions to this. Exhaust from cars, trucks, and other motor vehicles directly pump chemicals into the air and soil, altering the pH of rain, snow, water, and soil. The data for petroleum consumption can be tracked by different companies, but the most reliable is the U.S. Energy Information Administration.  ForcesofPNW’s project is developing a system that involves the community with testing the pH of target locations to see how the stay-at-home orders have impacted the different environments of the Pacific Northwest. By testing for a change in pH in the air, water, and ground, we can compare the data of decreased gasoline to data that can be collected by regular people at their houses all over the Pacific Northwest and the target locations, as well as data from scientists who have access to closed areas and equipment that the average person cannot get to. ForcesofPNW’s target locations include Mt. Saint Helens, Mt. Hood, the Hoh Rainforest, and Long Beach since all of these locations have their unique geologic locations, as well as some feeding into other areas in the Pacific Northwest, such as lakes, rivers, and oceans. 

     The goal of this team is to bring a community together to assess and learn how humans affect the environment. People have the chance to learn how increasing travel affects the environment by seeing how the starting point of limited travel turning into regular conditions (no stay-at-home orders).  The data collected makes sustaining ideal pH conditions of our region personal, by creating an easy understanding of what the change in travel and pH means while also teaching what the long term effects on the environment look like. Fishing and hunting are major parts of the business and culture here, so showing people how their lives will be changed by less travel presents the problem as one that affects us and our homes directly. A study done through the Cornell University Department of Natural Resources notes that when the acidity of lakes and streams drop due to acidic water released during snow melts results in gill damage and death to brook trout fly. While the brook trout fly is not native to the Pacific Northwest, this is just one example of how the acidity of acid snow can affect fish’s environments. Both Mt. Saint Helens and Mt. Hood feeds into the Columbia River, where there is a large industry for salmon, steelhead, stag, and sturgeon fishing. Both of the mountains are popular for hiking, skiing and snowboarding, and other snow activities, as well as being in areas that are close to major cities.  By taking samples of the pH of the snow now, we can track and see how the pH changes as the phases to open up continue and understand how this affects the wildlife that lives on the mountains and the rivers that they feed into.  Studies done have shown that fungi and moss prefer growing in acidic conditions, but with acid rain that contains sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can be harmful to the growth of natural moss in forest environments. This part will be mainly focused on how reduced exhaust effects the Hoh Rainforest, since most of the rainforest is covered in moss and fungi and has an average rainfall of 3.55 meters. With the rainforest getting so much rain, acid rain can have damaging effects on its unique ecosystem. Long Beach is another unique location because it is the only location with a saltwater environment and a more rural area. Other than the beach, the wetlands around Long Beach are habitats for trees, grasses, ferns, birds, shellfish, fish, and lots of other plants and animals. The pH of the Pacific Ocean is 8.1, so testing different sites to see how the pH changes with less travel to more travel can help protect the plants and animals that die as the ocean absorbs more carbon dioxide and become more acidic. 

     Since the Pacific Northwest is such a big region, the website that this team created is aimed to be an easy to use source for people to learn how to get involved with this cause. The website lists each of the target locations and the specifics of how each site should be tested as well as the instruments for people to use. For the average person, they will simply be testing the pH of allowed locations during a time when they are legally allowed by their local governments to do so. Then they will be able to contribute the data they collected by filling out a form on the website that includes what type of material they tested, the general location, coordinate location, and the pH of the material. This way anybody, including kids and classes from local schools, can take part in the action without needing to buy equipment. Since regular people do not have easy access to more specialized equipment, it will be scientists who can study higher-level chemical compositions from the sites, using equipment such as “cloud collectors” and the CASTNET Filter Pack, the same equipment that University at Albany Atmospheric Sciences Research Center uses at the Whiteface Observatory to study the chemicals in acid rain. This data can be analyzed against the data that is collected by NASA’s EarthData Aerosols project data, including the INTEX-A, CATS, SAGE III-ISS, and CALIPSO data. All of these projects were similar in the fact that they measured the atmospheric compositions of parts of the atmosphere, although some have been discontinued the SAGE III-ISS and CALIPSO projects continue to collect data for scientists to use in studying radiation and aerosols. While the science behind the ForcesofPNW project can be taken to a high level, everyone in the community can help us understand our world better.