Last year, Nate Saltpeter and his wife

,

Anna Sweet

,

moved their animal shelter from California to western New York in hopes of avoiding the regular wildfires that had threatened their safety and the health of the creatures in their care.

But this week, saltpeter smelled smoke again. Massive wildfires burning in Canada sent huge plumes of ash across the US, forcing air quality alerts, baseball game cancellations and school closures up and down.

E

branch

C

East.

For saltpeter, sweet

,

and the team at Sweet Farm Foundation, their new animal shelter on the west shore of Seneca Lake in Himrod, New York, the problem was all too familiar.

“Yesterday you could barely see across the lake, and Anna said, ‘I thought we left this behind,'” Salpeter said. “There’s a little bit of PTSD involved in that whole experience.”

Air quality in Himrod was classified as “unhealthy” by the US Air Quality Index for much of Thursday

. Saltpeter and Sweet

founded Sweet Farm in 2015 in Half Moon Bay in Northern California. But in August 2020

was threatened by the

CZU Lightning Complex fire, which ravaged San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties. A team of about 45 in just four hours

people from

Community workers and volunteers evacuated more than 140 animals, including cows, pigs, ducks and goats

,

and a 37-year-old stallion named Sturgis

,

to two other shrines beyond the path of the raging fire.

The fire, which destroyed 1,500 properties and consumed 86,000 acres, ultimately spared the ranch, but the sanctuary team found the experience difficult

,

Nevertheless. Just going through that experience was extremely traumatic, it was stressful for the animals, for the team and everyone involved, Salpeter told The Times on Thursday.

That close call was a catalyst. After years of wildfires, droughts and other extreme climatic conditions, Salpeter and Sweet decided to move the animal shelter to Himrod, a town in western New York that they determined should become a climate haven.

–

stable and also close to Sweets’ hometown, Penn Yan.

If it wasn’t [CZU fire] who burned down the farm or caused a catastrophe, when would the next one happen and would that be the one to burn down the farm? said Saltpeter. We wanted [move] on our own terms, before it was an eleventh

–

hour rush.

Climate change has affected the migration decisions of other Californians. Nina Berlin Rubin and Gabrielle Wong-Parodi of Stanford University found in a recent study of 1

,

100 California residents that “experiencing negative outcomes during the 2020 wildfire season was associated with a greater likelihood of planning to migrate.” About a third of respondents planned to move in the next

5 five

years, and nearly a quarter of those likely to move reported wildfires and smoke

affected affected

their decision at least a modest amount.

In May 2022, after months of planning, paperwork and animal blood testing, the

The Sweet Farm team has loaded the heir

cows, sheep, geese, pigs, llamas and chickens and the aging Sturgis on two 18-wheel trucks every 47 hours, nearly 3

,

Travel 000 miles to Himrod.

That sense of safety and serenity was shattered this week when wildfires in neighboring Canada sent a smoky haze to New York State and the rest of the East Coast of the United States. The East Coast, largely spared the smog and bright red sun caused by wildfires, is now experiencing the harsh conditions that have become all too familiar to California and the west.

A year later, Salpeter says he and Sweet have no regrets. The lake provides them with easy access to fresh water, and the region has a wine industry that is a reminder of their former home. They are no longer under the near-constant threat of wildfires and other extreme climate events.

But this week’s harsh conditions have also provided a reminder.

“No one is immune, no one is completely unaffected by climate change, wherever you are,” Salpeter said.