By Mike Rogoway and Andrew Theen | The Oregonian/OregonLive

From Willamette Valley vineyards to the stages of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, the state is coping with the economic fallout from another smoky summer.

And construction laborers, farmworkers and others who work outdoors are struggling for a second year amid inhospitable conditions.

"Work has to be done," said Russ Renner, owner of a landscape company called The Garden Retreat. "Work doesn't stop, so we've got to modify what we're doing."

Air quality across much of Oregon was rated as "Unhealthy" on Monday and Tuesday. So businesses are delaying tasks amid the smoke and workers are putting on masks in hopes of protecting their lungs – though health experts say the masks are useless or counterproductive unless wearers choose an industrial grade filter and professional fitting.

Evan Kruse is president of Douglas County Farm Bureau and owner of the 500-acre Kruse Farms near Roseburg. He said last year's smoke put him, and his farm, out of commission and he stayed home two days in a row.

"I felt drunk and was in no shape to drive or run equipment," Kruse said. And again this year, he said work is slowing down and business at his farm stand is slowing as people move indoors to avoid the smoke.

"There's just some stuff that isn't getting done, and that bites us later in the year," Kruse said. Either he and his staff must work extra, or his farm takes a hit to its income.

Portland and state transportation officials urged employees to take a break and keep an eye out for one another as crews continued to work during the end of the busy paving season.

"We're encouraging staff to minimize work that contributes to poor air quality by creating smoke/dust, and minimize running gas-powered equipment," Dylan Rivera, a Portland transportation spokesman said in an email.

Neither city nor state officials reported delays on maintenance work due to the air quality.

City parks officials also notified employees to take breaks indoors and avoid "doing tasks that require extensive lifting."

Josh Lehner with the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis wrote earlier this month that last year's fires had minimal long-term impact on the state's labor market. But he said it could have severe impacts on individual small businesses and could increase risk to Oregon's economy over the long term by making it a less appealing place to move, visit or invest.

Oregon's biggest industry, semiconductor and electronics manufacturing, requires pristine conditions to create microscopic features on computer chips. Those clean rooms are insulated from the smoke, though, by sophisticated filters.

"Our manufacturing operations are not impacted because our air filtration system has the capability to filter the smoke in the outside air," an Intel spokesman wrote in an email Tuesday.

Southern Oregon has had the worst of this year's fires, with smoke drifting up from infernos in California. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland has canceled 22 shows this summer, according to Travel Oregon, handily exceed the prior cancellation record of nine. Each canceled show costs $60,000.

Travel Oregon estimates the state lost $51 million in visitor spending during last year's fires, including $16 million in lost earnings and nearly $2 million in lost taxes.

Oregon's wine industry is facing years of uncertainty from two years of smoke that might affect the flavor of the state's signature red wines. Red wine typically spends a couple years in the barrel before bottling. But with the state enduring its second straight year of late-summer wildfire smoke, it's become a pressing issue.

Sally Murdoch, communications manager with The Oregon Wine Board, said the state's wine growers have studied techniques for mitigating smoke taint, drawing on experience from vineyards in Australia that have endured regular wildfires. Reverse osmosis, changes in fermentation techniques and other procedures can sometimes restore the natural flavor.

Others, she said, lean into the situation by marketing limited batches of wine with a distinctly smoky, cherry taste.

"Some," she said, "have made the most of it."

-- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen