Mt. Hood and GP Policy Update: Air and Smoke Management Regulations and Prescribed Burning Operations

1. Mt. Hood and GP Policy Update: Air and Smoke Management Regulations and Prescribed Burning Operations Jim Russell Dale Guenther Pacific Northwest Region USDA Forest Service

2. Current Air Resource and Smoke Management Policy Challenges… • Implementation of the PM 2.5 Standard Smoke Management Plans and SIPS • Regional Haze Rule

3. Concerns About Smoke • Health, both public and firefighter • Safety • Liability • Visibility • Laws and regulations • Nuisance • Socio-political, economic

4. Key criteria pollutants generated by fire Criteria Pollutants National Air Quality Standards • Carbon Monoxide • Particulate Matter • Ozone • Nitrogen Oxide • Lead • Sulfur Dioxide

5. Smoke Produces Particulate Matter that Adversely Affects Human Health • Increased premature deaths • Aggravation of respiratory or cardiovascular illness • Lung function decrements • Increased work loss • Changes in lung function/structure/natural defense

9. State/Regional Smoke Management Plans as Effective Mitigation • Prevent Prescribed Fire Smoke from entering and accumulating in designated and smoke sensitive areas within and across all geographic areas. • Emphasize emission reduction as oppose to acres burned and still meet our objectives • Maximize Burning Opportunities • Focus on critical seasons for burning in order to coordinate between all of the land management groups (i.e. Forest Service, BLM, NPS, US F&WL, DOD, and private land) thereby reducing airshed conflicts. • Assure that the Protection of Public Health and Safety is achieved above all else or don’t strike the match?

10. Terminology and Emphasis Areas for Revised Oregon SMP Changes to Smoke Protected Areas: • “Regulated Area” includes all forest land – replaces “Restricted Area”. • New term “Smoke Sensitive Receptor Area” (SSRA) to cover all smoke protected areas. • New SSRAs to include: • The Dalles • CRGNSA • Redmond • New section on Smoke Management Coordination with emphasis on interstate transport (North East Oregon and Southwest Washington • New section on Enforcement

11. Smoke Management Smoke Mgt Plan Coverage Areas

12. Preliminary Smoke Management Fees for Forestland These Fees apply to all federally managed forest land and Class I state and private forestland in Western Oregon Registration Fee-$.50 Acre (Up to 3 Yrs.) Landings-$.50 Acre from which the landing material is generated Landing Unit is burned -$2.60(includes Registration

13. Smoke Management Fees • Maintenance Burn - $1.00 per Acre (Includes $.50 Registration) • Broadcast, underburn, and unit piles-$3.10 Acre ( re. blackened acres) – Maxmum Fee assessed on a per acre basis.

14. Situational Awareness for Prescribed Fire Smoke Monitoring? • Before the burn, • To establish pre-burn air quality & visibility levels • To make input into modeling decision support systems (i.e. V-Smoke and BlueSky) • During the burn, • To aid the Fuels Manager and State Smoke Manager in the decision to request/permit additional burning or to slow, restrict, or suppress burning. • To determine if predicted smoke dispersion, avoidance, and mixing is accurate based on the instructions or decision to allow burning. • After the burn, • To assess performance of SMP and to assess responsibility if a smoke intrusion occurs.

15. Fuel Managers Roles • To develop and implement air quality protection as part of our burn plans that considers visibility impairment and public health as part of the Go/No Go decision. • To take the responsibility for the final decision to burn knowing that if there are local health impacts from that decision the responsibility will rest with you regardless of whether the state approved the burn or not. • To work directly with our local States Regulatory Agencies, Tribes, and other Federal agencies to assure that all burning is coordinated to allow for best burn day opportunities and protection of smoke sensitive areas.

16. EPA’s Perspective on Wildland Fire Use • EPA acknowledges use of fire as land management tool for: • Maintaining health of fire-tolerant/dependent plant and animal ecosystems • Thermal treatment to promote seed germination and plant growth • Eliminating threat of plant and pest disease • Reducing risk of catastrophic wildfires. • Emphasize the use of smoke management programs to minimize impacts of burning activities on air quality and visibility impairment, without regulating fires. • Partnering with Federal, State, Tribal and private land managers to ensure equitable and appropriate use of fire while meeting air quality goals and standards. • Emphasize notification of advisories for public health and safety • EPA recognizes that fire (i.e., wildfire inclusive) can contribute to a loss of visibility; but this relationship is very complex and one in which we must consider the natural role of fire and the tradeoff between prescribed fire and wildfire emissions throughout the west.

17. Interim Air Quality Policy on Wildland and Prescribed Fire The interim Air Quality Policy provides significant procedural and legal benefits for states, tribes, and users of wildland fire if they develop state-certified smoke management programs. www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t1/memoranda/firefnl.pdf

18. The National Visibility Goal “…the prevention of any future, and the remedying of any existing, impairment of visibility in mandatory Class I Federal areas which impairment results from man-made air pollution.”

19. P a s a y t e n G l a c i e r P e a k A l p i n e L a k e s G o a t R o c k s M t . A d a m s M t . H o o d H e l l ' s C a n y o n E a g l e C a p M t . J e f f e r s o n M t . W a s h i n g t o n S t r a w b e r r y M t n . T h r e e S i s t e r s D i a m o n d P e a k G e a r h a r t M t n . K a l m i o p s i s M o u n t a i n L a k e s Class I Areas Wilderness 16 Class I 59 Total National Parks 4

20. IMPROVE Monitoring Network • IMPROVE is the national visibility and fine particulate monitoring program with over 163 monitoring sites • 1/3 are US Forest Service sites • IMPROVE is the premiere air monitoring program in the Forest Service

21. Regulatory Requirements • Must develop long term strategies with enforceable measures • First long-term strategy will cover10-15 years: due in the 2003-2008 timeframe • Reassessment and revision of those strategies will be done in 2018, and every ten years thereafter • Strategies need to address State’s and Tribe’s contributions to Class I Areas within and outside the State

22. Regulatory Requirements of Regional Haze Rule • Five multi-state regional planning organizations to develop the technical basis for visibility protection plans • Analyses to set reasonable progress goals • Goal is to reach natural background conditions in 60 years • Goals for each affected Class I area • Improve visibility on the 20% haziest days • Ensure no degradation occurs on the clearest days For more Information go to: www.wrapair.org www.eqp.gov/ttncaaa1/t1/meta/m31943.html

23. Conclusions • Air quality standards and regulations are becoming more stringent. • Federal agencies must comply with and understand federal, state and local standards and regulations. • Land management agencies must coordinate burning within their local geographic area. • Land management agencies must incorporate best management practices and research findings into their project work in order to meet the new standards and regulations.

24. Next Prescribed Fire Reporting System Dale Guenther