Forest fire policy: change conventional thinking of smoke management to prioritize long-term air quality and public health

Schweizer, Donald; Cisneros, Ricardo

doi:10.1007/s11869-016-0405-4

Cited by 42 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…We discuss the interactions between these policy areas, and discuss steps towards climate change mitigation through approaches to decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In doing so, we extend a recent study by Schweizer and Cisneros (2016) that highlighted some challenges between air quality and wildland fire management through a case study example focused on the Sierra Nevada, California. This prior study briefly highlighted the Clean Air Act (CAA) and a prior version of the Exceptional Events Rule (EER), but did not discuss detailed implications for wildland fire management and did not discuss other existing air quality regulations (Schweizer and Cisneros 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…In doing so, we extend a recent study by Schweizer and Cisneros (2016) that highlighted some challenges between air quality and wildland fire management through a case study example focused on the Sierra Nevada, California. This prior study briefly highlighted the Clean Air Act (CAA) and a prior version of the Exceptional Events Rule (EER), but did not discuss detailed implications for wildland fire management and did not discuss other existing air quality regulations (Schweizer and Cisneros 2016). Similarly, Engel (2013) synthesised US wildland fire air quality policy and focused on the differences in the regulatory treatment of emissions from wildfires and prescribed fires, but provided little information on how these policies were implemented by land management.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…Thus, although wildland fires are inevitable and have an essential role in many terrestrial ecosystems, the smoke produced by these fires is a considerable societal concern (Bowman et al 2009;Smith et al 2016). Balancing the management of wildland fires in a way that preserves ecosystem function and maintains air quality to protect human health remains a substantial research and environmental policy challenge (Haikerwal et al 2015;Schweizer and Cisneros 2016). Adding to this challenge is a heterogeneous mix of communities with different views of prescribed fire and tolerance to wildland fire smoke (Blades et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The development of congruent wildland fire management and air quality policies is an important topic within the United States, Australia and other fire-prone countries (Schweizer and Cisneros 2016). Although policies to manage emissions from wildland fires have been developed in some countries, multiple factors commonly make it difficult to effectively meet goals for both human health and ecosystem management (Engel 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Air quality policy and fire management responses addressing smoke from wildland fires in the United States and Australia

Hyde

Yedinak

Talhelm

et al. 2017

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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Abstract. Wildland fire emissions degrade air quality and visibility, having adverse economic, health and visibility impacts at large spatial scales globally. Air quality regulations can constrain the goals of landscape resilience and management of fire-dependent ecosystems. Here, we review the air quality regulatory framework in the United States, comparing this framework with that of Australia. In the United States, wildland fire management and air quality policies have evolved independently, yet interact to meet diverse public needs. Australian policy development is more recent and decentralised. We find that (1) for maxiumum effectiveness, smoke and fire regulatory frameworks must keep pace with scientific evidence, environmental and social change, and be accompanied by clear regulatory guidance; (2) episodic, non-stationary qualities of fire, and its role in ecosystems, pose specific challenges to regulators and policy-makers; and (3) the complexity of industry-focused air quality policies often leads to unintended consequences for fire management. More research is needed to create and implement more effective fire and air policies and better prepare social-ecological systems to address the challenges of climate change mitigation. These insights may be helpful for countries initially developing complementary fire and air policies, especially as the role of fire becomes more important geopolitically and globally.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Air quality policy and fire management responses addressing smoke from wildland fires in the United States and Australia

Hyde

Yedinak

Talhelm

et al. 2017

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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“…Continuing a business-as-usual full suppression strategy is recognized as unsustainable [14], and new paradigms call for learning to live with fire and promote socioecological resilience that can adapt to disturbance rather than futilely attempt to minimize or exclude it [15][16][17]. In many locations, the biophysical solution might well be more fire, not less: the choices lie around where and under what conditions to leverage prescribed and managed fires [18,19]. Mechanical treatment alone is insufficient to reduce fuels without the use of prescribed fires [20], is limited in spatial scope compared to the scale of many wildfires [18,21] and is constrained by practical factors including access in many areas [22,23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Model-Based Framework to Evaluate Alternative Wildfire Suppression Strategies

Riley

Thompson

Scott³

et al. 2018

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Abstract:The complexity and demands of wildland firefighting in the western U.S. have increased over recent decades due to factors including the expansion of the wildland-urban interface, lengthening fire seasons associated with climate change, and changes in vegetation due to past fire suppression and timber harvest. In light of these changes, the use of more wildland fire on the landscape could reduce fuels and form barriers to the spread of future fires while performing forest restoration in some areas. However, the risks, costs and benefits of changing fire response strategy have not been quantified. Here, we identify gaps regarding the ability to simulate alternative wildfire suppression strategies, due to a number of factors including limited data collected on fireline construction, as well as synergies between firefighting resources and resource effectiveness. We present a fire management continuum: at one end lies full suppression of all fires under all circumstances, and at the opposite end lies no suppression of any fires regardless of location or time in season, with a wide array of managed fire options falling in between. Next, we demonstrate the proof-of-concept using a stochastic fire simulation model, FSim, to simulate two alternative fire suppression strategies close to opposite ends of this continuum for the Sierra National Forest of California: (1) business-as-usual, which equates to nearly full fire suppression; and (2) full suppression of human-caused fires and no suppression actions on lightning-caused fires. Results indicate that fire management strategy can substantially affect the number of large fires and landscape burn probabilities, both of which were shown to increase under the second scenario. However, temporal feedbacks are expected to play an important role: we show that increases in burned area substantially limit ignition potential and the extent of subsequent fires within the first five to ten years, especially under the second scenario. While subject to current data gaps and limitations in fire modeling, the methodology presented here can be used to simulate a number of alternative fire suppression strategies, including decisions to suppress or not suppress fires based on location, time of season or other factors. This method also provides basic inputs needed to estimate risks, costs and benefits of various alternative suppression strategies in future work. In future work, uncertainties resulting from current limitations in knowledge can be addressed using techniques such as scenario planning in order to provide land managers with a set of possible fire outcomes.

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