Technical Bulletin No. 0103: Programs and Studies to Define the Impact of Point Source Emissions and Prescribed Burning on Ambient Air Quality (AQTB)

Determining the extent to which current practices in woodlands management such as prescribed burning impact on ambient air quality is the subject of current investigations and studies. These studies and those that are designed to define the impact of point source emissions at a manufacturing site are of particular interest to the forest products industry. Three papers presented at the Southern and West Coast Regional Meetings in 1979 on studies related to the impact of prescribed burning are a part of this technical bulletin. The description of the U. S. Forest Service Smoke Management Research and Development Program by John Pierovich is a comprehensive coverage of this effort and covers (a) current research activities, (b) future planning and (c) examples of work in progress. Two papers describe investigations carried out in the Pacific Northwest. One, an EPA study based on analysis of available information by GEOMET is summarized by Dr. John E. Pinkerton, NCASI Research Meteorologist. A second describes selected elements of a field measurement program designed to define the impact of slash burning on ambient air quality in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. This paper is of particular interest, since it describes the elements of a program effort required to relate emissions to ambient air quality. Dr. John E. Pinkerton has NCASI staff responsibility and maintains a close working relationship with the studies directed toward defining the impact of prescribed burning on ambient air quality. The forest products industry finds it increasingly important and desirable to determine the portion its emissions contribute to a total measured ambient air quality characteristic. The paper by Jack Anderson of Potlatch Corporation describes a detailed ambient particulate sampling and analysis program to determine the mill site emissions to the total ambient particulate load where fugitive emissions from other sources is a pertinent question.