State panel looks at balancing prescribed burns, air quality

Starting with a public meeting in Salem next Wednesday, a broad-based committee put together by the Oregon Department of Forestry and Oregon Department of Environmental Quality will review management practices for controlled burning on forestland.

The committee is charged with recommending improvements for how the state can utilize controlled burns to meet land management objectives on private and public forestland in Oregon while minimizing smoke impacts on communities and protecting public health.

The public is invited to attend the meeting, which will be in the Tillamook Room in Building C at ODF’s Salem headquarters, 2600 State St. The meeting lasts from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The meeting space is accessible to persons with disabilities. Requests for an interpreter for the hearing impaired or other accommodations for persons with disabilities should be made at least 48 hours before the meeting by contacting Chrystal Bader at 503-945-7220 .

The committee will hear presentations on air quality and human health, as well as the benefits of controlled burns to forest health, productivity and reducing wildfire risk. There will be time for public comments in the afternoon.

The 20-person committee is made up of forest landowners, public health representatives, the American Lung Association, forest collaboratives and environmentalist groups, county and city elected officials, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and a tribal representative.

The committee is seeking to produce a set of recommendations for the departments of Forestry and Environmental Quality to consider. The committee’s work will be presented to the Board of Forestry (BOF) and the Environmental Quality Commission in late 2017.

Committee recommendations will also inform potential updates to the state’s Smoke Management Plan. That plan is administered by ODF and approved by BOF and the EQC. The Smoke Management Plan becomes part of the state’s plan for implementing the federal Clean Air Act.

“In Central Oregon, the committee will see how managed fire is used to thin brush and reduce the risk of big wildfires,” said ODF Smoke Management Meteorology Manager Nick Yonker. “Controlled burns are timed to when weather conditions can quickly disperse the smoke to protect air quality.”

According to ODF records, last year controlled fires were set on 181,800 forested acres in Oregon, above the 10-year annual average of 165,999 acres. Those fires burned an estimated 1.3 million tons of woody debris. Peak burning is in the spring and fall.

Yonker said the committee will hold monthly meetings around the state through September. The committee’s second meeting will be on June 27 . At that time, members will visit the Deschutes National Forest in central Oregon.