Oregon agencies push for more prescribed burns

State and federal agencies are working to add more prescribed burns, to rid forests of fuel that stokes major wildfires — but that depends on wether Oregon’s smoke regulations change or not. There’s been a push to change the way the state measures pollution, specifically as it relates to prescribed burning.

NewsChannel 21 spoke Wednesday with local forest and fire officials who said their biggest challenge is the “one-hour threshold.” That regulation refers to the smoke impact in a given area within a one-hour period — but officials say that measurement simply isn’t accurate.

“The one-hour threshold does not align with national standards for air quality,” Nicole Strong of the Oregon State University Extension Service said. “It’s putting an undue burden and restriction on the amount of prescribed burning and forest restoration, wildfire mitigation that we can do in the area. “

In Central Oregon, dense air naturally settles down into our terrain, making smoke stick around longer.

Alex Enna, a fuels program manager with the Deschutes National Forest, said, “Smoke will find the lowest topographic points, which means the river drainage, which is the Deschutes River, which runs right through Bend. So even if the smoke is staying out of town all day, we’re going to have some sort of smoke impact at night.”

Enna is just one of the many people responsible for planning prescribed burns in Central Oregon.

Officials work with smoke forecasters, who are meteorologists and specialize in smoke management and air quality. They find the best times and conditions to run a prescribed burn with the least negative effects on people. But that late-night smokiness means the whole day’s measurements are skewed.

“Any idea of adding more smoke into the area is tough, especially this time of year,” Strong said. “We’ve been sitting in poor air quality for a while. But the goal of this prescribed burning is to protect people and communities and our health in the long term.”

NewsChannel 21 spoke with a pair of self-proclaimed “nomads” who agree with this train of thought.

“I think it would be awesome if there were able to do more burns,” Shayla Grant said, “Like, the amount that would actually help the environment be healthy again.”

Her friend, Nicholas Parker, added, “The amount of smoke coming from prescribed burns over the long run would be a lot less of an issue than three months out of the year (when) you can’t even see the sun.”

A public meeting was being held Wednesday evening on the proposed changes at the Deschutes County offices in downtown Bend. Find the information below.

Aug. 22, 2018, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Deschutes Co.-Deschutes Services Center

Barnes and Sawyer Room

1300 NW Wall Street

Bend, OR

For more information on the proposed rules, visit these websites:

https://www.oregon.gov/deq/Rulemaking%20Docs/Smoke2018notice.pdf

https://www.oregon.gov/deq/Regulations/rulemaking/Pages/RSmoke2018.aspx