United States
Department of
Agriculture
Forest Service
Pacific
Northwest
Region
Okanogan Wenatchee
National
Forest
October 2007
2007 Multi-Day Burn Pilot
Final Report
Okanogan-Wenatchee
National Forest
Naches Ranger District
Summary
District burns about 1,500-2,000 acres during
the spring burning window. In addition, the
burning was accomplished with minimal impacts
to air quality.
In the spring of 2007, the Okanogan-Wenatchee
National Forest (OWNF) - Naches Ranger District, in cooperation with the State of Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR),
the State of Washington Department of Ecology (DOE), and the Yakima Regional Clean Air
Authority (YRCAA), tested a variety of new
procedures intended to increase the possibility of accomplishing multiple-day, landscapelevel prescribed burns during the spring burning program. This type of burning, needed to
improve forest health and reduce the risk from
wildfire, has been difficult to achieve in the past
due in large part to air quality concerns in the
local area.
This report provides a summary of the efforts of
many contributors to the pilot project and identifies the factors that were most useful for making the spring 2007 burning a success.
Background
Nearly 100 years of fire suppression, historic
logging, and grazing practices have dramatically altered forest conditions on the OWNF.
The exclusion of frequent, low-intensity fires has
resulted in a huge accumulation of flammable
vegetation and woody debris throughout eastern
Washington forests. One consequence has been
a steady increase in large, uncontrollable wildfires that burn very large forest areas, threaten
rural homes and communities, expose residents
to heavy smoke for many days, and seriously
damage tourism-based economies (Figures 1-3).
The Naches District proposed burning up to
5,500 acres in 4 distinct units in the spring of
2007 by using a combination of extra scientific
support and a modified smoke permitting process. In the end 3,512 acres were treated, short
of the goal but still far more acres than had been
treated in previous years. Typically the Naches
Wildfire Acres Burned per Year - Okanogan/Wenatchee NF
250,000
200,000
Acres Burned
Trend in Acres Burned
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006
Figure 1: Acres burned annually on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest are
increasing at an alarming rate.
1
Figure 2: Wildfire smoke in Leavenworth (1994), Chelan (2001), Winthrop (2006), and Leavenworth (2001)
Winthrop and Twisp Smoke During 2006 Tripod Wildfire
(Actual 24-hr averages certainly higher at times since the instruments used max out at
160ug/m3)
180
Winthrop
140
Twisp
AQI-Very Unhealthy
AQI-Unhealthy
AQI-Unhealthy for Sensitive
120
100
AQI-Moderate
80
60
40
20
Figure 3: Wildfires can cause many weeks of poor air quality.
2
9/
10
/0
6
9/
3/
06
8/
27
/0
6
8/
20
/0
6
8/
13
/0
6
8/
6/
06
0
7/
30
/0
6
PM2.5 (ug/m3 24-hr ave.)
160
In response to these trends, the US Forest
Service has pursued a dry forest management
strategy on the Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests for more than a decade. The goal is
to achieve more sustainable conditions in these
forest types where fire is a frequent visitor. “Sustainable conditions” translate into more natural,
open stands composed of relatively fire tolerant
tree species such as Ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir
and western larch. The primary management activities used to achieve those objectives include
thinning (reducing the number of trees) in dense
forest groves, and prescribed or controlled burn-
ing. Thinning may be accomplished via commercial timber sales to alter species composition and
reduce the amount of excess fuels. Prescribed
fire may then be used to reduce woody debris on
the forest floor, prune low branches from remaining trees, remove excess natural vegetation
and underbrush and encourage the growth of desirable native plants. The result is a forest where
wildfires are likely to be much less severe. These
areas of reduced fuels also provide firefighters
with better opportunities to successfully halt
wildfires before they threaten rural communities
and valuable resources (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Overgrown, dense stands of trees are first thinned using mechanical treatments, and then burned to
remove residual fuels. The result is a healthier, more fire resistant forest.
3
Naches Pilot Project
In the spring of 2007, the OWNF - Naches
Ranger District, in cooperation with DNR, DOE,
and YRCAA, tested a variety of new procedures
to help increase the likelihood of accomplishing
multiple-day, landscape-level prescribed burns
during the spring burning program. Burning in
the spring takes advantage of favorable moisture
conditions that make the fires more controllable,
and unstable meteorology that can quickly disperse the smoke away from populated areas.
Much of the area within the wildland urban
interface (WUI) on the east side of the Cascades
has been identified as a high risk for catastrophic
wildfires. In December of 2005 the Residents of
the Highway 410 and 12 communities prepared
a Community Wildfire Protection Plan that
identifies projects in the area that are needed to
reduce the danger to their communities. Many of
the identified projects are on federally managed
lands in the area (Figure 5, Table 1).
Due to the backlog of areas needing treatment
for fire hazard reduction, the Naches District has
proposed an aggressive program of fire use over
the next 10 years. For spring 2007, the district
proposed burning up to 5,500 acres in 4 distinct
units by utilizing a combination of extra scientific support and a modified decision making process. In the end 3,512 acres were accomplished,
short of the goal but still far more acres than had
been accomplished in previous years. Typically
the Naches District accomplishes about 1,5002,000 acres during the spring burning window.
Figure 5: Areas proposed for burning on the Naches
in spring 2007 were within areas designated by the
State of Washington as High Risk Wildland Urban
Interface (WUI).
Table 1: Areas on the Naches district proposed for spring burning in 2007.
Name
Acres
Notes
Devils Table
1,178
Grass and timber. Partnership with Rocky Mtn. Elk foundation.
Kaboom
3,200
Elevation ranges from 2500’ to 6000’
Elderberry
1,000
Partnership with Nature Conservancy
Rattle 15,16,17
332
4
Air Quality Protection
New Methods for the
Naches Pilot
One major difficulty in implementing prescribed
burning in the Naches area is the desire to
protect air quality in surrounding communities
including Yakima which have had a history of
air quality problems. Yakima was considered in
non-attainment of National Ambient Air Quality
Standards for particulate matter from 1990 until
2005 when air quality monitoring showed improvements sufficient for the area to be deemed
in attainment of the standards once again. Much
work has been done by state and local agencies,
and local citizens, to improve air quality in Yakima so the area can continue to meet the standard into the future. The Naches pilot could not
have been considered a success unless air quality
could be protected simultaneously. A network
of temporary air pollution monitors was used
to supplement the existing state networks and
provide early warning of any smoke issues.
A number of new procedures were brought together to make the Naches pilot a success. These
included:
A specially trained Incident Meteorologist
(IMET) assigned to the Naches District to
provide daily, customized meteorological
consultation;
A modified decision making process between DNR and OWNF provided expanded
opportunities to local managers;
Air quality monitoring instruments deployed in local communities and the readings factored into daily decisions;
Expanded communication with communities
in the area so they knew what to expect;
Forest Service scientists provided support
with fuels monitoring and smoke modeling.
The DNR regulates smoke from silvicultural
(forest land) burning on state, private and federal
forest lands under the state smoke management
plan. Under the plan, DNR has responsibility for
issuing go/no go burn decisions for both single
day burns and multiple day landscape burns. The
DNR smoke management program has a very
successful record of keeping smoke from forestry
burning from unduly impacting the public. For
the Naches pilot, DNR approved the OWNF’s
proposal for a modified decision making process
addressing multiple day burn proposals that met
requirements of the existing smoke management plan. The proposal brought together the
expertise of OWNF prescribed fire managers; in
consultation with the best meteorological, monitoring, and science support the agency could
assemble; to allow local decisions for accomplishing additional burning as long as conditions
agreed to in the proposal were met.
Incident Meteorologist
Meteorology is the most critical variable determining whether smoke will or will not impact
the public. Typically, DNR smoke managers look
at statewide meteorological models, maps of
terrain, and burn requests made the day prior
to make their go/no go decisions. The National
Weather Service has meteorologists who are
specially trained to support wildfire operations.
One of these IMETs was assigned to the Naches
District for the duration of the pilot to provide
additional, site specific meteorological support.
The IMET performed many valuable functions
including analysis of meteorological models,
daily balloon soundings, operation of smoke
monitoring instruments, and immediate meteorological updates if conditions changed. The
IMET also gained familiarity with how the local
terrain interacted with, and influenced meteorology. The IMET proved to be extremely valuable
to the daily decision making process (Figure 6).
5
2. DNR will issue a Go/No Go decision using the
established protocol consisting of eight criteria as
included in the Washington Smoke Management
Plan. If the prescribed fire manager anticipates an
early morning ignition, DNR will make a Go/No
Go decision the prior day.
3. When an initial Go decision is received from
DNR, decisions to ignite the first and subsequent
burns listed above will be made by the OWNF
based on determination that weather and site
conditions support a burn that will meet all burn
objectives. Factors used to make that decision
will include: current and expected weather, ability to meet prescription objectives of the burn,
monitoring from various air quality instruments
in the air-shed, coordination with the on-site
IMET, coordination with the local line officer,
and daily communications with DNR.
Figure 6: A specially trained National Weather Service Incident Meteorologist (IMET) proved to be extremely valuable to the success of the Naches pilot.
Modified Decision Process
from DNR
4. If the OWNF suspends burning to avoid
reaching air quality levels that trigger our contingency strategy, burning operations may resume
once conditions warrant without going through
the DNR permission process again.
The modified process allowing OWNF prescribed fire managers to make decisions to continue burning when conditions were favorable
enabled extra acres to be accomplished on many
days during the spring burning window. Following is a summary of the parts of the agreement
between the OWNF and the DNR that were
unique to the 2007 pilot and were most helpful
to accomplishing extra burning.
5. If air quality is High at any of the 4-project
monitoring locations the burn approval process
will return to Step 1, and no further ignition will
be made without DNR approval.
6. If for any weather related instances (rain that
puts burns out, snow, or some other reason that
results in a burning delay for numerous consecutive days) the burn approval process will return
to Step 1 for DNR approval.
Daily Operation during 2007
Prescribed Fire Season
The established statewide DNR process for review and approval of silvicultural burns will be
used. These steps are only for the Kaboom, Devils
Table, Elderberry and Rattle landscape burns on
the Naches District as reviewed by DNR and the
OWNF during the pre burn season. Sequential
steps in the burn approval process are as follows:
Coordination within the OWNF is between the
project burn boss, District line officer, Forest
Supervisors Office, and DNR.
If at any time during the burning sequence of the
four project burns a burn ban goes into effect
for the Yakima area, the OWNF will stop burning and reinitiate the burn approval process with
DNR at such time as conditions warrant. If a
Stage 1 burn ban is called by YRCAA or DOE,
ignition will cease. If a Stage 2 burn ban is called
by YRCAA or DOE, ignition will cease and mopup will begin.
1. The initial request to initiate burning will be
made by the Naches District to the DNR, using
the normal computerized requesting process, as
outlined by DNR for all silvicultural burning.
6
Air Quality Monitoring
Air quality monitoring was included in the trial
since maintaining good local area air quality was
a critical measure of success. The general goal of
the air monitoring was to inform the OWNF of
smoke concentration trends and accumulations
in populated areas downwind of the prescribed
fire locations. This information was used by forest staff to make fire management decisions to
minimize air quality degradation. In addition to
an existing instrument in Yakima, air monitoring
instruments (EBAM’s) were installed and operated at four locations (Figure 7) including:
Naches
Nile Valley
Windy Point Campground
Tieton/Cowiche
Air Quality Instrumentation
The four instruments operated by the OWNF
for the duration of the project were in closer
proximity to the burn areas than the existing
DOE instrument site in Yakima. The Naches and
Tieton/Cowiche sites were located in small communities between Yakima and the project areas.
The Nile Valley and Windy Point sites were
located considerably closer to the project areas
in narrow canyons along river corridors where
there are rural residences. Table 2 shows distances and direction from the two project areas
to each instrument location.
Figure 7: Smoke monitoring instruments (EBAMs)
were deployed in four locations around the Naches
burning.
Table 2: Proximity of air monitoring instruments to project areas.
Distance & Direction From Project Locations
Air Monitoring Instruments
Devils Table
Kaboom
Naches
16 mi E
21 mi E
Nile Valley
4 ½ mi NE
14 mi NE
Windy Point Campground
8 ½ mi SE
10 mi E-NE
Tieton/Cowiche
14 mi SE
17 mi E
Yakima DOE Site
28 mi SE
30 mi E
7
If air quality was High at any of the 4
project monitoring locations,
Each instrument contained a modem that automatically transmitted monitoring data to a web
site via satellite connection. (The Windy Point
instrument had satellite connection difficulties
so that instrument was downloaded manually
each morning.) Monitoring values for the prior
24 hours were downloaded each morning and
compared to air quality trigger points prior to
the go/no-go decision conference call.
DNR smoke management in consultation
with the fire management team assessed
whether forecasted meteorological conditions will allow improved air quality in the
next 24-hours,
If not, the team agreed to initiate immediate mop-up actions on all prescribed
burn areas that may be contributing to
the impaired air conditions.
Every morning the monitoring data was analyzed
and air quality at each of the 4 monitoring locations was rated and categorized as follows:
If meteorological conditions are predicted to improve air quality in the next 24
hours the team would assess and implement actions to accelerate improved air
quality including cessation of ignition,
changing burn operations to promote
better plume lofting and dispersion, or
initiation of mop-up.
“Good” indicated that no 1-hour PM2.5
concentration measured during the previous 24-hours exceeded 35µg/m3 and the
24-hour running average was at 15µg/m3 or
less.
“Moderate” indicated that one (or more)
1-hour average PM2.5 concentration of
35µg/m3 or greater measured during the
previous 24-hours, and/or the 24-hour average was greater than 15µg/m3.
For decisions concerning initial ignitions for
new project areas:
If air quality at all locations was Good, forecast dispersion was favorable, and no burn
bans have been called for downwind areas,
then burn planning and activities could
proceed.
“High” indicated that a running 24-hour average concentration of 35µg/m3 or greater
was measured during the previous 24-hour
reporting period.
The air quality rating was then used for decisions
concerning actively burning areas as follows:
If air quality was Moderate at any of the
4-project monitoring locations and no burn
bans had been called for downwind areas,
the fire management team agreed to assess
whether forecasted meteorological conditions would improve air quality conditions
over the next 24-hours.
If air quality at all 4 locations was Good,
then burn planning and activities could
proceed.
If air quality was Moderate at any of the 4project monitoring locations and it was directly attributable to smoke from a Naches
District prescribed fire,
If meteorological conditions were predicted to improve air quality conditions
in the subsequent 24-hours then new ignition plans could proceed with caution.
The fire management team would assess and implement appropriate actions
to improve air quality. Possible actions
may include cessation of ignition, changing burn operations to promote better
plume lofting and dispersion, or initiation of mop-up, so as to meet the overall objective of maintaining air quality
conditions at least within the Moderate
or Good ranges.
If meteorological conditions were not
predicted to improve air quality conditions in the subsequent 24-hours then
new ignitions would not proceed.
If air quality was High at any of the 4-project monitoring locations or a burn ban has
been called for downwind area(s), no new
ignitions were to be considered.
8
Table 3 shows the total number of days each instrument operated and the number of days air quality was
in each air quality category. Yakima monitoring values are included in addition to the project monitors.
Table 3: Days in each air quality category by instrument for spring burning days when the instruments were in
operation.
Air Quality Category
Air Monitoring Instruments
# Days in Operation
Good
Moderate
High
Naches
34*
33
1
0
Nile Valley
69
56
9
4
Windy Point Campground
66
43
23
0
Tieton/Cowiche
58
53
5
0
Yakima DOE Site
73
73
0
0
*The first instrument installed at Naches was replaced due to malfunctioning.
Communications Plan
9. Radio Interviews
Communicating with the public prior to the
prescribed burn season is standard procedure
for the Naches District. The district communications plan was updated and revised prior to the
2007 pilot burns to customize it for the goals of
the trial.
10. Prescribed Fire Display
11. FS National Fire Plan folks
12. Hunter Pamphlet
13. Washington Hunting News/Cascade
14. County and State Fairs
The goal of the Public Information Action Plan
was to inform and, when possible, educate
people about prescribed fire; provide channels
to receive and respond to public comments
and concerns; and provide contacts for info on
smoke/health, the district’s prescribed fire program, and prescribed fire use. Components of
the Action Plan included:
15. Visiting Campgrounds and Hunter Camps
16. Community Fire Planning Group
17. Public Information Meeting
18. Complaint Tracking System
19. Contingency Communication Plan
1. Provide public involvement and input
opportunity during the NEPA analysis for
each proposed burning project.
Three calls from concerned public were received
at the Naches district during the spring burning effort. One call came from the Tieton area
on May 18, 2007 where the caller objected to
any burning in the White Pass area. Two calls
were received on May 22, 2007, both with concerns about smoke in the Tieton area. Overall
the number of complaints was quite low given
the number of acres accomplished indicating the
smoke concentrations were generally acceptable.
2. Burn Plan Brochure
3. Home Visits/Doorknob Notice
4. Personal Phone Calls
5. Pre-Burn Season News Releases or Paid
Ads
6. Daily/Weekly News Releases or Paid Ads
7. Forest Prescribed Burn Web Information
Page
8. Burn Information Hotline
9
Science Support:
Fuel Loading and Consumption
Two highly regarded Forest Service fire research
teams are located in Seattle and provided science
support during the Naches trial. Fuel loading is
a critical variable for accurately estimating total
smoke production and assessing the potential
impacts of a prescribed fire on air quality. Forest
Service scientists with the Fire and Environmental Research Applications team (FERA) measured preburn fuel loading and post burn fuel
consumption in two of the areas proposed for
burning: Devils Table, and Kaboom (Figure 8).
Preburn fuel loading values measured by Naches
District personnel were evaluated. Although
the values for individual fuelbed categories (i.e.
sound woody material greater than 3 inches in
diameter and litter) did not match exactly with
the scientists’ findings, the total fuel loading
values determined by the Naches District were
found to be quite accurate especially given that
the scientists focused their measurements in the
higher loading, logging slash areas and the district personnel covered more of the varied fuel
types throughout the areas to be burned. Duff
loading may be the one area where the Naches
measurements resulted in underestimates (Table
4). The fuel loading and fuel consumption estimates were used with the BlueSky smoke dispersion model described in the next section.
Figure 8: Pre and post burn fuel loadings were measured by Forest Service scientists at Devils Table and
Kaboom.
Table 4: Woody, litter, and duff fuel loading measured at the Devils Table and Kaboom units compared with
Naches Ranger District measurements.
Devils Table
Kaboom
FS Research
(tons/acre)
Naches District
(tons/acre)
FS Research
(tons/acre)
Naches District
(tons/acre)
0-3”
3.3
6.0
3.5
3.7
3+”
7.2
5.8
4.1
2.9
Total Woody
10.5
11.8
7.6
6.3
Litter
1.5
1.0
1.7
0.8
Duff
11.1
6.0
9.9
5.0
Total All Fuels
23.1
18.8
19.2
12.1
Fuelbed Categories
Woody
10
Measured preburn loading values were processed through a fuel consumption and emissions model
(CONSUME 3.0) to derive estimates of fuel consumed and smoke produced (PM2.5) per acre (Table 5).
Table 5: Fuel loading, fuel consumption, and PM2.5 emissions measured or predicted for the Devils Table and
Kaboom units.
Devils Table
Fuelbed
Category
Measured
Consumption
tons/acre
Modeled
Consumption
tons/acre
0-3
3+
Litter
Duff
Total
2.0
3.2
0.5
3.3
9.0
3.4
0.8
1.4
3.7
9.2
Kaboom
PM 2.5
tons/acre
0.12
The measurements made by the scientists were
used to improve the accuracy of the BlueSky
smoke dispersion model and also to estimate
total smoke emissions from the burning. Acreage
blackened on the Devils Table unit totaled 626
equating to approximately 75 tons of PM2.5 emitted over the duration of the burning. For Kaboom, about 1,745 acres were blackened equating to approximately 209 tons of emitted PM2.5.
Measured
Consumption
tons/acre
Modeled
Consumption
tons/acre
3.1
1.1
1.6
3.2
9.0
3.4
0.6
1.6
4.1
9.6
PM 2.5
tons/acre
0.12
teorological, emissions, fuel consumption, and
dispersion models. The results of these models
are then overlain on a topographic GIS map for
easy visualization.
The Forest Service scientists who are the developers of the BlueSky model assisted with
the Naches pilot by running customized burn
scenarios on a daily basis and providing the results to OWNF decision makers. One example
on following page shows the potential smoke
impacts overnight in Yakima if the district had
ignited 125 acres on May 24 (which they did
not do). The red circles indicate the trajectory
of an air parcel leaving the burn unit and its
height above the ground (Figure 9).
Science Support:
Smoke Dispersion Modeling
with BlueSky
The BlueSky smoke dispersion model links
together many sub components including me-
Figure 9: The BlueSky smoke dispersion model was used to predict ground level smoke
accumulations and improve decisions during the Naches pilot.
11
Results
of the goal but still far greater than had been
accomplished in previous years. Typically the
Naches District accomplishes about 1,500-2,000
acres during the annual spring burning window.
Certain features of the pilot were especially useful to accomplishing the extra burning including
the dedicated IMET and the modified decision
process (Figure 10).
The Naches District proposed burning up to
5,500 acres in 4 distinct units in the spring of
2007 under conditions of a multi-day burn pilot.
About 3,500 acres were accomplished in 2 units
during a spring burning window that lasted
about 5 weeks and included 16 days of active ignition (Table 6). Acres accomplished were short
Table 6: Burning accomplishments on the Naches district spring 2007.
Date
Unit
April 23, 2007
April 24, 2007
April 25, 2007
April 26, 2007
April 27, 2007
April 28, 2007
April 30, 2007
May 1, 2007
May 7, 2007
May 8, 2007
May 9, 2007
May 10, 2007
May 11, 2007
May 14, 2007
May 15, 2007
May 15, 2007
May 16, 2007
May 17, 2007
May 18, 2007
May 23, 2007
May 24, 2007
Kaboom
Devils Table
Devils Table
Devils Table
Devils Table
Devils Table
Devils Table
Devils Table
Devils Table
Devils Table
Devils Table
Devils Table
Devils Table
Devils Table
Kaboom
Devils Table
Kaboom
Kaboom
Kaboom
Kaboom
Kaboom
Proposed Approved Acres
Acres
Acres
Black1
100
75
200
125
100
75
200
200
200
200
100
125
200
0
75
*
*
0
75
100
*
*
*
*
125
*
150
50
2500
500
200
*
*
*
500
*
10
5
0
0
45
120
0
0
28
120
60
64
104
80
20
80
20
185
1300
210
0
Reason for Difference in
Proposed vs. Accomplished
(Yellow highlight indicates smoke concern)
No permit needed, < 100 tons
No permit needed, < 100 tons
No DNR approval, dispersion conditions unfavorable
No burning, humidity high, fuels too wet
Limited burning, humidity high, fuels too wet
No DNR approval, dispersion conditions unfavorable
No burning, rain on unit
District decision to stop ignition, smoke not lofting.
Ignition duration restricted due to marginal dispersion
Ignition duration restricted due to marginal dispersion
Ignition duration restricted due to marginal dispersion
Residual burning within the unit perimeter
Extra area ignited due to favorable dispersion
District decision for no ignition due to smoke concern
1
Acres blackened is best for calculating emissions although the Forest often tracks a different, higher value for acres accomplished. Acres accomplished includes unburned areas within the perimeter of the burn unit.
*Burn / no burn decision made by Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest under terms of the pilot.
Figure 10: Fifty acres were planned for ignition on
May 17, 2007 but since smoke dispersion was better
than anticipated, and the conditions of the pilot left
decisions to the local manager, a total of about 185
acres were ignited.
12
The burning was accomplished with minimal
impacts to air quality in the vicinity as seen on
the 5 monitors in the area (Figures 11 and 12).
These figures show how critical meteorology is
to good smoke dispersion. Following April 28
when 120 acres burned, the Nile monitor registered one of only two two-day occurrences of a
“High” air quality value that was monitored during the burning. Whereas on May 18 with ideal
dispersion and 1,300 acres burning all monitors
remained in the “Good” air quality category. The
monitor in Yakima (Figure 12) never showed a
response to the burning.
Three complaints about the burning, with two
that were specific to smoke, were received from
the public during the spring burning window.
This seems to indicate that by and large, public
concern was minimal.
Daily 1-Hour Max Smoke Measurement and Acres Blackened
(April and May 2007)
300
400
1300
Acres Blackened
Windy Point
350
Nile
250
300
Tieton-Cowiche
Moderate Air Quality Threshold
200
250
150
200
150
100
Acres Blackened by Day
Particulate Concentration (ug/m3)
Naches
100
50
50
0
4/1/2007
0
4/8/2007
4/15/2007
4/22/2007
4/29/2007
5/6/2007
5/13/2007
5/20/2007
5/27/2007
Figure 11: Daily 1-hour average particulate concentrations compared to acres
blackened during the spring burning window.
24 Hour Average Daily Smoke Measurements and Acres Blackened
(April and May 2007)
80
400
Acres Blackened
1300
Windy Point
Nile
70
350
Naches
300
Yakima
High Air Quality Threshold
Moderate Air Quality Threshold
50
250
40
200
30
150
20
100
10
50
0
4/1/2007
0
4/8/2007
4/15/2007
4/22/2007
4/29/2007
5/6/2007
5/13/2007
5/20/2007
5/27/2007
Figure 12: Daily 24-hour average particulate concentrations compared to acres
blackened during the spring burning window.
13
Acres Blackened by Day
Particulate Concentration (ug/m3)
Tieton-Cowiche
60
Conference Calls: Daily Naches-specific
collaborative conference calls with OWNF fire
staff, DNR smoke managers, and other Forest
Service and National Weather Service science
support staff were used for decision making.
These focused conference calls were found to be
highly useful for customizing daily burn plans,
comparing weather forecasts, and reviewing
past burning and effects. The conference calls
helped the district accomplish more burning
especially on marginal days when the initial
request was not appropriate but something less
could be accomplished.
Costs of burning are important factor in determining the value of the pilot. Direct costs of the
burning borne by the Naches District were lower
in 2007 when calculated on a per acre basis.
The programmatic cost for the 2007 burning
was about $107 per acre accomplished whereas
typical spring burning costs are in the range of
$235-$266 per acre. The cost of burning varies
greatly with the activity and personnel involved
and on May 18, the day where aerial ignition
(via helicopter) was employed, costs were low at
about $11/acre. Whereas on April 23, a day the
district was burning slowly and carefully around
a structure - the White Pass Work Center, costs
were many times higher or about $663/acre. This
indicates that the ability to increase the use of
multi-day, landscape level burning on the OWNF
in future years could result in significant cost savings. The additional costs to implement successful features of the pilot would need to be factored
in for a more valid estimate of potential savings.
Modified Decision Process: The modified
decision process for prescribed burn permitting enabled the Forest Supervisor to approve
additional burning, once an initial approval was
granted by DNR. This enabled extra burning to
be accomplished under the existing smoke management plan. For example, one day the permit
was for 50 acres but the District had the information (visual observations and predicted meteorology) and flexibility needed to accomplish
185. The modified process was highly useful for
accomplishing extra burning.
The results of the pilot show how more burning
can be accomplished in the Naches area without
serious impacts to air quality. The most useful
components of the pilot should be implemented
in other areas of the OWNF in the future so that
fire can be used successfully to treat the fuels
build-up, improve forest health, and reduce the
risk of catastrophic wildfire.
Monitoring Instruments and Trigger
Point Plan: Four smoke monitoring instruments were deployed at strategic locations downwind of the burns. In addition, pre-defined air
quality trigger levels and subsequent actions were
defined to aid daily go/no-go decision making.
The instruments (EBAMs) were found to be time
consuming to operate and erratic in their performance. In addition, the several-hour lag time for
data posting to the internet made the information
of less value to operational decisions although
there was value to seeing air quality impacts from
the day prior. Monitoring and trigger points may
be a necessary part of future burning to gain trust
and support from regulatory agencies and the
public although the monitoring is time consuming and does not increase the burning window.
Conclusions and
Recommendations
Numerous components were brought together
to support the Naches spring burning. Following
is a list of all procedures that were used for the
pilot and an assessment of their usefulness:
IMET: A dedicated, onsite National Weather
Service Incident Meteorologist (IMET) was
assigned to the district to provide real time
weather and smoke forecasts. Custom forecasts,
balloon soundings, immediate availability of
weather predictions, local knowledge gained
for terrain effects are all examples of advantages
gained through the dedicated assignment of the
IMET to this pilot. This service was deemed
highly useful for increasing the burning window
and is recommended for future efforts.
Outreach: Extra effort was made for public
outreach in support of the Naches spring burning.
Ultimately, public support for increased use of
fire, and the resulting risk of smoke impacts, is the
best way to ensure this work can be accomplished.
14
BlueSky Smoke Dispersion Modeling:
Forest Service scientists provided customized
BlueSky smoke dispersion modeling and interpretation. This information was valuable to the
daily decisions although this sort of operational
support is not a function the scientists can provide routinely. The BlueSky modeling framework
should be updated to better accommodate this
functionality. We recommend training IMETs
or other Forest personnel to provide the daily,
operational support.
Fuel Measurement: Forest Service scientists measured preburn fuel loadings and post
burn fuel consumption to increase the accuracy
of BlueSky predictions, and as a comparison
to Naches District fuel monitoring techniques
and results. The measurements helped identify
shortcomings in the ability of current consumption and emissions models to accurately predict
smoldering duration and smoke transport in
BlueSky. We recommend future research efforts
to help solve these model shortcomings. The
work also found the routine fuel measurements
made by the District to be very accurate.
This report was prepared through
the collaborative efforts of the
following Forest Service personnel:
In addition, the Naches 2007
Burn Pilot effort could not have
succeeded without the support
and assistance of:
Janice Peterson, Air Resource Specialist,
Washington National Forests
Julia Ruthford, National Weather Service
Meteorologist
Jim Bailey, Naches District Fuels Planner
Washington State Department of Natural
Resources, Resource Protection Division
Tom Robison, OWNF Water and Air Program
Manager
Washington State Department of Ecology
Air Quality Program
Roger Ottmar, Research Scientist, Pacific
Wildland Fire Sciences Lab
Yakima Regional Clean Air Authority
Miriam Rorig, Research Meteorologist,
Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Lab
Dan O’Connor, OWNF Graphic Design
15