Wildland Fire on Ecosystems

Wildland fire is an integral part of ecosystem management and is essential in maintaining functional ecosystems, but air pollutants emitted from those fires can be harmful to human health and welfare. Because of the public and governmental concerns about the possible risk of wildland fire smoke to public health and safety, as well as nuisance, visibility, ozone generation, and regional haze impacts, increasingly effective smoke management programs and air quality policies are being implemented with support from research and land management agency programs. This state-of-knowledge review of what is known about the effects of fire on air quality has been prepared to assist those in the fire and air quality management communities for future discussion of management, policy, and science options for managing fire and air quality. The introduction sets up a framework in which to discuss the interaction between pollutants emitted from fire, and air quality at the national, State, and local levels applied to air resource management, fire management, and geographical scale components.