Fire and Smoke Management in the Sierra Nevada

2. Fire and Smoke Management in the Sierra Nevada • Wildland Fire: Our Reality • Prior to fire suppression policies (circa 1860) • 15,000-20,000 acres/year historically burned in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks based upon tree rings(dendrochronology)studies conducted by fire ecologists and other researchers. • Approximately 23,000acres/year historically burned on the Sequoia National Forest • 26,000 on the Sierra National Forest • 16,000 in Yosemite National Park • For these four LMAs, 82,500 acres/a year on average Tree rings with fire scars from a giant sequoia tree demonstrate that fire occurred frequently in the Sierra Nevada Experience Your America Caring for the Land and Serving People

3. Fire and Smoke Management in the Sierra Nevada In California Before the1800s, 1.1 million acres/year burned on average in forests. California skies were likely smoky from late summer to early fall (Stephens, et al). 1.5 million acres burned in California in 2008 . This is well within the historic norm. Lightning strikes, flicked cigarettes, escaped campfires, car fires, etc. happen ‘‘Of the hundreds of persons who visit the Pacific slope in California every summer to see the mountains, few see more than the immediate foreground and a haze of smoke which even the strongest glass is unable to penetrate.’’  C. H. Merriam 1898 The Station Fire, 2009 Experience Your America Caring for the Land and Serving People

4. Fire and Smoke Management in the Sierra Nevada Nationally Collected Statistics Show the Average Annual Fire Acreage is Increasing Source: NIFC 6 of the 10*** largest acreage fire seasons have happened in the last decade. The numbers show that this trend is not an anomaly. ***Seven if you include this year, already at 7.7 million acres. Wallow Fire, Arizona, 2011 Experience Your America Caring for the Land and Serving People

5. Fire and Smoke Management in the Sierra Nevada • But, wait! There’s more… Invasive Species Loss of Natural Fire Regime Wildland-Urban Interface Air Quality 1907 Global Climate Change 2003 Experience Your America Caring for the Land and Serving People

9. Fire and Smoke Management in the Sierra Nevada Experience Your America Caring for the Land and Serving People

10. Fire and Smoke Management in the Sierra Nevada • A regular fire cycle: • Reduces the risk of larger, more destructive, and smokier fires • Helps to create a mosaic of diverse habitats for plants and animals • Case Study-- Cedar Grove Experience Your America Caring for the Land and Serving People

11. Fire and Smoke Management in the Sierra Nevada • A regular fire cycle: • Reduces the risk of larger, more destructive, and smokier fires • Helps to create a mosaic of diverse habitats for plants and animals • Case Study-Golden Trout Wilderness Experience Your America Caring for the Land and Serving People

12. Fire and Smoke Management in the Sierra Nevada Choosing to Manage for the Best Outcomes: Lion Fire Experience Your America Caring for the Land and Serving People

13. Fire and Smoke Management in the Sierra Nevada The Alternative McNally Fire Experience Your America Caring for the Land and Serving People

14. Fire and Smoke Management in the Sierra Nevada • What about Thinning/Logging • Is one of many tools we can use to treat a fuels issue • NPS/USFS differences • Limits: • Cost • More strategic than landscape level • Wilderness • Less effective, ecological than fire • Timber Harvests (USFS) are often being challenged Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks Masticator, before and after on the Converse Basin, Sequoia National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monument Experience Your America Caring for the Land and Serving People

15. Fire and Smoke Management in the Sierra Nevada • Factors considered by land managers when considering fire: • Firefighter and public safety • Protection of property and infrastructure • Land Management Plans (Fire Management Plans, General Plans, and other applicable law such as the Wilderness Act) • Smoke Impacts • Cost • Availability of firefighting resources and other fires in the state or nation • Ecological benefits of fire and reducing the risk of future large fires. Experience Your America Caring for the Land and Serving People

16. Fire and Smoke Management in the Sierra Nevada • Current Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy • Two Types of Fire • Planned (Prescribed Fire) • Unplanned (any human-caused or lightning-ignited fire) • Fires can be managed for multiple objectives. • A fire can be managed for ecological reasons even if direct suppression tactics are used. • Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS) documents a LMA’s decision process • Should be supported by LMAs laws, plans, etc. • Smoke management/ mitigation has been written into the Management Action Points of recent fires in the Sierra Nevada. • We do take it seriously Experience Your America Caring for the Land and Serving People

17. Fire and Smoke Management in the Sierra Nevada Smoke Monitoring Federal agencies maintained a network of BAMS/ EBAMS that were deployed from Kernville to Sonora and included east side sites for Lion and Avalanche Fires. Experience Your America Caring for the Land and Serving People

18. Fire and Smoke Management in the Sierra Nevada Messaging We do take reasonable measures to reduce smoke exposure/ duration Speeding up ignitions or slowing them down Checking fire spread when possible Decisions for the Avalanche Fire/ Willow Fire were driven by smoke concerns Experience Your America Caring for the Land and Serving People

19. Fire and Smoke Management in the Sierra Nevada Reaching to the East East Side stationed PIOs Expanded media outreach Expanded air district outreach Lion Fire is the first time we conducted regional level outreach (western slope, Kernville, eastern slope) and coordinated with three districts Experience Your America Caring for the Land and Serving People

21. CAA – 1977 Created Class I areas/mandated visibility as an air quality related value. LMA has responsibility to protect visibility from manmade pollution. Has to be interpreted with other guiding legislation like the Wilderness Act which protects natural processes 1999 REGIONAL HAZE regulation. Must meet the national visibility goal of restoring visibility to natural conditions in Class I areas. Recognized the natural role of fire. CAA – 1990 Federal conformity – federal actions must conform to state and local regulations 1998 EPA Policy on Wildland and Rx fire. Recognized the natural role of fire and established requirements for state smoke mgt. Programs 2008 CA: Regional Haze SIP Developed a plan to achieve natural conditions in CA’s Class I areas and considered an element of fire as natural background CA’s Title 17. State smoke mgt. Program assigns burn day designations and allocations Exceptional Events Regulation Recognizes natural events may cause exceedances and provides exceptions for violations of NAAQS Great Basin and other APCD rules

22. Fire and Smoke Management in the Sierra Nevada Experience Your America Caring for the Land and Serving People