New Smoke Management Resources

Smoke management is a critical piece of any prescribed fire operation. As many agencies, organizations, and private landowners prepare for late winter burning the following new smoke management resources may be particularly helpful in addressing common issues that arise in managing prescribed fire smoke and air quality.

• The Smoke Management Guidebook for Prescribed Burning in the Southern Region is intended to help southeastern U.S. landowners understand elements of and techniques for smoke management for prescribed burning. Created through a collaboration between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), North Carolina State University, Southern Fire Exchange, Southern Regional Extension Forestry (SREF), and the University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, the publication provides an overview of the importance of smoke management and a step-by-step guide to smoke management during prescribed fire planning, implementation, and evaluation. An overview of the guidebook presented by the authors during the 2021 Georgia Prescribed Fire Council meeting can be viewed on the Southern Fire Exchange YouTube page.
• The EPA EJSCREEN Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool allows users to combine high-resolution environmental and demographic data, including PM2.5, for locations in the United States, and compare their selected locations to the rest of the state, EPA region, or the nation. The tool may be particularly useful for agencies planning large-scale burn programs and can help identify minority and/or low-income populations, potential environmental quality issues, and combinations of environmental and demographic indicators that are greater than usual.
• The Southeast Prescribed Fire Update Smoke Management page collects helpful smoke management resources and tools relevant to Southern prescribed fire, including the previous two resources. The page also includes links to smoke management guidelines for each Southeastern state, if available.
• A list of recent prescribed fire science publications was compiled by NC State Extension Forestry, Southern Fire Exchange, and the Consortium of Appalachian Fire Managers and Scientists with input from researchers from around the region. The list can be filtered by various topics, including smoke/air quality.