Smoky days on the horizon in Sisters Country

Last fall, during a meeting at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, state, federal and TV meteorologists predicted that El Niño conditions would prevail during the winter of 2009-10, and they hit the nail right on the

head.

You don't have to be a fire fighter or hydrologist to see that there is very little snow-pack in the mountains. If the Sisters Country experiences the usual March winds, there won't be much moisture left in the soils of the foothills either.

That could mean an active fire season.

Ever since 1999, fire management officials of the Sisters Ranger District have been implementing hazardous fuels reduction in a mosaic of controlled underburns in an attempt to reduce the risk of wildfire destroying Sisters and the surrounding residential areas. These effort have been successful most of the time - but not without some residual smoke, and risk to land-owners and residents of the outlying areas.

That program isn't always popular, especially when it affects local air quality.

"The Clean Air Act ... identifies standards and legal requirements that must be met by the EPA, federal agencies, states, and private industry," said Amanda Rau, fuels technician for the Sisters Ranger District. "A new standard was finalized in 1997 regulating the concentration of particulate of less than 2.5 microns. The State Implementation Plan (SIP) identifies how the state will attain and maintain national ambient air quality standards and other federal air quality regulations. We are aware of our limitations, and are in compliance with ODF (Oregon Department of Forestry) smoke management guidelines."

When fire-planners have crews gathered, equipment ready and contingencies in place for prescribed burns, they consult with the Oregon Department of Forestry's meteorology managers to pick the best time to get a "good burn," a project with a minimum of smoke and threat to the public and property.

Nick Yonkers' staff at ODF works closely with the Forest Service in carrying out a controlled burn. ODF is charged, by state law and EPA's Clean Air Act, to minimize risks and the nuisance of smoke.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has nephlometers, a device that takes air samples for particulates. But according to DEQ, Sisters isn't on the nephlometer "radar"; places with more people are the primary concern: Bend, Redmond, Prineville, Klamath Falls, Medford, and other major cities with higher populations come first.

For those who have chosen to live at the edge of the forests, the risk of getting burned out is very real, and so are the chances of pestiferous smoke hanging around.

"When cold overnight air temperatures, that can cause smoke to settle to ground level are predicted, we often put off burning during otherwise favorable conditions, in order to both remain in compliance with EPA standards for particulate concentrations, and minimize the potential for smoke impacts to Sisters and its adjacent communities," Rau says.

For more information on Oregon state law and smoke management, visit http://www.oregon.gov/ODF/FIRE/SMP/477013.shtml.