Adaptive Grid Modeling for Predicting the Air Quality Impacts of Biomass Burning

Wildland fires are essential in creating and maintaining functional ecosystems and achieving other land use objectives (Hardy and Leenhouts, 2001). However, biomass burning produces combustion byproducts that are harmful to human health and welfare (Hardy and Leenhouts, 2001; Battye and Battye, 2002). Guided by the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Department of Interior (DoI) through the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) mandates that some military installations and air force bases in the South-Eastern United States use prescribed burning to recreate the natural fire regimes needed to maintain the health of its native long leaf pine forestland thus protecting the habitat of the endangered Red Cockaded Woodpecker (RCW). Proper management may require as much as 1/3 of the forest to undergo treatment by fire each year. These activities, however, can contribute significantly to already burdened local and regional air pollutant loads. In recognition of the conflicting requirements between the ESA and Clean Air Act (CAA) statutes, the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP), supported by Department of Defense (DoD), initiated a program to determine the effects of biomass burning from military installations. As part of this effort, we focused on determining the effects of biomass burning from military reservation, Fort Benning in Georgia, to the local and regional air quality, specifically, in Columbus metropolitan area.