Introduction

Changes in policy and regulation governing emissions from fire are currently underway, and continue to change at a rapid pace. Wildland managers are increasing the use of fire as a tool to reduce unwanted fuels and manage ecosystems, in accordance with the National Fire Plan and the recent Healthy Forests Initiative, while agricultural burners seek to maintain their ability to burn for crop management purposes. At the same time, air quality managers are working to reduce local and regional impacts from fire emissions pursuant to the Clean Air Act’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), as well as to address nuisance concerns.

Equally important to air quality managers are the technical data for fire emissions and appropriate modeling simulation methods needed to demonstrate reasonable progress toward the national visibility goal defined in the Regional Haze Rule (RHR). All of the five Regional Planning Organizations (RPOs) are faced with similar technical issues with regard to characterizing fire emissions and the associated visibility impacts. A national technical discussion can lead to better communication and coordination, producing both national consistency and specific regional and local solutions where needed. Workshop participants will discuss how to integrate the objectives of using fire for land management purposes and protecting air quality through the development and use of technical tools.

Workshop Purpose

The purpose of the workshop is to discuss and agree upon technical approaches needed to address technical analyses for fire sources needed for §308 of the RHR. The workshop will review and define methods and approaches for characterizing fire emissions and applying those emissions characterizations using air quality modeling tools. The workshop will bridge current knowledge with future needs and address technical tools for fire emissions planning to support the development of State and Tribal Implementation Plans (SIP/TIP) for Regional Haze. Discussion topics at the workshop will include fire activity tracking, emissions estimation techniques, projections of fire activity, and air quality modeling.

In keeping with the workshop purpose, the following objectives will be addressed:

1. Identify common ground on a national level, and develop consistent technical approaches to produce tools that benefit all RPOs.
2. Identify the regional/state/tribal/local conditions that dictate the need for approaches specific to these conditions
3. Identify methods to project future fire emissions for planning purposes (e.g., 2018 and other milestones)
4. Consider the needs of SIP/TIP planning and development in the assessment of technical approaches and needs
5. Publish workshop findings and develop a strategy with milestones to ensure the implementation of workshop products, including identification of a responsible entity to steward the process

Location and Lodging

Hyatt Regency New Orleans
500 Poydras at Loyola Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70113
Phone: (504) 561-1234
Fax: (504) 587-4141

Room Reservations
A room block has been reserved for the National Fire Emissions Technical Workshop at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans, Louisiana for the nights of May 3-4-5. Guest room rates are $125.00 for single or double occupancy.

For reservations at the Hyatt please call (504) 561-1234 or (800) 233-1234 before April 12 and reference “WRAP” in order to receive this contracted rate.

Transportation
The Hyatt Regency does not provide transportation to/from the airport. Airport Shuttle is located outside baggage claim, and it departs for the various hotels about every 15 minutes. The cost is $13.00 each way. Greyline Tours located in the lobby of the Hyatt can make return reservations if you do not buy a roundtrip ticket.