P076: Evaluation of Prescribed Burning Emissions and Impacts on Air Quality in the Lake Tahoe Basin

Prescribed burning has been conducted in and around the Lake Tahoe Basin (LTB) to maintain natural succession of plant communities and to reduce wildfire danger. During 2011-2012, approximately 2000 acres of wildland in the LTB were subjected to understory or slash-pile burns. Although these prescribed burns are conducted under strict guidelines, they can still be an important source of air pollutants, particularly fine particulate matter (PM2.5), in the LTB. This research combined ambient air quality monitoring, in-plume source measurements, and dispersion modeling to characterize prescribed burning emissions and evaluate the magnitude and spatiotemporal distribution of smoke impacts.