Smoke management of wildland and prescribed fire: understanding public preferences and trade-offs

Abstract

Smoke from forest fires is a serious and increasing land management concern. However, a paucity of information exists that is specific to public perceptions of smoke. This study used conjoint analysis, a multivariate technique, to evaluate how four situational factors (i.e., smoke origin, smoke duration, health impact, and advanced warning) influence public tolerance of smoke in the northern Rocky Mountains and south-central United States. Separate analyses were performed for subgroups, based on community type, level of fire preparedness, demographics, and smoke experience, to explore potential differences among managerially relevant populations. Origin of the smoke and advanced public warning were commonly the most important factors influencing public tolerance of smoke. A comparison of our conjoint approach with a univariate rating technique is also discussed. Findings from this research will help fire managers understand public tolerance of smoke from forest fires, inform forest management, and enhance public communication strategies.

Public use of information about smoke emissions: application of the risk information seeking and processing (RISP) model

“…The importance of these factors for tolerance of smoke emissions has been demonstrated across additional studies, with some important differences. Recent studies have also found that smoke tolerance is impacted by the smoke source, however the most acceptable source varied from fires started by lightning strikes (Blades et al 2014) to wildfires under active suppression (Engebretson et al 2016) to uncontrolled wildfires (Olsen et al 2017). Present in each of these studies, however, was a moderate to high level of tolerance (or acceptance) of smoke emissions, including those from prescribed-natural fires and prescribed burns.…”

“…In addition to the origin of the smoke, a number of other tolerance influencers emerged. Blades et al (2014) found that tolerance was impacted by public warning in advance, expected severity of health effects from the smoke (particularly at unhealthy levels for everyone or sensitive populations), and smoke duration. Higher levels of tolerance emerged if resource managers openly stated the forest health objectives behind the prescribed fire event (Engebretson et al 2016).…”

“…While dependent on the fire source, Olsen et al (2017) found acceptance generally influenced by risk perceptions of smoke, confidence in managers, expected benefits of the fire, and demographic characteristics, including age, education, and rural or urban residence. Lastly, those with previous negative health effects from smoke were generally less tolerant (Blades et al 2014;Engebretson et al 2016), but some evidence indicates that health concerns are strongly important D r a f t for only a subset of the population, such as those with existing medical conditions (Olsen et al 2017).…”

Air quality policy and fire management responses addressing smoke from wildland fires in the United States and Australia

“…Balancing the management of wildland fires in a way that preserves ecosystem function and maintains air quality to protect human health remains a substantial research and environmental policy challenge (Haikerwal et al 2015;Schweizer and Cisneros 2016). Adding to this challenge is a heterogeneous mix of communities with different views of prescribed fire and tolerance to wildland fire smoke (Blades et al 2014).…”

Wildfire Smoke: Trends, Challenges, Unknowns, and Human Response

“…The 2014 study completed by Blades determined that the most important factors with regard to the publics' forbearance of smoke depends on the origin of the smoke and advanced public warnings (Blades, Shook, and Hall 2014).…”