Project Details

Canada and the United States have recently implemented new guidelines or standards on industrial emissions of fine particulate matter. Recent assessments of these standards suggest that significant health benefits arise from reductions in particulate matter levels. While industrial sources are being regulated, there appears to be little research on the economic and human health effects of particulate matter from forest fires. In Canada, the largest source of fine particles is from "open sources" (72%), to which forest fires contribute 38% (Environment Canada, 2000). Approximately a third of Canadian PM2.5 emissions arise from forest fires, an amount equivalent to that from industrial sources. This project will investigate the relationship between forest fire management and the economic benefits of air quality improvements. The project has 2 components. The first component will develop an information base and set of tools that can be used to construct measures of the return on investment (ROI) of fire management activities, as they pertain to changes in human health risks and air quality. This is only one piece of the ROI puzzle, and it must be assessed along with information on the returns in other categories (property, timber, etc.), as well as the unintended consequences (or negative returns) arising from fire management activities (wildlife habitat, biodiversity, increased future fire impacts, etc.). The second component of the project is to include air quality and human health considerations in a zoning scheme, or values-at-risk map (VARM). This will involve linkages between models of fire behaviour, air emissions, human health, and economics.