C2H2 EAGER: Quantifying the smoke-related health impacts of wildfire management in Alaska

About This Grant

Wildland fire smoke is an increasing threat to public health in Alaska where climate-driven changes are resulting in more frequent large wildfires and widespread smoke exposure. This research explores the utility of the U.S. EPA's Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program (BenMAP) that was developed to measure urban air quality. It will also test the tool's ability to quantify the health and economic burdens of wildfire smoke in the context of Alaska's rural and widely dispersed population. Tasks and research undertaken include: (1) Using the EPA wildfire smoke assessment tool to assess wildfire smoke particulates in the 2.5 micron size fraction to see if there is a correlation between the size of these particles and health outcomes in Alaska since this size-fraction has the largest documented impact on the human respiratory system; (2) Working with Alaskan fire managers to develop realistic wildfire and prescribed and cultural fire management practices that take into account associated smoke, air quality, and smoke plume distribution; and (3) Assessing barriers to, and opportunities for, scaling findings across the Alaskan rural landscape and, potentially, for application of the tool to rural areas across the U.S. The research is interdisciplinary and includes experts from the fields of atmospheric science, public health, and epidemiology. It also includes interaction with fire managers and state and tribal corporations. Broader impacts of the work include providing a decision support tool for wildfire smoke and climate adaptation-planning that takes into account human health impacts and is applicable to Alaska and potentially to rural areas across the U.S. The health impacts of wildfire smoke inhalation is increasingly recognized as a serious health problem due to the increasing frequency and size of wildfires due to increasingly hot and dry weather in some parts of the U.S., driven by climate change. The large tracts of inland boreal forest in Alaska and neighboring Canada are highly susceptible to conflagration, with recent wildfires impacting the air quality up to hundreds of miles from the burn front. This research explores the utility of a tool that can help assess the health and economic impact of wildfire smoke on human health, in particular issues that are respiratory related. Research includes combining historical Alaskan wildfire smoke air quality data with that on population and health outcomes and using these data to explore the utility of the EPA BenMAP urban air-quality tool, identify needed adjustments, and see if it has imitations when applied to rural settings. The project team will also work with land managers and tribal nations to examine Alaskan fire management strategies such as fire suppression, prescribed burns, and cultural fires to examine their impacts on air quality with the goal of predicting realistic air quality implications of such practices and the aerial extent of the smoke plumes. Challenges in adopting the EPA tool in Alaska will be documented as will the potential to augment the tool and scale its use more broadly. The synthesis of Alaskan air quality and particle size fraction data for the last ~20 years will be combined with geographic information from census tracts, or county-equivalents and population; hospitalization; and other baseline health outcome data from the Alaskan Department of Health. Results of the reserach should open a new avenue for evaluation of wildfire smoke health impacts on populations in Alaskan rural populations. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.