Nevada Regional Haze 5-Year Progress Report, November 2014 8-1

Chapter Eight – Assessment of Current 

Monitoring Strategy

(40 CFR 51.308(g)(7))

Table of Contents

8.1 Assessment.......................................................................................2
Nevada Regional Haze 5-Year Progress Report, November 2014 8-2

8.1 Assessment

Section 51.308(g)(7) requires states to review their visibility monitoring strategy and discuss any 

modifications to the strategy as necessary. The primary monitoring network for the 

measurement and characterization of the contributors to regional haze, both nationwide and in

Nevada, is the IMPROVE network. The IMPROVE network documents the visual air quality in 

wilderness areas and national 

parks throughout the United 

States. Given that IMPROVE

monitoring data from 2000-

2004 serve as the baseline for 

the regional haze program and 

for tracking progress, the 

regional haze monitoring 

strategy must necessarily be 

based on, or directly 

comparable to, the IMPROVE program. The IMPROVE measurements provide the only longterm record available for tracking visibility improvement or degradation. Therefore, Nevada

intends to rely on the continued availability of quality assured data collected through the 

IMPROVE network to comply with the regional haze monitoring requirement in the RHR.

There is currently one IMPROVE site in Nevada: JARB1. This site represents Nevada’s single 

Class I area. Figure 8-1 depicts JARB1 and the Jarbidge WA. The wilderness area lies just 

north of the physical geographic boundary separating the Columbia Plateau region, including the 

Snake River Plain, and the Great Basin region to the south. It encompasses the headwaters basin 

of the Jarbidge River East Fork that flows north from the center of the wilderness area, and the 

headwaters basin of Marys River that flows south from the center of the wilderness area, part of 

the Columbia River/Great Basin hydrographic divide. The terrain encompassed by the 

wilderness area consists of deep canyons with steep slopes. 

JARB1 is situated in the Jarbidge River Canyon on the northern flank of the Jarbidge Mountains 

less than 10 miles south of the Idaho border. JARB1 is located northwest of the wilderness area 

boundary, within the Snake River Basin. The Jarbidge River Canyon comprises the upper main 

headwaters of the Jarbidge River proper and is oriented south to north, with its mouth several 

miles to the north where it drains into the Bruneau River. 

51.308(g) . . . Periodic progress reports 

must contain at a minimum . . .

(7) A review of the state’s visibility 

monitoring strategy and any 

modifications to the strategy as 

necessary.
Nevada Regional Haze 5-Year Progress Report, November 2014 8-3

Figure 8-1. Jarbidge Wilderness Area and Vicinity

Nevada’s 2009 RH SIP found the IMPROVE site representing Nevada’s Class I area at the 

Jarbidge WA to be sufficiently representative to support a determination of reasonable progress. 

Nevada will continue to use data produced by the IMPROVE monitoring network as the basis for 

preparation of the five-year progress reports and the ten-year SIP revisions, each of which relies 

on analysis of the preceding five years of data. Nevada expects the IMPROVE program 

monitoring operation and data collection to continue, with the fundamental assumption that 

network data collection operations will not change, or if changed, will remain directly 

comparable to those operated by the IMPROVE program during the 2000 through 2004 RHR 

baseline period.

The WRAP has analyzed, reduced and provided information on relative contributions to 

visibility impairment using the data reported by the IMPROVE program. Nevada has and will 

continue to use the regional technical support analysis tool found at the Visibility Information 

Exchange Web System (VIEWS, last viewed 9/9/2014) and WRAP’s TSS (last viewed 

9/9/2014), as well as other analysis tools and efforts sponsored by the WRAP. The State will 

continue to participate in the regional analysis activities of the WRAP to collectively assess and 

verify the progress toward reasonable progress goals, as the RHR continues to be implemented. 
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Nevada concludes that no modifications to Nevada’s visibility monitoring strategy are necessary 

at this time. Because Jarbidge WA is the only Class I federal area in Nevada, JARB1 satisfies 

the RHR requirement for a monitoring strategy that is representative of all Class I areas in the 

State. Nevada is committed to continue using the IMPROVE monitoring network. If economic 

challenges are faced by the IMPROVE monitoring program, Nevada commits to working with 

federal agencies as a team to try to resolve the situation.