### EPA Ex c e p tio n a l Eve nt s R ul e Rev is i o n Hea rin g Test imon y Phoenix, Ari zo n a 12-8-15 

### Membe r s of t h e Hea rin g Pane l , Intro d u c tion: Cra ig Thomas, Conservat i o n D irec to r for S ierra Forest Legacy (SFL)-fo rm ed in 1996, we are a conservation coal itio n of over 80 enviro n mental o rganizations focused primarily
o n federal land mana ge ment policy and practice i n the Sierra Nevada Biore gion of California. Increasing fire use for eco logical sustainability, forest carbon stability and in s upport of public safety and pub l ic health are key concerns of the coalition.
We are experienc ing increas i ngly alarming fire eve n ts in the Sierra Nevada. Many of these events have made the n ational dail y n ews cyc le w here fire i n tensity and sca le is d iscussed and large ly forgotten by the next news cycle. What is se ldom disc u ssed is the l onger term impact s to water quality , air quality , loss of eco log ical ben e fits to humans, damage to p l ants and wild l ife , soils, recreation opportunjties and recreation economies, community s afety and other factors. While the roaring blazes and the dangerous fire sup pression efforts make an exciting network
news cycle and prov ide attention-garnering imag es, the real heart of the matter is rarely mentioned. The i ss ue of increasingly uncontrollable fire s i n the West , s temming from a century of fire excl us ion and the lo ss of fire's critical ro le in ecosystem resilience, is se ldom mentioned.
We are p leased to see such a robust di scussion of these issues i n recent EPA Ai r Quality Rulemaking, proposed revisions and guidance le t ters. We support muc h of the proposed recommendations that focus on enabling fire's cri ti ca l role in establishing and maintaining ecosyste m sustainability and protecting public health and safety. We believe that protection of public health goes hand-in-hand with increased managed fire use , not at th e expense of it. We base this stateme n t on a clear understandin g of fire and its critical role i n forested ecosystems of California and the fact tha t fire suppressio n efforts are increasingly overwhelmed by fire intensity durin g > 95 percentile fue weathe r eve nts. Pro motin g thoug htfu l fi re use (FR 72866) at meaningful ecologica l sc ales is the path forward to protect our natural resources and pub l ic health. Scale matters g reatly. We do not comment at this time on the efforts t o lower the work and process burden on r egulato rs and land managers except to say that collaborative efforts to lowe r that burden is aof the circumstances we are in due large ly to fire exclusion and now also exacerbated by climate change. Assumptions regarding what i s "reasonab ly controllab le" needs increased scrutiny during this EE Ru lemaking. Two examples : l) R e liance on mechanical treatments (FR 72869) as an alternative to incre ased fire use will not lead to eco logical, landscape- leve l resilience. While there is a role for ecological ly appropriate, strategic mechanical fuel s reduction, the scale of mechanical treatments is limited by many factors with steep slopes and lack of roads being two primary factors. (See North et al. 2012-Jo urnal of Forestry; North et al 2015-Journal of Forestry; North e t a l. 20 15-Science Ins i ghts). 2. Any sc aled use of herbicide s to reduce fuels is socia lly and eco logical ly unrealistic and damaging to multiple resources.

(2) No t Reasonab ly Preventable The "not reasonably preventable" demonstration criteria that includes co ns ideration of the natural fire return interval or interval determin ed by rel evant FLM forest plan is a positive step forward

. We reque s t EPA be more explic it r ega rding the sca le of fire return (FR72869 "mim icking the natural role of fire ") w hi ch is directly tied to fire res ili ence and scale of fire returned to any particu lar landscape. Minimal increases in the number of burn days and minimal changes in burn duration wi ll not remedy the impacts of a century of :fire exclusion.

(3) Human activity not likely to recur SLF supports a reasonable, sc ience-based de finition of not likely to recur that encompasses the natural fire return interva l , mai ntenance burns that maintain ecological values established in previous treatments and protection of public safety. T he key point be in g that we need fire to return at regular interval s to " mimic the natural rol e of fire" in forest, shrub land and grassland ecosys tems where the fire regime defines the fire need. While some fire reg imes have longer intervals between fires (lodgepole pine types), others are quite narrow. Public safety that is improved by fire use is within the prevue o f EPAs authority to allow exceedance demonstrations for such purposes. Such u ses may have unique fire frequencies.

II. EPA's Regulatory Influence Over F ir e-Assoc i ated Landscapes. We do not accept the rationale in the 20 13 EER Guidance Letter tha t grants authority to state air quality regu lators to exempt air pollution impacts r esulting from wildfires during annual air quality emissions accounting. The authority to exempt wildfire emissions from annual or multi- year accounting should o nl y occur if the state and ai r district regulator s are supportive of, and not hindering , an eco logical ly significant fi re program within theto harmful airborne pollutants are not questio ned here , there have been on ly limited direct conversations with the fire , vegetation and w ildl ife ecology community regardin g what it wou ld take in terms of scale of fire use to limit public exposure to increasingly common mega-fire and mega-emissions events. Hopefully this imp o rtant di alog will grow and inform future efforts.

Thank you for thi s opportunity to comment. We will provide detajled comments by the January 19 , 2016 deadline. Sincerely , Craig Thomas Conservation Director Sierra Forest Legacy P.O. Box 244 Garden Valley, CA 95633

916- 708-9409 craig@sierraforestlegacy.org www.sierraforestlegacy.org