NEWS
BY M E E R A H P O W E L L
SMOKE FILLS LCC DURING SLASH BURN
Burns like this could become more frequent with amended rules to Oregon’s smoke management plan
S
tudying for final exams is already stressful enough
for college students — but an unannounced slash
burn near Lane Community College added an un-
pleasant smokiness to the situation and was cause
for discussion about the smoke’s effects on health.
On Thursday, Nov. 29, smoke crept into multiple
buildings on LCC’s main campus as a result of a 950-ton
slash burn on private property, according to an email that
was sent to Lane staff and faculty by Joan Aschim, Lane’s
public information officer.
“The college was not notified in advance,” Aschim says
in that email. The school had to cut off outside air access
to its vents after the smoke had already gotten into the
building due to that lack of notice.
A slash burn is a burning of leftover debris from logging.
This particular burn came from private property above
LCC owned by the McDougal brothers. Norm and Melvin
McDougal had the area clearcut to make way for high-
income housing. The McDougals have a long history of
controversial clearcuts, mining and development in Oregon.
Slash burns like this one could become more common
due to amendments to the Oregon Smoke Management
Plan that will be voted on in early 2019.
“We contacted the Oregon Department of Forestry and
asked for advance notice of any further burns, and they
have done so,” Aschim tells Eugene Weekly.
There have since been three more slash burns on that
same property that the school was notified of — 20 tons of
debris on Dec. 4, 45 tons on Dec. 5 and 16 tons on Dec. 11.
Chet Behling, unit forester of the Oregon Department of
Forestry’s Western Lane District, says there is no rule neces-
sitating the advance warning of slash burnings for an area,
but ODF will be warning the school of future burns, he adds.
“It’s not required, but just because it’s not required
doesn’t mean it’s not a good thing to do,” Behling says.
Although the land is private property, ODF oversees
this particular burning since it’s the result of a forestry
operation, Behling says.
“We help with the smoke management portion of the
operation, so we try to pick good days that have favorable
weather as far as wind direction. So we give the thumbs up
or the thumbs down, basically,” he says.
He says that land near LCC is difficult geographically
due to its close proximity to “smoke sensitive receptor
areas” (SSRAs) — urban and residential areas that ODF
tries to keep free of smoke.
LCC is essentially surrounded by SSRAs, Behling says.
“The only direction that is not an SSRA is to the south-
west,” he says, “and so in that area, we would be looking for
a northeast wind to push it southwest. So that was actually a
really good day [Nov. 29] compared to other days to burn.”
Due to wind and other weather conditions, Behling says
there’s no way to restrict private landowners’ burning to
certain days when LCC might be less populated, such as
on the weekend or over a school break.
Lisa Arkin, executive director of Beyond Toxics,
worries about the smoke’s effects.
school could’ve temporarily shut off the HVAC system,”
she says, or so that “anyone with a condition might have
known not to come in that day.”
There could be changes made to the Oregon Smoke
Management Plan that could result in slash burns like this
occurring more frequently, Arkin says.
“Recently the state Board of Forestry and the
Environmental Quality Commission received testimony
on Oregon’s Smoke Management Plan,” she says. Some
of this testimony came from ODF, Arkin says. The agency
wants to do more slash burning in order to prevent larger
fires come wildfire season.
“What they want to do is exactly what happened at
ʻOpen burning like that is a significant source of fine
particulate matter. It’s so tiny that when you breathe it in,
it passes right from your lungs into your vascular system
into your arteries, heart and other organs.’
— LISA ARKIN OF BEYOND TOXICS
“Open burning like that is a significant source of fine
particulate matter,” Arkin says. “It’s so tiny that when
you breathe it in, it passes right from your lungs into your
vascular system into your arteries, heart and other organs.”
Arkin says exposure to fine particulate matter can result
in asthma attacks and aggravated symptoms for those with
emphysema or COPD. She says it can also increase chances
for heart attack, stroke and cancer in the long-term.
Although she doesn’t agree with it, Arkin says one
alternative would be to send the slash to a biomass plant —
a power plant that produces electricity from burning slash
and other biological waste. Seneca Sustainable Energy has
a local one in Eugene.
“Beyond Toxics does not support large-scale biomass,”
she says, “but it’s better than burning it right near a school.”
Arkin says the best thing that could have been done
in this situation would be prior notification, so that “the
LCC,” Arkin says. “More slash burning near urban or
residential areas.”
She adds: “Currently our law is very strict around when
burning is allowed. They want to gut those rules to allow
burning even on days when weather conditions would
suggest it’s not a good day for burning.”
Arkin agrees that wildfires are a serious problem
in Oregon and that prescribed burning can be used
appropriately to prevent wildfires, but the lifting of health
protections should be questioned.
The Environmental Quality Commission and the
Oregon Board of Forestry will be voting to adopt those
new rules sometime in January, Arkin says. ■
Beyond Toxics is hosting a Jan. 7 community forum on potential new laws
to increase prescribed burning. It’s 6-8 pm at the First Christian Church
(1166 Oak St.) and is free to the public. Visit beyondtoxics.org for more
information.
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