Craters of the Moon Administrative History

Chapter 6:
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Resource Management At Craters Of The Moon:
NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: AIR QUALITY - PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT

As a management objective, air quality was not mandated until the amended Clean Air Act of August 7, 1977. In addition to protection accorded in the NPS Organic Act of 1916, the Clean Air Act provided one of the most significant pieces of legislation for safeguarding air resources in park areas. Section 160 of the act applies to federally managed areas, the purpose of which is "to preserve, protect and enhance the air quality...." The act defined "class I" areas as those lands in parks over six thousand acres and national wilderness areas in excess of five thousand acres, existing prior to the passage of the act. The legislation established strict requirements for managing these airsheds, whereby the Park Service was responsible for protecting "air quality-related values...from adverse impacts." In addition, the clean air legislation set forth a national goal of "remedying existing and preventing future visibility impairment in class I areas." To meet these objectives, the act directed states to cooperate with federal managers, and to incorporate into their air pollution control program policies which would aid in the protection of class I areas. [252] As a result the Park Service has become involved in a number of air resource management projects, including monitoring and research, interpretation, planning, and regulatory activities at the local, state, and federal levels.

At Craters of the Moon, the Clean Air Act designated the Craters of the Moon Wilderness area as a class I airshed, the remainder of the monument as class II, and charged the superintendent and staff with the responsibility of maintaining air quality values and preventing impairment. Thus, management of air resources at the monument has increasingly centered on fulfilling the act's requirements.

Atmospheric Monitoring and Data Collection

Impetus for air quality management grew during Superintendent Robert Hentges' administration, as a result of both the clean air legislation itself and regional developments. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, expansion in regional population and industrial development throughout the Upper Snake River region prompted an increase in utility plants, and thus the deterioration of air quality. Along with these plants, other threats included fires, agricultural practices (burning fields, wind blown soils, pesticide use and fertilizer production), and auto traffic.

Cooperation in air visibility monitoring at Craters of the Moon marked the first steps in air quality management and predated both the clean air legislation and the increase of regional pollution. In 1973, for example, the monument, in cooperation with the State of Idaho Air Quality Monitoring Program, began collecting Total Suspended Particulate (TSP) samples. Similar to the 1950s data, the low-level readings attracted national attention to Craters of the Moon's clear air. (But this did not mean it was clean air). At this time as well, the monument initiated the operation of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather observation facility. [253] Beginning in October 1980, Craters of the Moon managers broadened the fledgling program, and entered into a cooperative agreement with the Bureau of Land Management to gather atmospheric deposition samples for acid rain, the monument being named an official National Atmospheric Deposition Samples (NADP) sampling site. [254] What needed to be developed and implemented was a visibility monitoring program. To this end, a manually operated telephotometer was installed in 1982 on Sunset Ridge, and collections began in the summer of 1983. [255]

The monument's 1982 resource management plan chronicled these advances in the air quality program and set down the management philosophy: Managers should recognize that threats were on the increase and therefore should assume that air quality could only get worse. To protect the class I area, atmospheric monitoring and baseline data collection were paramount. The policy embraced early detection and corrective action to avoid severe impacts to flora and fauna and mitigate possible resource losses. Cooperation with other agencies was essential. [256] Finally, it seemed, Craters of the Moon was taking the lead in an area of resource management, rather than allowing the issue to become an afterthought.