Clearing the air at Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Shaver CL, Tonnessen KA, Maniero TG. 1994. Clearing the air at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Ecological Applications. 4(4):690-701
The National Park Service, Air Quality Division, collected and then used data on levels of pollutants and response of sensitive resources in the park and found that forests, soils, surface waters, and visibility in the park were experiencing adverse impacts from air pollution.Great Smoky Mountains National Park, located in southern Appalachians on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, was designated by Congress in 1977 as a Class I area, where resources are to be protected from damage due to air pollution. The National Park Service, Air Quality Division, collected and then used data on levels of pollutants and response of sensitive resources in the park and found that forests, soils, surface waters, and visibility in the park were experiencing adverse impacts from air pollution. We reviewed the data and process that supported this finding as well as the legal tools available to federal land managers confronted with evidence that sources of air pollution outside the boundaries of Class I areas are affecting resources. We prepared this case study to describe how the National Park Service has used scientific information in regulatory arenas to address air pollution problems at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Based on this case study we show that the requirement for Federal Land Manager review of permits for new stationary sources of air pollution is not sufficient to protect the parks from what has become a regional air quality problem.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Shaver, Christine; Tonnessen, Kathy; Maniero, Tonnie
- Units
- ARD , GRSM
- Keywords
- Acid Deposition, Air Pollution, AIRBIB, ARD_Park-Air-Info_Collection, Clean Air Act, Deposition, Forests, Haze, Nitrogen, Ozone, Southern Applachians, Sulfur, Visibility