Utah Interagency Smoke Management Program

The purpose of this program and the Smoke Management Plan (SMP) is to ensure that mitigation measures are taken to reduce the impacts of prescribed fire and wildland fire used for resource benefits on public health, safety and visibility.  The SMP is designed to satisfy Title R307, Utah's Air Quality Rules,  EPA's Interim Air Quality Policy on Wildland and Prescribed Fires, along with polices from all supporting agencies.

The Department of Environmental Quality submitted the SMP to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and has received certification under the Interim Air Quality Policy on Wildland and Prescribed Fires.  With this certification, as long as fires do not cause or significantly contribute to daily or annual PM2.5 or PM10 NAAQS violations, Utah may allow participation by burners in the basic SMP to be voluntary and the SMP does not have to be adopted into the SIP.  In addition, EPA is making a commitment to use discretion not to re-designate an area as nonattainment when fires cause or significantly contribute to PM NAAQS violations, if those fires were conducted using a basic smoke management plan.  If fires do cause or significantly contribute to violations, then Utah would be required to review the SMP for its adequacy and make the appropriate revisions.