Indicator 9 – Air

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Note: This indicator will be addressed fully, with detailed information and an assessment, in a future edition of the report.

Air quality and climatic conditions affect human and forest health, and forests and forest practices can affect air quality.

Forest health is affected by climatic conditions including air temperature and moisture. Wind can uproot trees and occasionally large expanses of forest. Air pollutants contaminate soil and water, and can severely reduce tree growth and overall forest health.
Common air contaminants of greatest concern in British Columbia include sulphur dioxide and ozone. These contaminants can significantly damage and reduce growth of forest and range vegetation.
Air quality is in turn affected by forests, both positively and negatively.
Forests can moderate micro-climatic temperature and moisture.
Forests release volatile organic compounds such as terpenes. They are considered atmospheric pollutants, and create a haze on warm days.
Forest-related air pollution is caused by wildfires, prescribed fires and wood milling activities. Along with ecological and economic benefits, these activities produce smoke and other contaminants that cause respiratory and cardiovascular problems and impair visibility.
Fire suppression to protect timber, property and lives reduces smoke emissions in the short term, but causes fuel build-up that can eventually lead to catastrophic fires.

Some forest practices and forest-related industrial activities reduce air quality (see Silviculture, Forest products).
Air quality directly affects soil productivity, water quality (see Soil, Water) and growth of trees, which may have implications for future timber supplies (see Timber harvest).
Management responses to forest-related air quality issues include adjustment of forest practices and regulation of industrial activities that pollute the air (see Law).


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