 U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) sites across the country are taking steps to mitigate the impacts of climate change and reduce their carbon footprints. EM sites are implementing new water and energy conservation measures, installing onsite renewable energy systems and updating vehicle fleets with 300 electric and hybrid vehicles already purchased. The world's largest environmental cleanup remains committed to further reducing greenhouse gas emissions and overall energy use at cleanup sites. EM also supports measures to improve efficiency among its sites using LED lighting and more efficient heating, ventilating and air conditioning equipment and electronics, all while encouraging sustainability within the workforce and supply chains.
 Hydrogeologist Jeff Wurtz of the Environmental Management Nevada program speaks with residents of rural Nye County during an Earth Day event on April 20. The event was held at the Bob Ruud Community Center in Pahrump, Nevada. Wurtz showed area residents an “ant farm” display, demonstrating a groundwater flow model concept and other concepts such as hydraulic gradient, water transport and the effects of pumping wells.
 West Valley Team Members Present Photos Representing World's Beauty
In celebration of Earth Day, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) employees and contractors submitted their best photos depicting the beauty and magnificence of the world for a contest. Photos fall under one of four categories: wildlife, scenery, foliage, and sustainability projects or activities. The submitted photos are displayed onsite and at the Ashford Office Complex for team members to view and vote for their favorite photo. West Valley will award a trophy to the winner in each category following the voting period, which ends April 30. “This Earth Day activity helps create awareness of nature’s beauty and reinforces the importance of environmental stewardship for everyone,” said Julie Sansone, environmental engineer with CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley, EM’s cleanup contractor at West Valley.
Additionally, students from local high schools compete in the 2024 Cattaraugus County Envirothon this Wednesday with support from WVDP. The Envirothon is an outdoor, hands-on environmental competition that emphasizes teamwork while testing students’ knowledge in aquatic ecology, forestry, soils and land use, wildlife, and a current environmental issue topic, which this year is renewable energy for a sustainable future. Teams work together to complete exams at different stations, identifying various species of trees, wildlife and fish on display, and answer questions about habitat and other environmental related issues. A presentation on the current issue topic is rated as part of each team’s score. The Envirothon competition encourages student interest in the environment and reinforces the importance of protecting natural resources. Scores for the five exams are totaled, and the team with the highest cumulative total wins the competition.
 The One Hanford team is all about cleanup. In honor of Earth Day, a group of employee volunteers recently spent their free time giving back to the community and cleaning up a local park. The team expressed pride for its contribution to cleanup progress at the Hanford Site and surrounding community.
 |
|
In honor of Earth Day, members of the Green Team for U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management Paducah Site infrastructure contractor Swift & Staley Inc. set up collection points across the site to recycle plastic. The group collected approximately 50 pounds of plastic items for recycling. Those who brought items were rewarded with reusable bags for their efforts and to educate others on further recycling opportunities. |
 Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC), the Savannah River Site (SRS) liquid waste contractor, celebrated Earth Day by participating in a local Earth Day event. Several SRMC employees from the Environmental Compliance and Operational & Informational Technology groups participated in the city of Aiken, South Carolina, Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, April 20. The SRMC exhibit appealed to all audiences from K-12 to adults and featured an interactive robot, games, and information about the meaningful cleanup work that SRMC performs to achieve its tank waste cleanup mission for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management. SRNL volunteers helped students create clouds in a bottle by mimicking the part of Earth’s water cycle in which evaporated water, or water vapor, cools and condenses, forming clouds as they connect with dust. In the experiment, alcohol acts like the dust, providing something cool for water droplets to attach to. When students pressurized the soda bottle by pumping air in, the air molecules collided with each other and warmed the bottle. Releasing the pressure causes the water vapor to condense quickly, forming a cloud.
  At top, Tony Hudson poses with a photo of himself in the C-300 Central Control Building, where he once worked as a plant shift supervisor. The portraits show Hudson throughout his 50-year career at the Paducah Site.
PADUCAH, Ky. — As the next generation workforce grows, a large part of its success will come from learning institutional knowledge of longtime employees like Tony Hudson, a senior project manager at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management's (EM) Paducah Site who recently surpassed 50 years of service.
“My footprints have been everywhere in this plant,” Hudson said. “It has been the land of opportunity for me in a lot of ways. Working different jobs and staying at the same place has been the greatest part about it.”
Hudson currently supports EM with deactivation activities in the site’s former uranium enrichment facilities, utilities operations and disposition of R-114 refrigerant, an environmental hazard stored at Paducah. His experience moves these projects forward and helps advance the Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office mission to accelerate cleanup, eliminate potential environmental threats, reduce the EM footprint and lower costs.
Read a related story in this EM Update issue about the ongoing removal and downsizing of convertors at Paducah’s C-333 Process Building.
 Tony Hudson, right, and Enterprise Technical Assistance Services (ETAS) Senior Project Manager Michelle Jones, center, listen to ETAS Stabilization & Deactivation Project Manager Nathan Miller describe the equipment, systems and processes supporting the material-sizing area operations in the C-333 Process Building Segmentation Shop #2. ETAS is the Paducah Site’s technical support contractor.
Hudson was hired as a guard at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in January 1974. He said that job exposed him to multiple areas of the site and inspired him to pursue bigger and better opportunities.
He later moved to the uranium enrichment cascade, a complex network of pipes, motors, compressors, converters and other equipment used to provide enriched uranium, originally for nuclear security and later to supply commercial nuclear power plants. He worked there as an operator and was eventually promoted to supervisor.
In 1991, Hudson received a mechanical engineering degree at Southern Illinois University and began work in engineering positions at the site. But soon enough he received a call to become a plant shift superintendent, a position he accepted.
 |
|
Enterprise Technical Assistance Services (ETAS) Paducah Project Manager Jolie Fleming, left, recognizes ETAS Senior Project Manager Tony Hudson for evaluating the appropriate boundary isolation points for the C-333 Unit Bypass characterization project. Hudson’s insight into all connecting systems supports decision-making and coordination of oversight. ETAS is the Paducah Site’s technical support contractor. |
Hudson expressed pride over the site’s success throughout the years. Although he will not be working when cleanup is finished at Paducah, Hudson is enthusiastic about the future.
“I look for this to be a great place for people to feel good about having a job they can make a living with and contribute to the mission here at the Paducah Site,” Hudson said. “I enjoy seeing the continued deactivation and remediation work with the disposition of R-114 and the removal of equipment from the process buildings.”
Fifty years has given Hudson time to reflect on his career and assess whether he could have done things differently. He said he hopes those who are just beginning a career or want to start a career at the Paducah Site will consider a couple of things.
“Pay attention to how things work in your group, but outside of your group, too,” Hudson said. “This is a place where you can work in an area outside of what you’re doing right now. Learn your job and know what’s going on at the site so you can have other opportunities.”
-Contributor: Zachary Boyarski
 Students from the Washington State University campus in Richland, Washington, worked with engineers from U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management contractor Washington River Protection Solutions to develop a waste-depth monitoring tool as part of their senior project.
RICHLAND, Wash. — A partnership between a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) contractor and Washington State University (WSU) is supporting the growth of future professionals while advancing cleanup priorities at the Hanford Site.
Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) and WSU engineering students have developed a safer and more efficient way to measure the depth of radioactive and chemical waste in Hanford’s large underground tanks.
 |
|
Workers recently used a new tool developed by Washington State University students and engineers with contractor Washington River Protection Solutions that uses radar to measure the depth of waste in underground tanks at the Hanford Site. |
Students from the WSU Tri-Cities campus designed and developed a waste depth detector with guidance from WRPS engineers. Workers recently used the tool during field operations in Hanford’s Tank Farms.
“Seeing this senior project move from conception to use in the field is exciting,” said Paul Schroder, EM Hanford deputy assistant manager for Tank Waste Operations. “These partnerships provide students with real-world experience and contribute to the Hanford cleanup mission.”
The tool uses radar to measure the depth of the waste. It is a safer and more efficient method than the previous process, where crews lowered a piece of pipe through the top of the tank until it contacted the waste surface.
Doug Reid, a WRPS mechanical engineer, expressed satisfaction with the new method, and emphasized the importance of working with students.
“It was a privilege to help develop this new method while mentoring a team of mechanical engineering students,” said Reid. “This WSU senior project will have a lasting effect on advancing our safe and efficient operations at Hanford.”
-Contributor: Derek Miceli
 A view of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, where crews are revamping a piece of underground infrastructure vital to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management's vital national security and environmental cleanup missions.
Site preps to refurbish underground ‘salt pocket’
CARLSBAD, N.M. — A critical piece of underground infrastructure at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management’s (EM) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is about to get a makeover.
A mammoth-sized, steel-framed bin, known as the “salt pocket,” will undergo a much-needed overhaul starting this summer.
This work is part of EM’s ongoing effort to upgrade WIPP’s infrastructure to ensure the facility remains ready to support its vital national security and environmental cleanup missions.
WIPP, the nation’s only repository for defense-related transuranic waste, emplaces waste 2,150 feet underground in rooms mined from a thick layer of salt. Transuranic waste is comprised of debris, residues, soil, and other items contaminated with radioactive elements — largely plutonium — that have atomic numbers greater than uranium.
The underground salt pocket is used to stage mined salt before it’s safely lifted to the surface via a salt hoist.
“The salt pocket is critical to our continued success as we safely dispose of the nation’s defense-related transuranic waste,” said EM Carlsbad Field Office Manager Mark Bollinger. “Investing in this project will ensure we maintain our capability to efficiently stage mined salt until it’s ready to be removed from the underground repository.”
A deep dive into the salt pocket
In the mine, salt is offloaded 8 tons at a time into the salt pocket. The pocket, which extends approximately 55 feet below the depth of the salt hoist station, is supported by a steel framework that includes a measuring flask and gate for batching salt into an 8-ton skip to be hoisted. The skip, a vertical metal box with a bottom door dump, rides to the surface on guides, where it is dumped into 40-ton haul trucks and taken to WIPP’s salt stockpiles.
EM relies on the salt hoist to remove salt from the WIPP underground. While salt can be temporarily stockpiled in the mine’s drifts, or passageways, “skipping” it to the surface immediately is the preferred method.
Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, WIPP’s management and operations contractor, selected Cementation, a global mine contracting company with a United States office in Salt Lake City, Utah, to perform the work. The project is expected to finish this year.
The work includes demolishing the existing loading pocket and structural steel, remining and supporting the ground, and constructing an entirely new loading pocket, inclusive of new skip guides at the mine level.
Lithostatic pressure in the underground
WIPP’s mine is located in an underground salt layer so that emplaced waste can be encased over time by the salt, which moves, or creeps, at a rate of 2 to 6 inches per year.
This same salt creep also eventually squeezes manmade structures — known a lithostatic pressure — in the underground repository, such as the structural steel supporting the salt pocket.
It’s because of this pressure on the structure — combined with 25-plus years of service — that WIPP’s salt pocket needs to be refurbished.
Located in Southeast New Mexico about 26 miles east of Carlsbad, WIPP was constructed in the 1980s for disposal of defense-generated transuranic waste. The repository is carved out of a 2,000-foot-thick salt bed formed 250 million years ago. Transuranic waste is disposed of 2,150 feet underground in rooms mined from the salt bed.
-Contributor: Roy Neese
 Eric Johnson, at right, manager of Engineering Technical Services at Savannah River Site, conducts a fire protection experiment during the STEM That Travels family event at Millbrook Elementary School in Aiken, South Carolina.
Savannah River Site volunteers support student exploration, discovery
AIKEN, S.C. — Expert scientists and engineers from the Savannah River Site (SRS) are drawing the attention of students in kindergarten through 12th grade classes through the STEM That Travels volunteer program as they enrich science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) curriculums in area schools.
The program is conducted by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), a contractor supporting the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management at SRS.
“Our volunteers work with eight different school districts to support numerous career fairs, STEM-themed events and classroom activities,” said Cindy Hewitt, SRS Education Outreach specialist. “The sky is the limit for this program as we continue to craft awe-inspiring demonstrations and interactive lessons.”
Eric Johnson, manager of Engineering Technical Services at SRS, volunteered at Millbrook Elementary School’s Family STEM Night, demonstrating fire protection engineering and home evacuation plans for over 300 attendees.
“I continue to volunteer for STEM That Travels to provide more insight into fire protection careers and help students understand the importance of fire safety at home,” he said.
 Savannah River Site Engineering volunteers Nicole Drey, far right, and Daniel Feinauer, second from right, discuss science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) career opportunities with Kennedy Middle School students.
Jacque Osteen, Millbrook Elementary principal, said the school is building a strong foundation in cross-curricular math and critical thinking skills.
“STEM demonstrations inspire and motivate parents to introduce math and science careers to their child at an early age. Involving companies like SRNS in Family STEM Nights helps to bring new or niche occupations to light,” Osteen said.
For four decades, SRS Education Outreach and the University of South Carolina Aiken Ruth Patrick Science Education Center have partnered to infuse the wonder of science into learning experiences for students. SRS volunteers support area schools by using the education center’s science and math kits for educational displays and activities.
“Our volunteers are able to reserve science kits from the Ruth Patrick Science Education Center to conduct demonstrations and experiments,” said Hewitt. “We continue to highlight the Department of Energy’s mission-critical skills and careers to support a capable workforce.”
Four SRS volunteers participated in Kennedy Middle School’s Career Reality Fair for more than 340 students.
“Eighth grade is a crucial year for students to explore and discover careers that fit their unique skills and assets,” said Ryan Ashley, the school’s principal. “We’ve helped our students develop career clusters based on their strengths and real-world scenarios that can impact salary. Today, they were able to apply that knowledge by connecting with various businesses and professionals in those clusters.”
 Savannah River Site Engineering Manager Stephanie Hudlow volunteers at South Columbia Elementary School to share engineering career information with over 75 students.
An eighth grade student at Kennedy Middle School, Saradyuti “Sara” Krovvidi dreams of becoming an astrophysicist. She attended the STEM event to explore more opportunities in her career cluster.
“I learned a lot about nuclear engineering from SRS volunteers and I’m now looking into an internship or apprenticeship experience at the Savannah River Site that complements my future career choice,” Krovvidi said.
South Columbia Elementary School Educator Lexi Tanner was excited to have SRS volunteers support the school’s Career Day, which drew over 225 students and educators.
“Having STEM professionals step into our classroom and create interest in new opportunities helps students imagine their future selves in those jobs,” said Tanner. “I would highly recommend this experience to other educators that are looking for new classroom experiences and presentations.”
STEM That Travels reaches six schools in South Carolina and two in Georgia. For more information, click the blue box:
-Contributor: Mackenzie McNabb
 Construction workers with U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition employ advanced concrete equipment and processes to construct a new storage facility at the Idaho National Laboratory Site’s Integrated Waste Treatment Unit. These advancements have resulted in more protections for worker safety.
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — A recent addition of high-tech concrete equipment and enhanced processes at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site is producing more durable and level flooring during construction, enhancing safety for U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) construction crews.
Allen Nellesen, a manager for EM contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition (IEC), oversees radiation protection, safety and health at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the INL Site.
Nellesen said traditional concrete finishing methods are difficult and physically demanding. For example, workers were once required to tie rebar by hand, which increased the chance of back injuries, puncture wounds and other injuries caused by repetitive motions.
IEC now uses a remote-controlled soil compactor to prepare the ground surface; an automated rebar tier, which automatically connects the long, steel rods in the floor with wire; a ride-on trowel, which is a machine to evenly spread the poured concrete; and an automated laser leveling screed machine that smooths the freshly laid concrete floor. Some of this equipment employs the use of lasers to produce an extremely flat surface.
“Worker ergonomics and safety are always a concern,” Nellesen said. “But this new equipment is significantly reducing the amount of time it takes to get the work done and removing workers from potentially hazardous situations.”
In early 2023, IEC began construction on a second 20,000-square-foot storage building at the IWTU, which will be used to house dozens of concrete vaults containing stainless steel canisters of treated sodium-bearing waste. This new storage building is being built from steel and reinforced concrete, like the first storage building constructed, and requires adherence to strict design requirements.
Nellesen said the new advanced equipment has saved considerable time in tying more than 60 tons of rebar and pouring nearly 2,000 yards of concrete required in the floor for strength.
“The concrete pad has to hold up to the weight of full storage vaults, which can weigh more than 320,000 pounds each,” Nellesen said. “Also, precision is necessary to get the flatness and final finish required by the design.”
Construction is expected to be completed in 2025.
With the experience gained by using this high-tech equipment for the IWTU’s product storage building, EM will deploy crews in the future to pour a level concrete pad to be used by the Spent Nuclear Fuel Program for repackaging work.
-Contributor: Carter Harrison
 Savannah River Mission Completion’s Representation and Inclusion Working Group is working to foster a culture of mutual respect that recruits, retains and develops a workforce from various experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and abilities. Pictured from left: Andrea Lupton, Sinclair White, Lee Gause-McNair, Andrea Bridges, Alexander McKellar and Maria Rios-Armstrong. Pictured in the bubbles from the top are Carissa Smith, TeShania Bey and Azikiwe Hooker.
AIKEN, S.C. — A new working group is promoting a sharpened focus on representation and inclusion within the liquid waste cleanup team for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) program at the Savannah River Site (SRS).
“Everyone deserves a seat at the table — that was a lesson instilled in me growing up, and that is what representation and inclusion is all about,” according to Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC) Representation and Inclusion Chair Lee Gause-McNair, a facility safety and health manager. “We believe employees are the most valuable asset of a company, and offering them opportunities to learn, grow and thrive can strengthen the organization from within.”
SRMC is the liquid waste contractor completing EM’s radioactive tank waste cleanup mission at SRS. The contractor operates facilities such as the Salt Waste Processing Facility, Defense Waste Processing Facility and SRS Tank Farms, which is a grouping of underground radioactive waste tanks.
Comprising a diverse team of nine employees, the working group is responsible for aiding the SRMC executive team in fostering a culture of mutual respect that recruits, retains and develops a workforce from various experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and abilities so that everyone feels a sense of community.
Some of the group’s responsibilities are to provide input to the executive team on company actions that impact the workforce, act as ambassadors across the organization, and review representation and inclusion performance metrics to identify trends and make recommendations on actions.
The working group’s current initiatives are to — through focus groups and other feedback forums — identify opportunities to enhance the availability of career growth opportunities for all employees. Specifically, the group aims to bridge the learning gap for new employees based on level of education and experience. The team’s overall goal is to contribute to the development of tailored learning for leaders and managers in building strong relationships based on trust, respect and fairness.
SRMC President and Program Manager Dave Olson said he strongly supports the tenet of the working group that everyone on the SRMC team feels fully understood and considered.
“Savanah River Mission Completion will always strive to leverage a representative and inclusive workforce to achieve superior business results,” Olson said. “We are putting initiatives in place to be an employer of choice and to be a respectful and supportive workplace that enables SRMC to attract and retain a diverse workforce that represents our customers and community.”
-Contributor: Colleen Hart
 A spotter watches as a converter is lifted out of its housing and relocated to the material-sizing area at the Paducah Site’s C-333 Process Building for segmentation. The work was done according to a startup plan to increase the efficiency of equipment removal and downsizing.
PADUCAH, Ky. — A U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) team at the Paducah Site has met a goal to increase the efficiency of equipment removal and downsizing at the C-333 Process Building by 80% from an initial startup plan.
EM crews reached a critical building deactivation milestone late last year by starting converter segmentation at C-333, one of four massive process buildings slated to be demolished during the site’s environmental cleanup.
The team is tasked with removing more than 500 pieces of large process gas equipment, called converters, from the 1-million-square-foot facility to prepare it for demolition. Weighing upwards of 70,000 pounds, the converters are carefully removed from the former uranium enrichment system to be downsized in C-333’s material-sizing area, a space specifically constructed to do this work safely and efficiently.
 Material-sizing area crews at the C-333 Process Building at the Paducah Site use a plasma torch to segment the end cap of a converter as the project team works through a startup plan to increase efficiencies in converter removal.
Crews undertaking this challenge have used a planned approach to ensure workforce safety, applying startup feedback and knowledge transfer while working towards building deactivation.
Removal of the large components required crews to implement new procedures and use new equipment. By taking a graded approach to the startup, technical experts were given the chance to evaluate progress and incrementally implement improvements to decrease the segmentation of a converter from 14 days during initial startup operations to just two days.
“Through the completion of the startup plan, our team demonstrated we have the right people and resources to complete deactivation of the C-333 Process Building,” said Myrna Redfield, program manager for Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership, EM’s deactivation and remediation contractor at the Paducah Site. “Completing this work safely has been the top priority since we began the project and taking a deliberate approach has ensured we continue to put safety first.”
In addition to feedback provided during startup, Paducah Site crews benefited from the experience of personnel from Paducah’s sister site in Portsmouth, Ohio. Portsmouth Site personnel shared their expertise from similar operations at the X-326 Process Building as well as lessons learned and observing converter downsizing at the Paducah Site.
“Real-time knowledge transfer between PPPO projects continues to be a catalyst for the successful deactivation at Paducah and Portsmouth,” Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office Manager Joel Bradburne said. “Moving forward, the efficiencies in converter removal and segmentation from the lessons learned will be a major step toward future demolition of the C-333 Process Building.”
-Contributor: Dylan Nichols
 U.S. Forest Service firefighters from the Savannah River Site (SRS) and Shasta-Trinity National Forest in California, and students from the University of Georgia pause for a photo following the pre-event safety brief of a recent prescribed fire on SRS. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
AIKEN, S.C. — When weather and fuel conditions are right, workers may hear a morning announcement that the U.S. Forest Service will conduct a prescribed fire on Savannah River Site (SRS) that day.
What they don’t hear is the full story behind the fires. Why are they burning, who is doing it, and why now? The obvious answers come to mind first: Reduce potential wildfire fuels and of course the U.S. Forest Service. But often there is a lot more to the story.
Long before flames touch the ground, a team of Forest Service managers agree on actions needed to achieve goals in the Natural Resource Management Plan for forested areas on SRS.
One such action is prescribed fire. It can eliminate invasive plants, slow hardwood encroachment in areas, improving overall forest health, and reduce potential hazardous wildfire fuels, such as grasses, shrubs, trees, dead leaves and fallen pine needles. Prescribed fire also supports open savannah-like habitats for threatened, endangered or sensitive species. Federal regulations mandate that the Forest Service manage habitat for those species where they are found on SRS.
 |
|
Read a related EM Update story about how the Hanford Site fights fire with fire via prescribed burns and helps manage unruly tumbleweeds. Strong winds at the Nevada National Security Site also power the pesky plants, prompting crews to clear "tumbleweed takeovers." |
Each winter and spring during an active prescribed fire season, firefighters from across the United States train and work alongside SRS firefighters to improve their firefighting knowledge and gain fire line qualifications.
Likewise, SRS firefighters travel to other forest units in the U.S. for training and experience fighting fires in diverse forest conditions. Interagency agreements allow for the exchange of resources to help ensure that firefighters maintain specialized qualifications needed to fulfill their duties on SRS and when they respond to federally designated catastrophic wildfires or other emergencies across the country.
SRS regularly hosts federal, state and other partnering agency firefighters enrolled at the National Interagency Prescribed Fire Training Center in Tallahassee, Florida. They gain entry-level and supervisory experience with prescribed burning activities involving various fuel types found on SRS.
On a local level, Forest Service agreements with the University of Georgia and other schools allow students studying natural resources and fire ecology to work with trained firefighters in the application of prescribed fire at SRS. The students can see the effects of fire firsthand and how it can help grow a healthy forest. These valuable opportunities also offer a glimpse into federal firefighting opportunities.
State and federal air quality regulations dictate when prescribed burning can take place during the year and how much of an area can be burned. In southeast U.S., these opportunities most often occur in late winter and early spring when relative humidity and temperatures are lower. Lower humidity allows the smoke to go higher in the atmosphere where winds will disperse and transport the smoke away from the burn area. This helps to decrease the impact of smoke on employees on the site as well as nearby residents. The lower temperatures allow firefighters to work more safely and conduct prescribed burns to remove dead and downed woody debris on the forest floor, helping reduce hazardous fuels that would otherwise build up year after year.
-Contributor: Joe Orosz
|
