Air Quality Gradients in Western Oregon and Washington Indicated by Lichen Communities and Chemical Analysis of Lichen Tissue Linda Geiser, USDA-Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region Air Program Peter Neitlich, USDA-Forest Inventory Assessment/Forest Health Monitoring, Lichen Indicator 4 March 2003

Introduction Lichens are used by the USFS to: Monitor air quality Help air managers make decisions regarding management of air resources Support recommendations regarding PSD permits that affect forest resources, especially Wilderness

AQ Regulation ORDEQ and WADOE: Measure air pollutants Plan and implement air pollution reduction strategies Issue and enforce air pollution control permits for industry Enforce other regulations Inform, educate, and involve the public

AQ Regulation Criteria Pollutants Ground-level ozone (smog) Carbon monoxide Fine particulate matter (PM 10, PM 2.5 ) Nitrogen oxides Sulfur dioxide Lead National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) 1 hr 8 hr 24 hr Annual average

CAA Class 1 Areas

AQ Regulation New Source Review includes the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permitting process. New sources cannot exceed allowable increments for the criteria pollutants Air Quality Related Values: flora and fauna, soil, water, visibility, biological diversity, cultural and archeological resources, odor **Because the NAAQs are not sufficient to protect the most sensitive AQRVs, documenting concerns regarding effects on AQRVs is the primary way FLMs can protect air quality in Wilderness**

AQ Regulation To monitor air pollution in the PNW, FLMs use:

Emissions Most pollution is from individual actions: Driving cars,using wood stoves,gas-powered lawn mowers, motor boats, paints, aerosol products, outdoor burning EPA National Emissions Inventory:

Emissions

Deposition

Trends

Why lichens? Lichen Communities Are Good AQ Indicators Lichens are highly sensitive to SO 2, NO x, F, acid rain, NH 3. Provide an early warning signal of adverse ecosystem effects. Lichens are important AQRVs Contribute to biodiversity Play important ecological roles Are an important AQRV

Why lichens? Lichen Tissue Analyses also Indicate Air Quality Lichens are good accumulators of N, S, metals Lichens have consistent ranges in clean sites, different from polluted sites

Why Lichens? Lichen Tissue analysis (cont) Different species show similar responses to the same changes in air pollution Across seasons, and Across geographic space

Federal Lichen Monitoring FIA/FHM: 28 km2 sampling grid over US forests Provides early detection and quantification of potential air pollution effects Monitors spatial and temporal changes Lichens and Air Quality Workgroup kgroup

Plot Locations

Methods and Data Plot area = 1 ac (0.38 ha) Epiphytic “Macro- lichens” collected from all woody substrates above 0.5 m Rated in abundance on coarse 4 pt scale Plot-level variables

Diversity Analysis 255 macrolichens on 1500 plots in western OR/WA

Diversity Analysis Alpha diversity: range 0-50 species, highest and lowest values in the OR Coast Range and Cascades, lower in WA than OR Beta diversity: highest in WA Coast Range and Puget Trough Gamma diversity: Highest in OR Western Cascades and Klamath Mtns

Choosing the area to be Modeled Mean Annual Extreme Min Temp Mean Ann Precip Mean July Max Temp

Multi-variate Analysis Initial ordination Problem: pollution signal is not separate from elevation, precipitation, or % hardwood– cannot tell how pollution alone affects lichen communities

Multivariate Analysis Solution: Balance the data set Assigned each plot to one of 12 gps. Began with plots. Pollution (0/1) using threshold for clean sites %0.59 N, or urban Elevation (1,2,3): 0-800, , >2200 ft) Hardwoods (0/1): 20% BA Sorted plots within each group by precipitation and random # Selected 30 plots from each group to represent the precipitation range in that group 90% of plots had tissue data

Multi- variate Analysis

AQ and Climate Response Maps

Air Pollution Response Maps Pollution indicators: X. polycarpa C. concolor Sensitive species: L. oregana S. globosus

Standard Error Block kriged air quality scores based on 30 neighboring data points and 3 km grid. 8% 9% 7% 14% 15% 47% Good Fair Polluted Percentage of Total Land Area in Each Air Quality Class Air Scores

Conclusions Lichen communities show location and relative severity of air pollution impacts Low levels of anthropogenic nitrogen and sulfur (primarily as SO2, acid rain, and fertilizing N) detrimentally affect lichen communities. Combined with trends and instrument monitoring lichens provide a broad picture of relatively clean region with impacts primarily to: Corridors with densest population, high traffic volume, industrial development, multiple small point sources, and intensive agriculture In the 1990s the total area with some AQ deterioration was 24-38%

Conclusions Future Information Needs Continued monitoring to detect trends Higher density of plots in some areas, lower in others Establish acceptable thresholds for tissue data and lichen community scores to aid decision-making processes. Better differentiation of effects of individual pollutants (NO3 and SO4 vs NH3, oxidants, F) on lichen communities Multi-methodologies approach: combine biomonitors, water and snow chemisry data with active/passive monitoring of ambient air and deposition

Conclusions Air quality and our future Bottom Line: growing population equals growing transportation, food, and energy needs, therefore to maintain the same AQ requires stabilizing population, and/or reducing emissions.

Acknowledgements Abbey Rosso Adam Blackwood Aimee Lundee Alexander Mikulin Anne Ingersoll Bruce McCune Carolina Hooper Cheryl Coon Chiska Derr Christine Lindquist Christine Ott-Hopkins Colleen Rash Cort Skolout Dan Powell Daphne Stone Deigh Bates Delphine Miguet Dottie Riley Doug Glavich Eric Peterson Eric Phenix Eric Youngstrom Heath Kierstead Heather Laub Jason Unrine Jen Kalt Jenifer Hutchinson Jim Belsher-Howe Jim Riley Jim Russell John Coulston John Kelley John Wade Jon Martin Julie Evans Ken Snell Ken Stolte Kim Gossen Kristin Myers Linda Chesnut Linda Hasselbach Mark Boyll Mark Pistrang Mike Kania Nancy Diaz Natalia Bonilla Pekka Halonen Riban Ulrich Richard Helliwell Rick Shorey Roger Eliason Roger Rosentreter Sally Campbell Sally Claggett Samuel Solano Sarah Butler Sarah Jovan Scott Rash Shanti Berryman Star Hormann Suzy Will-Wolf Tom High Trevor Goward Walter Foss Walter Grabowiecki William Bechtold Yarrow Wolfe