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Air Resource Management Program - Laws and Policies

Several regulatory requirements govern our work – the main one being the Clean Air Act. Much progress has been made toward improving air quality across the United States since its enactment. However, the Forest Service still faces many challenges in fulfilling our responsibilities. The following laws play critical roles in determining the Forest Service’s management of national forests and grasslands and our responsibility as a federal land manager of Class I areas located in some of our wildernesses.

Learn more about laws and policies:

  • Wilderness Act

    • Wilderness Character Monitoring

    • Wilderness Stewardship Performance

  • Clean Air Act

    • Prevention of Significant Deterioration

      • Federal Class I Areas

      • Air Quality Related Values

      • Best Available Control Technology

    • Regional Haze Rule

    • General Conformity Rule

    • State Smoke Management

  • Other Laws

    • National Environmental Policy Act

    • National Forest Management Act

    • Orphaned Well Program under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

TermDefinition
Air Quality Related ValueA scenic, cultural, physical, biological, ecological, or recreational resource which may be affected by a change in air quality as defined by the federal land manager for federal lands.
Class I AreaGeographic area designated for the most stringent degree of protection from future degradation of air quality.
Nonattainment AreaIn conventional use a term used to describe an area that does not meet one or more of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
Prevention of Significant DeteriorationA process which requires emission limitations for certain new or modified sources of air pollution. The Forest Service has input into this permitting process by providing comment to air regulatory agencies on potential source impacts to air quality related values.
Sensitive ReceptorAn attribute of an Air Quality Related Value that is most responsive to, or first affected by, air pollution.
Sensitive Receptor IndicatorA measurable, physical, chemical, biological, or social characteristic of a sensitive receptor.
WildernessAreas formally protected by the 1964 Wilderness Act, or its extension to eastern lands by the 1975 Eastern Wilderness Act and to the public domain by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976.