Evaluating the effectiveness of air quality management within the class I area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977 designated national parks and wilderness areas larger than 1894 ha to be class I areas for air quality management, setting more restrictive criteria than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Class I areas are afforded the greatest degree of air quality protection under the Clear Air Act of 1970. In recent years, several studies have documented air pollution effects in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP), the second-largest class I area in the eastern United States. Air pollution problems of greatest concern in the GSMNP are effects of acid deposition, visibility impairment, and tropospheric ozone. A forum, sponsored by the Southern Appalachian Man and the Biosphere Cooperative (SAMAB), was held in March 1992, which involved representative parties-at-interest and began to address strategies for better management of air resources in the Southern Appalachians. This paper summarizes those discussions and recommendations and reports actions occurring as a result of the forum.