Awareness of smoke production, transport, and effects on receptors from prescribed and wildland fires enables us to refine existing smoke management strategies and to develop better smoke management plans and programs in the future. The National Wildfire Coordinating Group's (NWCG) 2001 edition of the Smoke Management Guide for Prescribed and Wildland Fire (the Guide) addresses methods for avoiding or reducing adverse impacts of smoke on human health and welfare. While NWCG's 1985 Smoke Management Guide has formed the basis for the 2001 edition, the current edition is a comprehensive guide developed in the model of a textbook or desktop reference for smoke management curriculum.

The primary customers for the Guide are practitioners of prescribed fire and fire use who desire to manage smoke from their activities responsibly. Such practitioners include fire professionals from a wide range of affiliations, including NWCG agencies and their partners, local and county governments, non-governmental organizations, industry, and other private landowners. The Guide is also intended as a reference for local, state, tribal, and federal air quality managers. Background information related to the fire and emissions processes, fire and land management, and multiple resource objectives is targeted to the non-fire reader such as regulators and air quality specialists.

A suite of potential smoke management practices and techniques are not only suggested in the Guide, but their relative effectiveness and regionally-specific applicability are also provided. This information was acquired through three regional workshops held in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.

This revised Guide now emphasizes both emission and impact reduction methods that have been found to be practical, useful, and beneficial. Readers will also find a greatly expanded discussion of air quality regulatory requirements, reflecting the growing complexities and demands on today's fire practitioners.