OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
U S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460
                                           POSTAGE AND FEES PAID
                                   ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
                                                     EPA-335
L3  Q  TECHNICAL  NOTES  £
                                                Chris L. West
                                                503/752-4211, Ext. 300
                                                December 8, 1973
FOR RELEASE UPON RECEIPT




EPA AWARDS TO STUDY EFFECTS OF AIR


POLLUTION ON FOREST ECOSYSTEM



    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded a $314,136


contract to the University of California at Riverside to begin one of


the Nation's first major field studies on the effects of oxidant air


pollution on a major forest ecosystem.


    The research will  involve primarily the effects of photochemical


oxidants (pollutants formed principally by photochemical reactions


involving nitrogen dioxide and unsaturated hydrocarbons)•on a mixed


conifer ecosystem dominated by Jeffrey and Ponderosa Pine.


    These  trees are extremely susceptible to oxidant air  pollution.


Smog from the Los Angeles Basin has already killed or defoliated


significant  numbers of  the trees in the San Bernardino National Forest.

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     The contract was awarded through EPA's National Ecological




Research Laboratory (NERL) at Corvallis, Oregon,  which will be




responsible for administering the contract and monitoring the study




through its completion.  The contract covers the  first year of what




is expected to be a five-year project.




     Dr. Norman R. Glass, Director of NERL, said  the research will be




conducted in the San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California,




where the infamous Los Angeles smog has been inflicting serious damage




to plant life for many years.




     Dr. Glass said that "While our study will take place in Southern




California where there is already a problem, similar ecological problems




could eventually develop in numerous other parts of the United States




where emissions of photochemically active substances are increasing and




where suitable geographical and meteorological conditions exist.




     "These include such places  as Oregon's Willamette Valley and the




San Joaquin-Sacramento Valley in Central California '— areas which are




geographically shaped to retain  air masses, and which experience similar




inversion patterns that potentially  lead to smog formation and build-up




of atmospheric pollutants."



     Dr. Glass said  that  in  addition  to furthering  the understanding  of




the response  of  ecosystems to pollutants,  data obtained  from the study




will be used  in  the  establishment  of  secondary air  quality standards  in




the United  States.






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