Rocky Mountain Park Is Having Bad Air Days

Hike through one of America’s natural treasures -- home to black bears, elk and moose. Take a deep breath of mountain air -- as long as you’re not asthmatic.

On some days, the wind blows enough pollution some 55 miles up from the sprawling metropolitan Denver area that the park violates federal clean air standards for ozone.

The murk also settles across the eastern Plains, angering farmers, and it reminds many residents of the brown cloud that used to hover over metropolitan Denver like a stifling blanket.

But it is in the park that the effects of the area’s growing population -- 2.2 million in 2002 -- are perhaps most stark: The Environmental Protection Agency probably will include it when it declares 11 counties along Colorado’s Front Range in violation of the Clean Air Act.

“2003 was a giant step backward in what has been an ongoing effort to try and protect public health and the environment from ozone and smog,” said Vickie Patton, senior attorney for Environmental Defense in Boulder.

Jill Stephens, a program analyst with the National Parks Conservation Assn., said the question of air quality in national parks is a serious one.

The South’s Great Smoky Mountains National Park, for example, has had 30 plant species visibly damaged by ozone, the association says. Since 1998, there have been 175 days with unhealthy ozone levels in the park, the country’s most-visited.

Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks in California registered 61 unhealthy air days because of ozone pollution in 2001. And Shenandoah National Park in Virginia had some summer days where visibility is 10 miles.

“In Colorado, trends show that ozone pollution is increasing and, while you might not be at the level of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, you don’t want to be in such a grave situation that that designation can be reversed,” Stephens said.

Two years ago, federal officials said Denver was no longer violating major air quality rules, making it the first city in the nation to get a clean bill of health for the five federal air quality standards that it once violated.

But the EPA is about to remove that badge of honor after implementation of a tougher standard and some of the highest levels of ground-level ozone ever recorded in Denver. The city violated tougher new air quality standards at least 33 times.

Ozone, a colorless, odorless gas made up of industrial pollution and car exhaust, becomes a problem on sunny days when the air heats up. Experts say it is the latest headache to come out of Denver’s population boom, and it poses significant health risks.

At Rocky Mountain National Park, a monitor last summer found seven incidents in which ozone exceeded federal health standards, said Mike Silverstein of the state Department of Public Health and Environment.

“The air comes and goes, and most of the days, it’s good to excellent air quality,” park biologist Karl Cordova said. “On other days, it’s not what we hope it would be.”

There are no documented cases of people being harmed by ozone at the park. But Cordova said studies show that 13 species of flora -- including ponderosa pine and quaking aspen -- can suffer significant damage from exposure to ozone.

The ozone penetrates leaves and can alter their chemical composition to prevent photosynthesis, Cordova said. So far, he said, there is no evidence to figure out whether ozone is hurting the plants.

Colorado and the EPA have agreed on a plan to reduce and control ozone in the Denver area and comply with federal standards.

Richard Long, the EPA’s director of regional air and radiation programs, said the state had met all deadlines so far and was not in danger of sanctions for nonattainment. Whether the state’s efforts to control ground-level ozone were adequate, however, was open for debate.

Patton said she was looking forward to a meeting of the state Air Quality Control Commission in March to see whether political and business leaders were taking the lead in ensuring environmental safety.

“I think we are at a crossroads right now and, over the next couple of months, senior state officials will be faced with making some important decisions about Colorado’s commitment to protecting public health and the environment,” Patton said.