Description: The Smoke Awareness Areas layer was created by the Reserve Design Working Group, a sub-committee of the NC Sandhills Conservation Partnership whose mission is to synthesize biological information and create a vision to guide long-term conservation of native Sandhills ecosystems. The layer was developed in 2012 using environmental GIS datasets, aerial photography, and expert opinion from partner organizations including Ft. Bragg, State Parks, Wildlife Resources Commission, The Nature Conservancy, Sandhills Ecological Institute, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the NC Natural Heritage Program. The Smoke Awareness Areas layer identifies locations that are most likely to experience smoke from prescribed burns and are based on lands likely to be managed with fire, prevailing winds, and other environmental factors. Prescribed burning is a critical land management tool to maintain habitat quality in longleaf pine forests while reducing risk of catastrophic wildfire. Incompatible development in these areas could create conflicts between land managers and residents, negatively impacting the ability of managers to conduct controlled burns and increasing the risk of catastrophic wildfire. Working lands, conservation lands, and very low density development are examples of land uses that are likely to be more compatible with prescribed burning.