Weather also played a role. Omaha’s experience was worse than Lincoln’s last year, primarily based on weather and the way the smoke traveled, said Bergstrom.

Nebraska has no control over burning. “We don’t have any authority to enforce action with Kansas.”

However, the two states have set up a better early-warning system, so state and local health departments can warn people earlier that air quality may deteriorate.

“If we can’t avoid the smoke, at least we can make people aware of what challenges they might face,” said Bergstrom.

This is not a black-and-white issue, with good guys on one side and bad guys on the other. There are competing interests.

There is a very small amount of tallgrass prairie remaining in the United States and much of it is in the Flint Hills of Kansas. There is a strong interest in preserving that grass and part of that preservation is burning to keep out invasive species. So there is a clear environmental benefit in burning.

There is also an economic benefit to ranchers who use the grass for feeding livestock.

And then there is bad air quality in neighboring communities and states when the grass is burned.

The focus is to get more research on burning and to try to spread out the burning season beyond the spring, said Bergstrom.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSNancyHicks.

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