BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. — Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials will go ahead with a planned 240-acre prescribed burn next Tuesday.
The Appalachian-Piedmont-Coastal Fire Management Zone staff plans to conduct the burn along the park boundary near the Lake in the Sky and the Top of the World communities in Blount County, TN.
They hope this burn reduces hazardous fuel accumulations that linger around communities. They to restore a unique shortleaf-pine and oak forest community that are rare within the park.
“This prescribed burn allows us the opportunity to help reduce fuels along the boundary of the park and their community," Fire Management Officer Greg Salanasky said.
The prescribed burn area is bounded by Gold Mine Trail, Cooper Road Trail, Kingfisher Creek, and Flats Road.
The Gold Mine Trail will be closed to all public use during burn operations.
Visitors traveling along the Foothills Parkway West should expect to see smoke in the area. The actual ignition operations will last up to two days, while residual smoke and monitoring activities could last for multiple days after ignitions are completed.
The prescribed burn operations are expected to last up to two days between Tuesday, March 12 and Sunday, March 31, weather permitting.
For more information about the use of prescribed fire in the park, please visit https://www.nps.gov/grsm/learn/nature/wildlandfire.htm.
