Bays Mountain Park to conduct prescribed burn next month

Bays Mountain Park will perform a prescribed burn, during the month April, as a proactive measure to reduce the amount of leaf litter, duff and downed trees on the mountain. This year’s burn will pick up where last year’s burn ended.

A prescribed fire is the skillful and planned use of fire on a landscape under specific weather and fuel conditions to help restore health to many ecosystems. The Tennessee Division of Forestry promotes the safe use of prescribed fire on both state and private lands in Tennessee.

Weather permitting, the prescribed burn at Bays Mountain Park will take place sometime between April 1-17 and encompass roughly 15-50 acres of land between River Mountain Road and Woody’s Trail. The burn will take approximately four to seven hours to complete.

Bays Mountain Park will be open to the public during the prescribed burn; however, River Mountain Road and Woody’s Trail will be closed. Residents can expect to see white smoke rising from the mountain during the burn.

Employees with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conversation will be conducting the burn with the assistance of Tennessee State Parks, the Kingsport Fire Department and the Dobyns-Bennett High School prescribed burn team.

According to TDEC, a prescribed fire is an important tool in forest health management. Prescribed fires help reduce the catastrophic damage of wildfire by safely reducing excessive brush, shrubs, and trees. They also encourage native vegetation to grow and are used to maintain the many plant and animal species whose habitats depend on periodic fire.

“Our first prescribed burn was a success, in that we reduced forest fuels and invasive species,” said Park Manager Megan Krager. “We want to continue that success by burning another section of forest, basically picking up where we left off from last year.”

For more information about Bays Mountain Park & Planetarium, visit baysmountain.com or call (423)229-9447.