OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (WATE) — The United States Department of Energy plans to conduct controlled burns in wooded and grassland parts of the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation, according to Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The DOE plans to do the controlled burns through December, weather permitting. They are meant to support wildlife habitats, encourage the growth of native plants, and decrease the risk of wildfires, ORNL said.
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During controlled burns, people may see distant smoke in the Oak Ridge vicinity of Clark Center Park, south of the Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Education campus and near parts of State Routes 95, 58 and 327.
ORNL listed the following locations for controlled burns:
- Freels Bend fields – up to approximately 284 acres of grassland and scrub
- Gallaher Bend fields – up to approximately 125 acres of grassland and kudzu
- Solway Bend fields – up to approximately 63 acres of grassland and kudzu
- Scarboro Road fields – up to approximately 58 acres of grassland
- Chestnut Ridge kudzu infestations – up to approximately 16 acres of kudzu and woodland near Bear Creek Road and Highway 95
- Hickory Bend kudzu control – approximately 20 acres of forest edge and kudzu
- National Nuclear Security Administration OST Training Facility – approximately 52 acres of woodland
- NNSA CTF Training Facility – approximately 75 acres of woodland
- Bethel Fields – approximately 52 acres of grassland
- Hunley Road kudzu control – approximately 12 acres of kudzu and woody debris
- Wheat Church Vista – approximately 12 acres of kudzu-infested pine woodland and grassland
- Hawk’s Nest Road – approximately 21 acres of woodland
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The Tennessee Division of Forestry will oversee the burns…