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DOE Oak Ridge Office conducting controlled burns through April

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controlled_burns

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- The US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Office announced it would be starting a series of controlled burns through the grassland areas on the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation for prescribed burning on the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Three Bend Area off Pump House and Bull Bluff Roads.

Beginning the week of March 12 and continuing through April 2018, weather permitting, the controlled burns have been scheduled to take place at the following locations:

  • Freels Bend fields -- up to about 284 acres of grassland and scrub
  • Gallaher Bend fields -- up to about 125 acres of grassland and kudzu
  • Solway Bend fields -- up to about 62 acres of grassland

The burns are part of the TWRA and Oak Ridge National Laboratory's effort to provide wildlife habitat, encourage growth of native plants and reduce the risk of wildfires.

The burns are conducted and overseen by the State of Tennessee Division of Forestry, with support from TWRA.

Officials said people may see smoke in the Oak Ridge vicinity of Clark Center Park or south of the Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Education (ORISE) campus while the burns are happening.