Controlled burn to take place today in Cades Cove Section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Hyatt Lane was closed in Cades Cove in anticipation of today's controlled burn to take place of weather permits. Additional burns are scheduled to take place this week in Cades Cove and could possible be pushed into next week as Thursday and Friday do not look like optimum weather for a good burn.

Controlled burns are used in the Great Smoky Mountains national park to clear vegetation in fields along with mowing in order to keep filed open from large vegetation such as bushes and trees so they remain as they were historically.

Prescribed burns also reduce fuel so that wild fires do not burn as hot and spread as quickly as they would and unmaintained areas as well as help increase biodiversity.

Cades Cove Loop Road and Greenbrier Road are closed. Other local roads flood due to high water

Cades Cove Loop Road and Greenbrier Road have both been closed today due to high water on numerous places from the past 30 hours of rain. Since close to 3 inches of rain has fallen in some areas creeks streams and rivers are spilling over their banks creating a mess for many on the Smoky Mountains.

There have been numerous traffic accidents in the Gatlinburg - Pigeon Forge - Sevierville area and a flood watch is in effect in Newport until 7 pm as the Pigeon River is expected to create flooding issues.

To make matters worse there is a wind advisory in effect today until 4 pm tomorrow so expect that trees will fall because of the saturated ground and high winds creating more power outages and telephone and internet service interruptions.

The Great Smoky Mountains national park is faring better than expected as other roads in the park have not been closed yet and though all the branches, creeks, streams and rivers are flooding they are yet to create any property or safety issues other than for those who will kayak or attempt to cross them in the dangerous state.

While it is possible that Cades Cove Loop Road may reopen today if the high waters recede, it is doubtful that Hyatt Lane, Sparks Lane, Forge Creek Road and Parsons Branch Road will open right away as vehicles driving over these gravel roads when they are saturated do serious damage to the roadway.

Greenbrier Road is closed right now and may reopen today, but the section of roadway to the Ramsey Cascades parking area will take at least a day before the water recedes enough for it to reopen.

Controlled burns to take place in Cades Cove section of the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

Cades Cove in the north western section of the Great Smoky Mountains national park will be ground zero for 3 planned controlled burns this week performed by national park service firefighters as a cost effective method to keep the historic fields in the valley from becoming a forest.

Prescribed burns in Cades Cove generally take place in March but due to the Cades Cove Loop Road repaving next year which will close the road, prescribed burns will take place if weather conditions permit today through Friday.

Today the park plans on burning several tracts of land in the Cades Cove Valley west of Hyatt Lane close to where prescribed burns took place this spring. Before setting the larger blaze containment areas have been set by mowing the grass around where the burn is to take place.

If all goes well tomorrow through Friday the next set of controlled wildfires in the Great Smoky Mountains national park will take place in fields between Parks and Hyatt Lane.

While these burns should not effect traffic along the Cades Cove Loop Road it is possible to road will be closed for safety reasons. It is also possible either Hyatt Lane or Sparks Lane will be also closed in the next 3 days but more than likely the only effect the prescribed wild fire will have on visitors in Cades Cove is the sight and smell of smoke.

The Great Smoky Mountains national park has about 950 acres of fields in the Cove visible from Cades Cove Loop Road mowed a year and another 1,000 acres that are less visible are kept from being claimed by forest burned or mowed on a 3 year rotation.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Presents Birds of Prey Program with Doris Mager

One of the most exciting moments a serious or fist time bird watchers has in the Great Smoky Mountains national park is when they get the chance to observe one of the elusive and beautiful birds of prey in the park.

This Saturday you will have the chance to join naturalist Doris Mager known as the "Eagle Lady" give a lecture on these amazing animals as well as the chance to see 4 of these animals up close and in person including an American Kestrel, a Screech Owl, and a Great Horned Owl.

Doris Mager is no spring chicken at 83 years of age but she still travels around the whole Eastern United States given lectures about her 35 years of experience helping hundreds of Raptors, more than 80 eagles and all the while housing up to 36 birds of prey at a time in her backyard.

North District Resource Education Supervisor of the Great Smoky Mountains national park promised that Doris Mager's 1 hour lecture starting at 10:30 am this Saturday August 15th at the Sugarlands Visitor Centers Theater will be a real treat for people who can attend.

After the lecture I would suggest that if you are looking to see a bird of prey on the wild you park your car midway on Hyatt Road in Cades Cove and walk around, climb Mount LeConte Via the Alum Cave Hiking Trail or check out the stretch of the AT between Charlie's Bunion and Snake Den Ridge Trail in Cosby.

Cades Cove partially closed to cars, Hikers and Bikers

The tremendously popular Cades Cove 11 mile loop in the Great Smoky Mountains national park will be partially closed from April 28th until May 1st until 10:00 am each day to drives, Cades Cove bikers and hikers while construction will take place.

The national park service will be undertaking 3 projects at the same time, repairing the drainage as well as resurfacing the road at the Abrams Creek Trail at the far end of Cades Cove as well as working on the bridge that crosses Abrams Creek.

Both Sparks Lane and Hyatt Lane will also be closed during this construction period and will reopen at around 10:00 am.

This is not yet the project we are all waiting for - a complete repair and resurfacing of the entire Cades Cove 11 mile loop which is badly in need of repair.

This winter we observed surveyors already measuring the Cades Cove 11 mile loop as well as checking drainage areas. I was advised this week that repairs are expected to get underway next year to the entire road surface.

Next weeks closures will allow only hikers and bikers to hike and bike back and forth on a 5-mile portion of the road between the Cades Cove Loop Road entrance and the construction site.

Hikers will not be allowed past the bridge or on the south end of the loop road so that they will not hinder large construction vehicles or slow down work due to safety concerns.

Sparks Lane and Forge Creek Road in Cades Cove Remain Closed

Due to muddy conditions both Sparks Lane and Forge Creek Road remain closed in the Cades Cove area the of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

In the winter months 3 unimproved roads normally remain open in Cades Cove, Sparks Lane, Hyatt Lane and Forge Creek Road while the 2 roads that lead out of the national park Rich Mountain Road and Parsons Branch Road close for the winter.

Forge Creek Road can be found by the Cades Cove Visitor Center and takes visitors to one of the Gregory Bald trailheads, Parsons Branch Road and passes by one of the finest examples of transitional architecture: The Henry Whitehead Place.

Sparks Lane is the first bypass shortcut for drivers, bikers and hikers who take the 11 mile Cades Cove Loop Road. While Sparks Lane remains closed, if you do not wish to take the whole tour your first opportunity to exit the loop will be Hyatt Lane which remains open at this time.

Dues to today's damp weather Cades Cove and tonight's and tomorrows predicted participation, don't expect either road to be open shortly. Forge Creek Road has been closed for what seems like most of the winter season this year due to poor road conditions.

Cades Cove Loop in the Great Smoky Mountains national park to be closed to traffic

It is that time of the year again where the National Park service closes Cades Cove to vehicles while they spray the hemlock trees close enough to the road which can be reached in order to fight the invasive exotic pest the hemlock woolly adelgid. While the Cades Cove loop was closed in late November of 2006, this year the closures will be in the first week of December.

As long as the weather is conducive to spraying the hemlock trees in Cades Cove which are infested with the woolly adelgid, the whole 11 mile Cades Cove loop will be closed this Wednesday December 5th. If you wish to hike the Cades Cove loop you can do so but cars and bicycles are forbidden to be on the road.

If all goes as planned on Thursday December 6th only the far section of the Cades Cove Loop past Hyatt Lane will be closed to motorist and bicyclists. Hikers can access the entire loop on the second day of spraying.

Spraying is one of three methods that the Great Smoky Mountains National park has been successfully using to fight the woolly adelgid from destroying all of the hemlock tees in the park.

The spaying with national park service trucks will only be done as long as a heavy rain or freezing temperatures are not expected during or immediately after the spraying is to be done.

To check on the status of the Cades Cove road closure you may call the national park service general information number at (865)436-1200.