Clearing Brush in Cades Cove: Fuels Work That Serves Turkeys and Visitors

Open grassland makes better habitat for turkeys. NPS.

Over three years, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Cherokee National Forest and the Appalachian-Piedmont-Coastal Fire Management Zone teamed up on fuels treatments — cutting or thinning vegetation that would otherwise build up into dangerous wildfire fuel. The work also served the park's ecological and cultural goals for the historic landscape.

The work

Mechanical treatment chopped small trees and shrubs into debris, much like a chipper. NPS.

• 477 acres were mechanically treated, grinding small trees and shrubs into small debris.
• The treated areas became open grassland, to be kept open from now on with lighter methods: prescribed burning and periodic mowing.
• Six units were prepared for prescribed burns in autumn 2022.
• Crews worked to protect cultural and natural resources and to limit disruption to visitors.

What it gained

The historic open character of the land, restored around a cabin. NPS.

• Meadows: restoring the land's historic openness let native meadow grasses and flowering plants, rare in the park, grow back — supporting a wide diversity of life.
• Views: visitors get open, scenic views across the valley floor of Cades Cove, one of the highlights of the country's most visited national park.
• Safety: less fuel to feed a wildfire.

Funding came from a Park Service–Forest Service Southeast Region interagency agreement and a donation from the Friends of the Smokies.

Sources

Based on "Fuels treatments fulfill needs of wildlife and visitors at Great Smoky Mountains National Park," National Park Service Fire and Aviation Management; a work of the United States government in the public domain.