A prescribed burn will take place behind the dog parks at Heritage Park in order to kill off the emerald ash borer bugs and to also give the gardens a fresh start.
The City of Chattanooga Natural Resources team is partnering with the Southeastern Grassland Institute to continue maintenance work on a meadow in East Brainerd that was seeded in 2021.
Chattanooga Parks and Outdoors has scheduled a prescribed burn at Heritage Park on Friday, December 12.
Spokesperson for the City of Chattanooga Parks & Outdoors, Brian Smith, says rather than issuing a prescribed burn for fire prevention, this meadow burn will help reduce the number of an invasive beetle species found in ash trees.
“If we were to let those ash trees grow, they’re very susceptible to the emerald ash borer,” Smith explains. “So, we do want to get rid of them, and then also by removing those ash trees, it allows other native plants to grow.”
Half an acre of land will be burned on Thursday, December 11. Smith says the park will close from 11:00am until 4:00pm with the burn beginning at noon. This burn is important to remove ash trees since they soak up a lot of water. This does not allow other native plants, grasses, and wildflowers to flourish yet.
“Years before, this used to just be a swampy area behind the dog parks, and we just let whatever grow,” Smith recalls. “And now, we’re doing a little bit more intentional work here to see what grows here natively, and it also becomes one of our largest pollinator gardens in the East Brainerd area.”
Smith adds not only will the meadow become a pollinator garden, but it will act as a rain garden as well.
“Parks soak up a lot of water,” he says. “We know we do have flooding in this area. So, when you have some of these swampy areas and some of these areas that are prone to flooding, by putting in native plants that are used to soaking up that water, it really limits flooding in our area,” Smith tells us.
Smith reassures there will be minimal impact on the general public since the smoke will rise quickly and the winds will be calm. It will still be safe to walk your dog tomorrow after the prescribed burn, but make sure not to walk through any of the burn scars.
