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Controlled burn in Maryville College Woods set for Monday, March 21

As part of continuing efforts to promote the health of the Maryville College Woods, the MC Woods Group and the Blount County Soil and Water Conservation District have organized a controlled burn of two acres.

The burn, which will take place in the forested area behind McArthur Pavilion on the Maryville College campus, is scheduled for Monday, March 21. The prescribed fire — plans for which have been approved by the City of Maryville Fire Department, which will be on standby the day of the burn — is part of ongoing efforts to restore the Woods, according to Dr. Drew Crain, professor of biology at MC and a member of the Maryville College Woods Group.

“After the burn, Maryville College students will compare the response of the burned section of forest to adjacent non-burned sections, and future forest management plans will be based on the results,” Crain said. 

Such management efforts are funded and organized by the Blount County Soil and Water Conservation District. Heritage and Habitat LLC, a land stewardship organization, is conducting the management work, which follows on the heels of a Tennessee River Basin Network grant approved earlier this year for restoration work in the Maryville College Woods.

Bisected by Brown Creek and Duncan Branch, the 128-acre forest harbors a diversity of habitats, including temporary wetlands and seepage areas. Purchased by the College in 1881, the Maryville College Woods is both an educational resource and a popular recreational area of the campus for members of the MC family and residents of the surrounding community. 

Located on the southeastern edge of campus, the Woods were designated as a Stewardship Forest in 2000 by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture’s Forestry Division and recertified in 2013 after the Maryville College Woods Group, which oversees usage and health of the tract, developed a 100-Year Woods Plan that addressed management, future land and resource use and woods security for the next century. 

Already this year, the Group has conducted two cleanup and restoration days, which brought out dozens of volunteers who removed invasive plant species and replaced them with native flora. 

For more information on the Maryville College Woods Group, email woods@maryvillecollege.edu.

Photo of controlled burn map
Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”