Upcoming Opportunities

Cleaning up campfire and Leave No Trace Principles

Fire rings are not an unfamiliar site along the riverbank and in dispersed camping sites. People often enjoy a fire while they camp or fish to provide a source of heat and cooking. While we hope that visitors to public land are conservation-minded, oftentimes volunteers find trash heaped into fire pits, and rings knocked over. Please let us know if you have any questions on fire rings on your spot.

Our partners at Leave No Trace offer some advice on how to clean up fire rings and ways to minimize impacts:

• Scatter unused wood as naturally as possible.
• Push unburned ends of wood into the fire as it burns down so it is all consumed.
• When the coals have burned to ash, soak well with water and make sure it is completely out.
• Use water rather than dirt to put out the fire.
• Collect the cold ash and scatter it over a large area well away from the campsite.

Fires built on the ground overheat the organic soil and kill the creepy crawlies living in it. It may take a very long time for anything to grow in the spot where a fire was built. An established fire ring is a sacrificed spot in which fires are accepted to prevent destruction of other areas.

There will be an impact to the area from any fire, but there are many ways to reduce and disguise the impact:

• Use existing fire rings. In an established campsite, use the fire ring that’s already there.
• If there is no fire ring, do not make one. Instead, build a mound fire.
• Build small fires - create a fire just large enough to cook the food. Feed it fuel as needed.
• Burn all wood to ash - stop adding fuel to the fire well before bedtime or departure time so it has time to burn itself out. This prevents having chunks of partially burned wood to disperse.
• Gather firewood carefully:
  • Use wood that is down. Leave limbs on standing trees, even if they are dead limbs.
  • Use wood that is smaller around than an adult's wrist, that can be broken by hand - no saws or axes are needed.
  • Leave larger logs and limbs for habitat and to decompose into the soil.
  • Take a hike away to gather wood. Leave closer wood so it can decompose into the soil.
  • In the absence of fire rings, rather than creating a fire directly on the ground it is best to insulate the organic soil from the heat of your fire by using a camp stove, fire pan or mound fire.

Rules for public use of TVA land:

• Campfires are prohibited in all caves, including within 200 feet from cave entrances.
• Obey all fire restrictions. Do not leave campfires unattended. Campers are responsible for keeping fires under control. Fires may be limited or prohibited at certain times.
• Campfires must be completely extinguished before leaving the area.
• Use locally sourced firewood to minimize the spread of invasive pests (please check sites such as www.dontmovefirewood.org for more information).
• Cutting live or standing trees on TVA property for firewood or other uses is prohibited.
• Campfires must be contained in metal or rock fire rings.
• All firewood must be pre-cut and not include construction debris or pallets. Do not cut, damage or drive nails into trees.  Do not burn trash in fire rings.

Volunteers at work

• Welcome new volunteer Michelle Smith! Michelle will be helping out on Chickamauga Reservoir at Blythe Ferry.
• The Five Rivers Mountain Biking Club recently participated in the first Team up for Trails, trail maintenance workshop. The workshop, hosted by TVA and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency in Morristown, TN, focused on basic trail maintenance skills. Did you miss the event and are you interested in participating in trail maintenance activities? We will be holding another workshop soon. Email volunteer@tva.gov to be included in the next interest email. Team up for Trails is a program geared towards enhancing trail maintenance skills and providing growth opportunities for current and potential Adopt a Trail volunteers. We want you to get involved!

These places need your help!

Reminders and Upcoming Events

• Adopt-a-Spot Volunteer, remember to fill out your Condition Evaluation Report and submit your volunteer hours to volunteer@tva.gov.
• Complete 4 site visits and you’ll earn a hammock. Complete 8 site visits and you’ll earn our new volunteer t-shirt. It is quick-dry and long-sleeved!