News Release

September 5, 2008

Parts of Pocosin Lakes Refuge Hunt Area Closed Due to Safety Issues Resulting From Evans Road Fire

Map credit: USFWS
Map caption- Due to hazardous situations resulting from the Evans Road Fire, approximately 28,000 acres of the refuge that was open to the public is now closed indefinitely.

Refuge Manager Howard Phillips announced today that the Evans Road Fire has been officially declared 100% contained. However, conditions resulting form the fire continue to make parts of the refuge unsafe for the public to use at this time. "We have some large areas where the fire burned away a lot of the ground under standing trees. These trees can and do fall over with no notice at all. Sometimes, it's due to wind, but sometimes, they just fall over. We can't take the risk of having our visitors hurt or killed by falling trees," Phillips said. "But, we're opening up some areas that have been closed during the fire. The area between Boerma and Evans Roads is open at this point. In fact, all refuge lands west of Evans Road are open," he added. The area that will remain closed includes refuge lands east of Evans Road, south of Seagoing, north of New Lake, and west of the line between Seagoing Road and the pump station along Dunbar Road. This includes parts of Seagoing and Western Roads and all of Harvester Road and the J Canal ATV Trail.

Pocosin Lakes Fire Management Officer Vince Carver says this situation is not unusual for a fire in organic soils. "Once there's severe groundfire, this is the situation you would expect. We commonly say those trees are 'stilted' because, since the fire burned away the soil under the trees, they look like they're on stilts," explained Carver.

Phillips reminds us that the Evans Road Fire being 100% contained does not mean it is out. "We won't know for a while if it's out," he added, "but there's a chance the rain from these storms will douse those last areas where the fire may be burning underground. We'll just have to wait and see."

Under pre-fire conditions, nearly 110,000 acres of the refuge was open to some type of hunting. With the current closures due to safety hazards, the acreage drops to 81,200. Should a wind event occur that knocks over enough of the stilted trees and abates the hazard, additional sections of the refuge will be opened to the public.

Closed areas of the refuge will be posted with appropriate signs. For more information, please contact the refuge office at 252-796-3004 or visit the refuge website at http://www.fws.gov/pocosinlakes.