Lehigh Gap Nature Center announced it is planning a prescribed fire place as early as Sunday morning, April 16, weather permitting.

The purpose of the fire is to help to manage vegetation that is moving metals out of the contaminated soil into the food chain.

The fire will favor the prairie grasses, which thrive after fires, and these grasses do not mobilize significant quantities of metal from the soil into the food chains of the refuge.

The fire must be timed precisely to be beneficial, so there is only a two week window during which the fire will take place.

The burn will be visible from the west end of Palmerton and from Route 248 between Bowmanstown and Palmerton.

The Lehigh Gap Nature Center is a member-supported, wildlife conservation and environmental education organization with its office at the Osprey House in Lehigh Gap.

For more information, contact 610-760-8889, lgnc@ptd.net or go to lgnc.org.