The National Park Service will conduct a prescribed burn on approximately 60 acres of park property at Malvern Hill in Henrico County on Thursday, March 15. The park service is planning a burn at Cold Harbor the week of March 19.

To ensure visitor safety, the park trail and parsonage parking lot at Malvern Hill will be closed during the burn and at Cold Harbor, the park tour road and extended trail will be closed. At Malvern Hill, the areas to be burned are surrounded by a wide gravel road, wetland and areas of short-mowed grass. At Cold Harbor, the burn area is surrounded by an asphalt road and a wetland. Each burn is expected to last no longer than eight hours.

Controlled fires are a key tool for maintenance of a healthy, well-maintained landscape. The burns also reduce maintenance costs. The specific objective of the burn at Malvern Hill is to maintain the historic 1862 scene as a meadow and to reduce woody and non-native species density. At Cold Harbor, the burn will maintain the historic open forest and enhance the native plant community of fire adapted species and the valuable wildlife habitat associated with it.

In order to ensure that the burns remain under control, firefighters will monitor weather conditions and other various factors that will affect the burn such as wind direction, wind speed and smoke dispersion. If any of these environmental parameters are not met, the burn will not proceed; if the conditions start favorably and change, the burn will be stopped. The park will have no fewer than 12 certified wildland fire fighters on hand to ensure that each fire is conducted safely and without incident.