A 25-acre area that includes slightly more than ¼-mile of trail on the eastern side of the Sparta Mountain Wildlife Management Area (WMA) will be temporarily closed to the public through March 31.
The closure is for a habitat restoration project that will open the forest canopy to allow for growth of young oak and hickory trees, blackberries, sedges, and a variety of other native shrub and sapling plants.
The area will become a breeding and/or foraging habitat for wildlife, including the 80 different bird species that have been seen in other sites of restored open-canopy forest in the Sparta Mountain WMA.