BATON ROUGE — BREC announced Tuesday that it will be conducting a prescribed burn at Howell Community Park to manage habitats and restore essential nutrients to the park's soil.

The burn at the Winbourne Avenue park is scheduled for Tuesday, but if it is not completed by the end of the day, another burn day could occur no later than Friday, March 6, depending on the weather, BREC said.

BREC said that visitors can expect the park to be closed each day of the burn until finished, but can still visit surrounding parks, which will remain open, such as Gus Young Park, Evangeline Street Park and Longfellow Park. In the weeks after the burn, visitors to the park can expect to see charred ground for several weeks within the grow zones

The area being burned inside the park includes several acres of "Grow Zones," which contain mostly grasses that will produce minimal flames and only a thin layer of smoke. Grow Zones support native grasses and flowers that have been restored from non-native turf grass.

"These areas of green infrastructure help the park control storm water and reduce flooding and erosion issues while requiring less taxpayer dollars to maintain," officials added.

The burn will be started, monitored, and extinguished by trained professionals with necessary permits, following all state and city-parish regulations, including the notification to local fire stations and the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry.