Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) has closed three access area access roads at Mt. Roosevelt Wildlife Management Area (WMA) due to illegal dumping. Jolly Road, Todd Helton Road and a smaller unnamed, trail road will now be gated to deny access to areas where illegal dumping has occurred. Roads will open for the 2016 spring turkey hunt.
Large amounts of material were illegally discarded on the WMA sometime in the month of December.
WMA manager Jim Lane discovered the trash near the first of the year.
Mr. Lane described the piles as, “a nuisance that affects outdoor enthusiasts”. Hunting and fishing license sales and federal excise taxes comprise almost 100 percent of TWRA’s operating funds. “The area is now under surveillance and the dumping under investigation. We ask anyone with information regarding illegal dumping to call the TWRA Region III office with more information,” said Mr. Lane.