Cades Cove Loop Road Closed for Spraying

Managers at Great Smoky Mountains National Park announced plans to close the 11-mile Cades Cove Loop Road to all vehicular traffic on Tuesday, December 1st, and to impose a partial closure on Wednesday, December 2nd. During that time, park forestry technicians will Read more..

Smokies Celebrates Public Lands Day

The National Park Service is inviting America to join in a day of service and celebration on Saturday, September 26, during Public Lands Day to help make America’s Best Idea—the national parks—even better. As part of the event, Great Smoky Mountains National Park will present a sneak preview of a new Ken Burns documentary and participate in a volunteer community service project in cooperation with the Keep Sevier Beautiful Roads and Rivers Day Fall Clean Up.

A short, 26-minute excerpt from the National Parks: America’s Best Idea documentary series, sponsored by the National Park Service and National Park Foundation, is scheduled for two showings on Saturday, September 26, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Sugarlands Visitor Center, near Gatlinburg, Tenn. This showing is a prelude to the six-part, 12-hour series which will begin airing on PBS stations nationwide on Sunday, September 27. The Burns documentary includes a Smokies segment in which local icons Horace Kephart and George Masa are featured prominently. Together, Kephart, a famed author and outdoorsman, and Masa, a photographer and avid hiker, played important roles in raising support for the Park’s creation.

“We are excited that the Smokies is part of the documentary film which coincides with the Park’s 75th Anniversary. The project traces the birth of the national park idea in the mid-1800s and follows its evolution for nearly 150 years and is an excellent opportunity for Americans to reflect on the significance and value of the National Park System,” said Park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson.

As part of the Keep Sevier Beautiful Roads and Rivers Day, the national park is looking for volunteers to participate in a litter clean up along the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Spur between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. Registration for interested volunteers begins at 9 a.m. at the Gatlinburg Spur Welcome Center where volunteers will be provided work gloves, water and trash bags and assigned sections of the Spur which runs parallel to the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River. Individuals should be prepared to walk along the sloping banks of the river collecting trash and debris. It is recommended to wear sturdy shoes and long pants for scrambling down the banks. Individuals under 18 are required to be accompanied by adult. The national park is one of several places that Keep Sevier Beautiful is sponsoring in Sevier County so that people can help to make their community a better place to live and visit. For more information call the Keep Sevier Beautiful office at 865-774-6677.

Streams Become Classrooms in Water Wonders Workshop

Join Discover Life in America for the opportunity to glimpse the biodiversity of the bottom of streams through a hands-on experience in Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Saturday, September 19 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event will take place at Sugarlands Visitor Center and the Twin Creeks Science and Education Center. The group will meet in front of Sugarlands Visitor Center at 9 a.m. for stream sampling, and after a break for lunch, gather at Twin Creeks Center for observation and identification.

Participants will work alongside Dr. Andrea Radwell, a biologist from the University of Arkansas, who specializes in the study of water mites. We expect to find an abundant and diverse population of water mites along with other invertebrates with which they interact. Activities will include stream sampling techniques and the observation of live both macro- and micro invertebrates. Those who wish to get their feet wet as well as those who prefer to help streamside are welcome to attend.

If you plan to participate in the stream, bring a pair of waders or wading boots, or an old pair of sneakers. Those who prefer to assist streamside should be prepared to possibly get just a little wet or muddy. As the event will last all day, participants are encouraged to bring lunch to eat with the group. Please RSVP by Friday September 18 to Heather MacCulloch at Discover Life in America at 865-430-4756.

The Mountain Life Festival is Set to Celebrate the Fall Harvest

The annual Mountain Life Festival at the Mountain Farm Museum in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is scheduled Saturday, September 19, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. During this 75th anniversary year of the park, the event will showcase Appalachian folkways and pay tribute to the many families who lived on lands that would later become the national park.

The centerpiece of the event is the sorghum syrup demonstration, which the national park has provided each fall for almost 40 years. The syrup is made much the same way it was produced a hundred or more years ago, using a horse-powered cane mill and wood-fired cooker. The syrup making demonstration is provided by students, staff, and volunteers from Swain County High School through a cooperative agreement with Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Great Smoky Mountains Association. The association is the national park’s non-profit partner that operates the bookstores in the park’s visitor centers.

Other activities during the day will include hearth cooking, apple butter and apple cider making, blacksmithing, lye soap making, food preservation, broom making, quilting, and chair bottoming. Artifacts and historic photographs from the national park’s collection will also be on display. Music will be provided by Marshall Crowe and the Bluegrass Singers. Featured participants at this year’s event include Ron and Suzanne Joyner from Big Horse Creek Farm in Ashe County, N.C. whose small, family-owned orchard and nursery maintains more than 300 varieties of custom-grafted heirloom apple trees; Annie Lee Bryson from Sylva, N.C., making cornshuck dolls; the Woodard family from Bryson City, N.C., making hominy; and Roy Henson from Tennessee will provide a display of traditional toys.

“During the event, visitors can explore the preserved collection of Southern Appalachian farm buildings assembled here from their original locations throughout the Park,” said Park Ranger Lynda Doucette. “Most of the structures, including a chestnut log farmhouse, date from about 1900, giving a glimpse into the past, and with the demonstrations that are planned, visitors can gain a better understanding of the rural heritage of this country,” she added.

The Mountain Farm Museum is located adjacent to the park’s Oconaluftee Visitor Center on Newfound Gap Road (US 441), two miles north of Cherokee, N.C.

All activities are free and open to the public. For more information call the visitor center at (828) 497-1904.

New Quarter to Feature Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The United States Mint announced recently that the nation will honor Great Smoky Mountains National Park through its new quarter-dollar coin program. The Smokies design, yet to be selected, will be the 21st to be featured on coins minted under the America the Beautiful Quarters program, and will be issued in 2014.

“We are privileged to be featured on the quarters program along with many of our nation’s most revered places,” said park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson. “The coins are an excellent way to capture the public’s attention and focus on our great resources,” he continued.

“Whatever illustration is chosen to depict this national park, it will serve to represent the Smokies lush forests, abundant plant and animal life, awe-inspiring scenery, and the Park’s rich Southern Appalachian mountain culture,” Ditmanson said. The park provides visitors with recreational and educational opportunities in nature and sightseeing tours of remnant 19th and 20th century log cabins, churches, grist mills, barns, and other outbuildings in seven historic districts. Established in 1934, the Smokies is the most visited national park in the National Park System, hosting over 9 million visitors annually.

Congress authorized the America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008 to celebrate the nation’s legacy of conservation. The act directs the United States Mint to strike and issue 56 circulating quarter-dollars with reverse (tails side) designs emblematic of a national park or other national site in each state, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories — Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. The coins’ obverse (heads) will feature the familiar “restored” 1932 portrait of George Washington. Starting in 2010, the quarters will be issued sequentially each year, in the order in which the featured site was first established as a national park or site.

The complete National Site Registry, which lists all 56 sites to be included under the United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters Program in chronological order by year, is available at U.S. Mint’s website

Secretary of the Treasury Timothy F. Geithner approved the list of sites recommended by the United States Mint on August 25, 2009, after consultation with the governor or chief executive of each host jurisdiction and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

In addition to the coins for circulation, the Mint will produce collectible items including proof sets, silver proof sets, a five ounce silver bullion coin, coin bags and coin rolls for each quarter. For more information about the United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters Program, please visit their website.

Rock Slide Closes Little River Road in GSMNP

Great Smoky Mountains Chief of Facility Management Alan Sumeriski has announced that a rockslide is expected keep Little River Road between the Elkmont Campground and the Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area closed through Tuesday evening, August 18. The slide is located about two miles west of the Elkmont Campground junction.

Sumeriski said, “When the slide first occurred we had hoped our own road crew could make the road safe in a few hours, but a second slide soon occurred which left a large patch of unstable rock still clinging to the slope above the road.” Park road crews worked through the weekend to stabilize the slope and remove fallen debris, carrying truckloads of debris away. However, large amounts of loose material continued to fall on the roadway, requiring the closure extension.

Motorists wishing to travel between the park’s Gatlinburg Entrance and Cades Cove or Townsend must detour to Pigeon Forge via U.S. 441 North and then U.S. 321 South into Townsend and back into the park on TN 73 to reach the park’s Laurel Creek Road to Cades Cove.

“Visitors can still reach Elkmont Campground by way of the Gatlinburg Entrance.” Sumeriski said. “Metcalf Bottoms and the 8-miles of Little River Road from the Picnic Area to the Townsend junction are still accessible from U.S. 321 in Wears Valley via Line Springs Road or from the Townsend end. Due to bridge load restrictions, no vehicles larger than passenger vans are allowed to enter the park via Line Springs Road. Travel on the Newfound Gap Road (U.S. 441) between Cherokee, NC and Gatlinburg, TN is not affected”

Current Park Road information is available at (865) 436-1200.

GSMNP to Offer Parks As Classrooms Program In Autumn

Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be offering its fall Parks as Classrooms (PaC) program, September – November, for students in grades K-8 from Tennessee schools. Resource Education Park Rangers are the subject experts and primary instructors during on-site field trips to the Park. Lesson plans combine Park resources with educational disciplines, including science and social studies. During activities, the Park becomes an outdoor classroom with hands-on learning experiences at several Park locations. The following are the programs available at this time:

Anthony Creek Classroom at Cades Cove. (1st grade) Rangers teach students to become nature detectives and participate in a habitat discovery hike. A show and tell activity teaches about different animal groups and their characteristics.

Porters Flat Classroom at Greenbrier and Cove Homeplace Classroom at Cades Cove. (2nd grade) Children travel back in time to discover how early settlers used the forest for obtaining food and medicines and recreate the experience of building a log home using real tools.

Air Quality Interactions Classroom at Sugarlands Visitor Center or Clingmans Dome. (5th grade) Students collect data for on-going monitoring studies about air pollution as relationships between forest elements are explored. The connections between human activities and impacts to the natural environment are examined in this program.

Soil Exploration Classroom at Twin Creeks Science and Education Center near Gatlinburg. (6th grade) Participate in an inventory of the macro invertebrates of the deciduous forest using scientific methods. In small groups, the class will recognize the interdependence of biotic and abiotic factors.

Cades Cove Loop Classroom (6th grade) This bicycle tour takes students part of the way around Cades Cove Loop Road. Students role-play as Park managers and plan the future of four key resources of the Cove. Class size is limited to 30 students. This program can also be given as a hayride for larger groups rather than on bicycles. (A small fee per student is required to rent the bicycles or hay wagon.)

The New Deal Classroom near Sugarlands Visitor center. (7th grade) A three mile round trip hike allows students to explore the remaining clues of a Civilian Conservation Corps camp. The role of the Smokies during this era will be discussed.

Cades Cove Classroom (7th grade) Students participate in how biologists track animals and manage wildlife. Participants will examine many of the historic structures in Cades Cove.

Little River Classroom near Sugarlands Visitor Center. (7th grade) Using scientific methods, students will study streams. Students conduct water quality tests and assess the watershed’s health while discovering stream creatures.

Biodiversity Classroom at Twin Creeks Science and Education Center near Gatlinburg. (8th grade) – Students will study biodiversity by hands-on sampling of microscopic life in the temperate forest biome. Classroom size is limited to 50 students.

All activities are conducted in a three-hour program (including break for lunch), September – November. Chaperones will be required. In addition to the on-site trips, most units include a pre-visit materials package with logistical information, a video, and pre-site and post-site lesson plans for use in the classroom.

Interested teachers can contact the park at 865-436-1713 or visit the Parks as Classrooms program website to learn more. These educational programs would not be possible without the generous support of Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and many other local donors.

Un-Completed Foothills Parkway Now Open for Recreation

Managers at Great Smoky Mountains National Park have announced that the section of the un-completed Foothills Parkway extending west from Wears Valley Road has been re-opened to non-motorized recreational use.

Kevin FitzGerald, Deputy Superintendent at the Smokies said, “Now that construction activity has been completed for the time being, we welcome the public to hike, ride their bikes or bring their horses onto both sections of the un-finished Parkway. People can go in either from Wears Valley and travel about 4 miles to the dead-end at the Missing Link or they can come in at the Walland end and travel over 9 miles before they have to turn around. The 1.25 miles of the Missing Link between the two partly finished sections is very rugged and overgrown and is closed to horses and bikes and not recommended to hikers.”

The park expects to close both sections again when construction resumes: next spring on the Walland end, and sometime in the summer or fall of 2010 on the Wears Valley segment.

Newfound Gap to Close for 75th Ceremony

Managers at Great Smoky Mountains National Park have announced that the Newfound Gap Road (U.S. 441) between Cherokee, NC and Gatlinburg, TN will be closed from sunset on Tuesday September 1 until late afternoon on Wednesday September 2. The closure will allow the park to conduct a 75th Anniversary Park Rededication Event at the Newfound Gap Parking Area on September 2.

The event will be reminiscent of the September 2, 1940 event at which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stood at the same location on the Tennessee/North Carolina state line to dedicate the newly-developed national park. The park expects to host approximately 2,000 invited guests attend the event. The closure will enable the park to safely and effectively manage the event including traffic, transportation and security.

GSMNP Plans to begin Stimulus Funded Projects

By late August officials at Great Smoky Mountains National Park say they expect to award the first round of contracts to improve the Park’s facilities using the $64 million that the Smokies is receiving under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). They are also working to minimize the disruption that the work will have on visitor use of the Park.

According to the Park’s Deputy Superintendent, Kevin FitzGerald, “The projects that can be accomplished using day-labor workers is funded at $1.2 million and is already underway. Work is on-going to make improvements to ten different trails and over 60 historic cemeteries. All the rest of the projects will be completed by private contractors. We expect to begin awarding an estimated $7.5 million worth of contracts by late August so that work can begin right after Labor Day.”

FitzGerald explained that the park plans to contract for four projects in this next phase. One to repave the Cosby Campground, one to reconfigure and repave the Sinks Parking Area along Little River Road, another to paint and/or re-roof 34 buildings throughout the Park, and fourth contract to remodel comfort stations at five locations to make them accessible to the handicapped.

Park managers have announced that the Cosby Campground, which normally operates through October, will be closed for the season the day after Labor Day so that the paving work can be completed this fall before the weather turns cold enough to shut down paving operations. It is expected to re-open on schedule next March.

The Sinks Parking Area will also be closed after Labor Day. For safety reasons no visitor access will be allowed into the parking area, overlook, and river in the immediate vicinity of the Sinks during construction. The Meigs Creek Trailhead will also be inaccessible during the construction period. That work is expected to be completed in May 2010.

FitzGerald said, “The work at the Sinks will be a huge improvement over the current situation. In addition to expanding and reconfiguring the parking area to improve both the capacity and motorist safety, we will be constructing a formalized masonry overlook platform that will provide an optimal view of the falls and be fully accessible to the disabled.”

The Park expects that visitor impact from the comfort station remodeling to be minimal. Two restrooms, one at the Deep Creek Picnic Area, and one at the Twin Creeks Picnic Pavilion will be torn down and replaced with brand-new structures, but the Park plans to do that work during the fall/winter months when those facilities are closed for the season.

Multiple restrooms will also be improved at the Smokemont, Elkmont, and Cades Cove Campgrounds, some of which are open throughout the year. Park managers say they can work around the visitor use at those locations by either closing the campground loop that a restroom serves or by providing temporary portable toilets.

Contracts for a second phase of ARRA projects is slated to be awarded later this fall for projects that will be undertaken next spring. These projects include re-paving Clingmans Dome Road and the Cherokee Orchard/Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, as well as the Cades Cove Loop Road for which funding was already assured prior to passage of the ARRA.

The Park is also working with the Federal Highway Administration to develop a Request for Qualifications from eligible contractors to design and construct the 800 foot-long Bridge #2 on the Foothills Parkway Missing Link. They anticipate the award of a contract estimated to be in the $30 million range by December 2009.

“We are extremely excited about being able to get so much needed work done at one time.” FitzGerald said.

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