GRSMNP Needs Volunteers for New Contact Station at Clingmans Dome

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is recruiting volunteers to help staff a new visitor contact station at Clingmans Dome when it opens on Saturday, June 19.

The building that served as a comfort station, constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps, is being renovated and converted into a seasonal information center that will also include a bookstore/sales area managed by Great Smoky Mountains Association.

The center sits at an elevation of 6,300 feet and will be a point source of information on the national park, in general, and on this high elevation spruce-fir ecosystem in particular. Volunteers are needed to assist in educating visitors about the Park and providing recreational and trip planning information and directions to other destinations.

“In the past, visitors to this popular destination did not have a chance to obtain information on their high elevation visit or have questions answered, including the most asked, ‘What caused the trees to die?’” said Park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson. “Now with the help of volunteers staffing the center, visitors can inquire and learn about the stands of dead trees caused by the nonnative insect, the balsam woolly adelgid.”

Many other helpful services will be available, including the ability to purchase guides and maps, outdoor apparel, and other products sold by the Great Smoky Mountains Association. “The Association is a significant partner with the Park and is involved in a number of projects to improve visitors’ experience. The funding for the renovations to the building, interpretive exhibit material, and staffing is coming from the Association through its revenue raised from merchandise sales and paid memberships,” said Ditmanson.

Volunteers will be working alongside Association employees and each volunteer is asked to work at least one four-hour shift per week. The hours will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Interested persons will be provided orientation and training before beginning at the contact station. The period that volunteers will be needed is during the peak season, June through October. To sign up for this volunteer work or for more information, contact Florie Takaki at 828/497-1906 or by email, Wednesdays through Fridays.

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.

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.

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.

America’s Most Visited National Park Marks 75th Year

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The Great Smoky Mountains National Park encompasses 800 square miles in the states of Tennessee and North Carolina and is the showcase for some of the most inspiring natural and cultural treasures that the Southern Appalachians have to offer. The Park’s abundant plant and animal life and historical significance, coupled with its accessibility, makes this park the most visited in the nation with over nine million visitors annually. GSMNP lies within 550 miles of one-third of the American population.

The idea for a national park in the Southern Appalachians began in the late 1890s, and by the mid-1920s support groups from Asheville, North Carolina, and Knoxville, Tennessee pulled together for an area between the two cities. The strongest supporters of the Park, interestingly, were not hardcore conservationists but motorists who wanted to preserve the beautiful scenery through which they could drive their new cars. Eighty-five percent of the land was once held by large commercial interests – primarily lumber companies – and the remainder of the acreage was small farms and miscellaneous parcels. More than 2,000 deeds, representing lands that were purchased by the states of North Carolina and Tennessee, were transferred to federal ownership. On June 15, 1934, Congress established the national park and allowed the building of the Park’s infrastructure.

Over the next 16 years, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked to build many of the trails, campgrounds and beautiful stone bridges and buildings that are still enjoyed by visitors in the Park. When President Franklin Roosevelt formally dedicated the Park in 1940, it had become a sanctuary for all the people of the country and the rest of the world to enjoy.

GSMNP is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2009, with special programs planned throughout the year including the rededication of the Park which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt formally dedicated in 1940. For more information on the festivities, visit GSMNP 75^th anniversary website.

As stewards of significant historic resources, the Park preserves and maintains a collection of some 77 historic structures, along with preserved scenes and landscapes in five historic districts. This collection, representing a century of human history in the Appalachia region, helps to tell the story of the people who lived and worked in the Park prior to its creation.

Conservationists, backpackers, trout fishermen and motorists were among the recreational groups driving the creation of the Park. Today, those and other visitors take pleasure in the Park’s many recreational opportunities and sanctuary as a wild place.

The Park’s fundamental significance lies in its extraordinary quality as a sanctuary – massive mountain ridges, deep-cleft valleys and unspoiled streams create entirely different ecosystems which are refuges for the hundreds of plants and animals species.

The Park boasts more than 1,100 front country campsites, 100 backcountry campsites, 800 miles of trails, 700 miles of streams, 11 picnic grounds, three visitor centers and numerous scenic overlooks. American black bears, deer, turkeys, flowers and other wildlife are popular with nature photographers in the Smokies. The Park’s intricate trail system provides access to view the diversity of life in the Smokies. Many salamander and plant species are found nowhere else in the world, and the forests contain more tree species than any national park.

Park maps, guidebooks, handbooks and videos are available at the Park bookstores within each visitor center. More information can be found online at www.nps.gov/grsm and by calling 865/436-1200.