GATLINBURG, Tenn. (WVLT) — The Great Smoky Mountains National park is a major source of both beauty and revenue for East Tennessee. You might be wondering, “How can I help ensure it stays that way?” Luckily, the park released a list of items and programs it needs to fund in 2020 in the areas of: protection, maintenance, education, volunteers, facility management, resource and visitor protection and parkwide management.
Donate to the GSMNP Needs List 2020
Several areas in the park need your help, including bears. There are several projects which need donations to help protect bears inside the park.
If you love bears and want to help protect them, here are the projects you can donate to:
Appalachian Bear Rescue: $3,000
Each year a number of orphaned or injured park bears are treated and housed in the nonprofit ABR center in Townsend until they can be released back into the park. Prior to the creation of ABR, most of these animals were euthanized.
Reduce Backcountry Bear Problems with Food Storage Cable Systems: $8,000
Each backcountry campsite and shelter has a pulley and cable system which campers are required to use to hoist their food and packs out of the reach of bears for the increased safety of both visitors and bears. Each year a number of these systems are damaged through use or by falling trees and must be replaced.
Bear Management Project: $4,200
These funds will enable wildlife biologists to purchase new and/or refurbish old black bear GPS radio collars. These collars will be used when DNA analysis is needed to track bears suspected of a bear attack or other significant human/bear interaction while we wait on confirmation of matches between the attack and the suspect bear. These collars are also being used for pilot research projects to determine what happens to conflict bears that are relocated out of the park, as well as, the effectiveness of aversive conditioning tools on bears
Bearwise Digital Messaging: $5,000
These funds will be used to partner with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency as part of their black bear digital messaging/education program. In 2019, TWRA targeted the Gatlinburg area for about 3 months and was able to reach nearly 1.8 million visitors using this digital marketing technology. In 2020, they are looking to expand the program and develop partnerships with other communities including Townsend and Pittman Center.
Wildlife Program Operational Support (four seasonal employees) $94,000
These funds are used to hire seasonal field staff to conduct wild hog control. The positions work from December through June, the most efficient and effective time of year to control hogs. The efforts of these positions are the primary reason we have been able to keep the hog population relatively low. A seasonal technician is also hired during the summer to support elk monitoring, as well as, assist with human-bear and human-elk conflicts.
Cades Cove Bear Brigade $3,000
The Bear Brigade volunteer program will focus on visitor safety and protection of bears through education and outreach. This program will enable the park to more efficiently manage “bear jams” and help visitors more responsible view wildlife. These funds will be used to purchase uniforms, outreach materials, and safety equipment.
Volunteer Roadside Assistance Program $12,750
The Smokies recruits a series of retired law enforcement officers and their spouses to patrol Newfound Gap Road and Cades Cove, providing directions and visitor information, responding to disabled vehicles and lock-outs, and assisting with motor vehicle accidents and bear-related traffic jams. Their presence has substantially freed up the commissioned law enforcement rangers in the park, enabling them to respond more quickly to more serious law enforcement incidents.
It’s not just the bears that the park tries to protect and manage, however, and they need help with multiple other areas.
Maintain Protection of Fraser Firs at Purchase Knob $2,500
A genetic preservation planting of Fraser fir was established by the park and University of TN at Purchase Knob in 1995. Fraser fir has been damaged throughout its range by a European insect, balsam woolly adelgid, and this plantation represents genetic material from representative fir populations across the park’s highest peaks. The trees are treated with horticultural oil each summer to control balsam woolly adelgid in an effort to preserve the genetic diversity of park Fraser firs. The plantation also represents important early successional high elevation bird habitat.
Supress Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Infestation $70,000
The Friends stepped up in 2003 to help the park begin the nation’s most ambitious and successful treatment programs for hemlock woolly adelgid. Throughout the range of hemlock, from North Georgia to Canada, the Smokies has set an example for hemlock preservation. Over 300,000 individual hemlock trees have been hand-treated with park staff, averaging 30,000 trees annually. These are valuable resources for park campgrounds, picnic areas and high visitation trails. In addition, more than 5,000 acres of hemlock-dominated forest have been set aside as special conservation areas, keeping this ecologically important species on the native forest landscape for habitat and watershed protection. The project includes an integrated pest management approach to control HWA initially with insecticide and simultaneously establishing a natural predator prey balance with biological control in the form of predatory beetles. Since biological control began in 2003, the park has released over 600,000 predator beetles as part of the landscape-level control effort. Annual monitoring protocols show that a single systemic treatment costing approximately 10 cents per inch diameter can protect a tree for up to seven years, an affordable option that is saving the park monies in the long run! Friends’ funds have also served as a valuable match to leverage other grants for the hemlock program.
Elk Management and Monitoring
These funds will allow us to purchase immobilization drugs, tags, GPS collars, aversive conditioning supplies, and capture equipment. These monies will also help us support staffing needs to repair exclosures and other work activities associated with the elk program. This works helps us better manage elk populations and model population survival and reproduction rates.
Air Quality and Meteorological Monitoring $19,800
These funds will enable the park to continue to maintain the long-term monitoring data set for ozone and meteorological monitoring at Cades Cove and the critical high elevation weather station at Cove Mountain, which provides the park with the mountain wave and wind gust information. This will provide the state, EPA, and the park information on protecting and maintaining air quality public health standards and timely information for park staff and visitors to help them evaluate the air quality and weather conditions.
Web Cams $10,200
This funding will support the upkeep and maintenance of web cams at Clingmans Dome (May-Oct) and Newfound Gap (year-round) to provide daily images (every 15 minutes) as well as weather data for park staff and visitors. The weather data, including ambient temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, and snow depth, will provide timely information for park staff and visitors to help them prepare for travel in the park.
Cemetery Rehabilitation and Restoration $27,400
These monies will fund a cemetery rehabilitation project focusing on vegetation restoration to address erosion issues within park cemeteries. The park cares for 150 cemeteries, many of which are in need of erosion mitigation as well as headstone cleaning and repair. The park conducts general maintenance at a majority of these cemeteries on a cyclic basis (making sure trails are accessible, trimming grass, and removing downed tree limbs). However, cyclic maintenance does not address more complex problems such as landscape erosion, hazard trees, or headstone resetting and repair. Through this project, the park will prioritize cemetery rehabilitation needs, develop a general vegetation restoration plan, and complete restoration of up to three cemeteries as part of a pilot to determine efficacy.
Besides protection and upkeep, the parks are a resource for education.
The park needs help for programs for classrooms and to fund specialist positions.
Parks as Classrooms Program $68,230
These funds support the field staff to provide curriculum based education programs to approximately 20,000 students and training workshops for an average of 400 teachers each year. The staff also provide summer youth program and run the high school intern project. Education programs are held in TN at Sugarlands, Cades Cove and Twin Creeks and in NC at Purchase Knob, Deep Creek, Oconaluftee and Clingmans Dome. These hands-on, ranger-led lessons utilizing the park as an enormous outdoor classroom help foster a love for nature and inform the next generation of park supporters.
Kathryn K. McNeil Education Specialist at Purchase Knob $68,000
The Kathryn K. McNeil endowment funds support the education program at the Appalachians Highlands Science Learning Center at Purchase Knob. This program places an emphasis on working with NC schools and youth organizations. (Kathryn K. McNeil Endowment)
Teacher Workshops $15,000
Funds to support partnership workshops in conjunction with Discover Life in America and the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont. (Glaxco Grant)
High School Intern Program (TN & NC) $30,000
Funds to support 16 high school interns working in the park during summer. Some funds will be used for an end of season “graduation” recognition ceremony.
Support Urban Youth Program (Boys & Girls Club/YELP) $31,200
In partnership with Asheville Greenworks and the Boys of Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley. This project directly relates to the Education branch goal related to relevancy, diversity, equity and inclusion. Funds provide staffing support, urban youth intern stipends and transportation to the park.
Great Smokies Affrilachian Cultural Experience $20,000
Before this project began, we just had a few small pieces of information but no complete stories. In Year 1, we hired PhD student, Adam McNeil to start doing research. During the summer of 2018, Adam connected with local African American groups in the area around the park but with a special focus in North Carolina. In 2019, Adam is continuing his research and is scheduled to work with local researcher Lin Forney (Waynesville) to conduct some oral histories. We also hosted two community sessions (Haywood County, NC and Blount County, TN) to locate individuals with stories or other information that will be useful for this project. In year 3, the park will continue this work but expand the project by contracting with Latria Graham (GSMA Writer in Residence 2019) to assist in getting more information and developing an interpretative product related to the Turner family in Walker Valley. We also will collaborate with WCU and their team that is doing ground penetrating radar studies in slave cemeteries around Western North Carolina. The intent is to be able to incorporate the African American experience in the Smokies into existing and new exhibits, interpretative and education programs and possibly GSMA and other publications.
Digital Media Project (Year 1) $97,450
The proposed digital media project will not only replace the existing park film, but will also serve as an outreach tool for the management team, as well as provide digital access through social media, web, streaming outlets, partner sites, and local/regional/national tourism information sites or stations visited both in-park and via remote locations. This 3-year project will produce a series of films: 1) 2-4 minute clip for management outreach, 2) 6-10 minute short for download and external outreach, 3) 20-25 traditional film for in-park visitation.
The park needs funding for volunteer programs.
VIP Recognition Awards Program $1,200
Each year over 2,500 individuals contribute over 150,000 hours of volunteer service with VIPs supporting virtually all phases of park operations. These funds allow us the opportunity to provide recognition in to our year-round volunteers in the form of awards such as plaques, belt buckles, and certificates.
Artist in Residence Program $6,500
Artists have played important part in the formation and establishment of our park. Early writers, photographers, painters, and musicians drew inspiration from these mountains and helped translate their purpose as a place of pleasure and preservation. An Artist-in-Residence supports the opportunity for an artist to live in the park and produce original works of art. In exchange, the artist agrees to donate a piece of work to the park.
Quite a bit goes into maintaining the visitor experience, the Smokies need help in facility management, too.
Visitor Amenities
Funding from Friends of the Smokies maintains vault toilets in these popular areas for visitor convenience:
Townsend Visitor Amenities $4,000
Roaring Fork Visitor Amenities $ 15,600
Cataloochee Visitor Amenities $ 17,500
Trails Forever Rehabilitation of Park Trails $275,000
These critical funds will continue to support signature trail rehabilitation projects throughout the park. Monies provide for needed supplies and materials and six partial-year trail crew positions, as well as a full-time Trails Forever Volunteer Coordinator position that better enables us to engage volunteers of all ages in hands-on stewardship. In FY20, the crew will complete the second phase of the Trillium Gap Trail rehabilitation and the second phase of the Deep Creek Trail rehabilitation along with additional projects on the Noah Bud Ogle Nature Trail, Oconaluftee River Trail, and replacement of footlogs on Anthony Creek Trail and Pretty Hollow Trail.
Greenbrier Ranger Station Rehabilitation $158,200
The Greenbrier Ranger Station provides office space for Park Rangers as well as seasonal housing. The unit has been in disrepair for several years. Through this project, the park will be able to fully utilize the structure. The rehabilitation includes the replacement of flooring, doors, windows, siding, gutters, plumbing, heat/air, furnishings, and appliances along with the rehabilitation of the bathrooms and kitchen and repainting of the entire unit.
There are a number of useful programs and items that the Smokies need funding for to aid resource and visitor protection.
Portable Surveillance Cameras $2,000
Cameras provide Rangers with the ability to monitor targeted problem areas on a 24-hours basis, aiding in criminal prosecution. The cameras will be used to target resource violations, destruction and vandalism violations, money box theft cases, as well as auto burglary investigations (the park’s most common felony crime) and other criminal activity. Effective monitoring of any particular site should use a minimum of three cameras.
Volunteer Roadside Assistance Support $12,750
The Smokies recruits a series of retired law enforcement officers and their spouses to patrol Newfound Gap Road and Cades Cove, providing directions and visitor information, responding to disabled vehicles and lock-outs, and assisting with motor vehicle accidents and bear-related traffic jams. Their presence has substantially freed up the commissioned law enforcement rangers in the park, enabling them to respond more quickly to more serious law enforcement incidents.
Search and Rescue Program Support $58,000
These funds support a seasonal ranger to oversee the new preventative search and rescue (PSAR) program. This program also includes a coordinated PSAR volunteer program to provide information at various trailheads where we see a consistent number of SARs. The ranger and coordinated volunteers will provide valuable information to hikers about trail safety, trail difficulty, and educate hikers on proper preparation before beginning their hike.
Incident Command System Mobile Trailer $14,000
These funds will be used to purchase a trailer to serve as a mobile command center allowing rapid response to emergency operations in the field. The trailer will hold necessary equipment for quickly establishing a communications center for multi-day operations including workstations for a core team of command staff to coordinate emergency response.
The park also needs help funding parkwide management.
Collections Preservations Facility Utilities $20,000
Provide support for annual utility costs for this facility including water, sewer, and electricity.
Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center Operational Maintenance $31,800
Provide grounds, custodial, fields, and road maintenance at the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center at Purchase Knob.
To see the full Great Smoky Mountains National Park Needs List 2020 and to donate, go here.
Go here to learn more about the Smokies.
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