Great Smoky Mountains National Park (93)
Annual Fontana lakeshore trash cleanup Nov. 3 - 5
Written by Hellbender Press
Volunteers needed
Lake Fontana needs help cleaning up the shoreline trash. Led by Brandon Jones, Harbor Master at the Fontana Village Marina, this event is one of the most extensive cleanups on national park lands.
Jones won the 2023 Governor’s Conservation Achievement Award as the Public Lands Conservationist of the Year for his efforts. He has launched successful cleanup efforts for Lake Fontana in western North Carolina, where volunteers, park rangers and community members have come together for the last five years to remove more than 200,000 pounds of garbage from the lake and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park shoreline.
Through partnerships with organizations like the North Carolina Wildlife Federation and Mainspring Conservation Trust, the initiative has made a significant impact and inspired others to take ownership of the cleanup, making it the most extensive cleanup on national park lands.
Friends of the Smokies recognizes national, regional and student artists with ‘Plein Air Smokies’ awards
Written by Lauren Gass
Fulton High School students with finished paintings at Plein Air Smokies event. Lauren Gass, Friends of the Smokies
More than 60 artists created one-of-a-kind paintings generating more than $319,000 to support Great Smoky Mountains National Park
MARYVILLE — Friends of the Smokies recently welcomed 80 artists to Great Smoky Mountains National Park for the 2nd Annual ‘Plein Air Smokies,’ an event that not only raises critical funds for the park, but also allows visitors to experience the on-site creation of park-inspired art. The event raised $319,000 in total revenue, including more than $167,000 in artwork sales.
“We are so grateful for this generation of talented artists who captured unique Smokies scenes that tell the story of the park today in much the same way as those early painters and photographers whose images inspired the creation of the park,” said Friends President Dana Soehn.
Twenty nationally acclaimed artists were selected from a juried pool of 100 artists. They spent the week creating 158 one-of-a-kind paintings in places like Cades Cove, Clingmans Dome, Newfound Gap Road and Elkmont. Artwork was judged by renowned Plein Air artist, Mark Hanson, who awarded the following six artists with special recognition: Best of Show, Charles Newman; Artists’ Choice/Body of Work, Kathie Odom; Best Use of Light, Marc Anderson; Best Water, Christine Lashley; Best Structure, Lindsay Richard Sneary; and Best Landscape, Richie Vios.
National Park Service seeks more public comment on proposed Foothills Parkway extension in Smokies
Written by Hellbender Press
A portion of the existing Foothills Parkway along the current Blount/Sevier/Cocke counties stretch. National Park Service
GATLINBURG — The National Park Service is accepting comments through Nov. 18 for the proposed construction of Foothills Parkway Section 8D in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The park is preparing an Environmental Assessment (EA) for the proposed project that would extend the parkway within the existing NPS-managed corridor approximately nine miles from Wears Valley to the Spur near Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.
“The completed sections of the Foothills Parkway provide opportunities for scenic views and outdoor recreation and connect visitors and neighbors to the park, as well as the regional transportation network,” said Deputy Superintendent Alan Sumeriski.
“We’re looking forward to taking this next step in the planning process for Section 8D and welcome comments and ideas from the public.”
Learn-to-Fish clinic and Music Jam at Oconaluftee visitor center
CHEROKEE — Great Smoky Mountains National Park will host a free youth fishing clinic and an Old Time Music Jam at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center on Saturday, October 21, 2023. Both events are free and open to the public.
In collaboration with the International Game Fish Association, the park will hold the fishing clinic from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Try your hand casting a line for local trout and earn your Junior Ranger Angler badge. Learn about fish conservation and ethical angling practices at fun, interactive stations. All fishing equipment will be provided. The first 25 families will receive a free fishing pole to keep! A valid Tennessee or North Carolina fishing license is required for participants 16 or older.
Completed Walker Sisters Cabin renovations secure moments in Smokies time
The fireplace at Walker Sisters Cabin is among many historical features refurbished by the National Park Service. Courtesy National Park Service
GATLINBURG — Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials announced the Walker Sisters Cabin is once again open to the public. The park closed the two-story cabin in late 2021 while the park’s Forever Places crew addressed safety concerns and completed renovations. The crew, a team of skilled carpenters and masons, replaced the roof and portions of the wall timbers, stabilized the foundation, added new floorboards, and restored the fireplace.
“We are proud of the expert work our dedicated Forever Places team did to restore the cabin,” said Deputy Superintendent Alan Sumeriski. “And we are grateful to the Friends of the Smokies for their generous support to help us preserve such an iconic piece of Smokies history.”
The Friends of the Smokies, the park’s philanthropic partner, provided funding for this critical work as part of the Forever Places campaign. Forever Places protects and preserves the historical resources in the park by hiring skilled preservation crew members and supplying materials and tools.
Visitors may reach the Walker Sisters Cabin by hiking about 1.5 miles along the Little Brier Gap Trail located near the Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area. The cabin dates to the 1800s and the Walker sisters lived there until 1964.
— National Park Service
Take a moment at a wayside to think of African Americans in the Great Smokies
GATLINBURG — Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials unveiled two new waysides at Mingus Mill on May 23 as part of the larger African American Experiences in the Smokies project.
“The new signs and the African American Experiences in the Smokies project are so important to tell the untold stories of Black people in the region,” said Superintendent Cassius Cash.
Vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and poet Eric Mingus performed a new piece of music that speaks to and of Mingus Mill, its location, and the people who lived there, including his ancestors. A Santa Fe-based musician, Eric has recently re-connected with his family’s story that is rooted in the park through the African American Experiences in the Smokies project. Eric is descended from Daniel Mingus, a formerly enslaved carpenter, and Clarinda Mingus, the daughter of Daniel’s enslaver.
Hellbender Press previously reported on the Smokies project.
One of the new waysides tells the story of the nearby Enloe Slave Cemetery, where several African Americans are interred. The other wayside tells the story of Eric’s father, legendary jazz bassist Charles Mingus Jr., and his family.
The African American Experiences in the Smokies project is supported by the Friends of the Smokies and Great Smoky Mountains Association, which help fund research of the historic presence and influence of African Americans in the southern Appalachian Mountains from the 1540s through today.
— National Park Service
In the existential battle between Smokies swine and salamanders, the hogs have the upper hand
Written by Ben Pounds
Efforts to eradicate wild hogs, which have a damaging effect on salamanders and other communities in the Great Smokies, have been ongoing with mixed success for decades. National Archives
Researchers quantify the effects of feral hogs on Smokies salamander populations
GATLINBURG — A recent study investigating the relationship between Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s beloved salamanders and its hated hogs concluded that the rooting of feral pigs decreases the abundance and diversity of Smokies salamanders.
Alexander Funk of Eastern Kentucky University said the effects of feral hogs on salamanders from the family plethodontidae were mixed and varied depending on the season.
Generally, across seasons and especially in the summer, the hogs’ foraging seemed to hurt salamander abundance and diversity. Funk is a student under Eastern Kentucky University’s Director for the Division of Natural Areas Stephen Richter but had help from Benjamin Fitzpatrick of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. The study involved Funk going out late at night on Balsam Mountain in the spring, summer and fall of 2022.
The Mingus music mill: Tracing a mountain family’s history from slavery to stardom
Written by Ben Pounds
Charles Mingus, the descendant of slaves from the Smokies, is shown chomping a cigar and playing bass at the U.S. Bicentennial celebration in Lower Manhattan, July 4, 1976. 
Tom Marcello
Smokies African American studies trace a great musician with roots in Oconaluftee
GATLINBURG — Black history, let alone jazz history, isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when most people think about the Smokies.
But famed jazz musician Charles Mingus Jr.’s family has roots in what is now Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
At the recent virtual Discover Life in America Colloquium, previously reported on by Hellbender Press, Appalachian Highlands Science Education Coordinator Antoine Fletcher was the sole presenter on social sciences. He went into the Mingus family history and Black history in the Southern Appalachian region.
Fletcher said the Mingus story derives from the African American Experiences in the Smokies Project, which he described as “a project that is focusing on the untold stories of African Americans in the park and the Southern Appalachian region.”
“There’s a huge story to tell,” he said of his research. “There are stories of the human vestiges that we have from 900-plus years.”
From soil to sky: Will the misty microclimates of the Smokies prevail in a warming world?
Written by Élan Young
With the help of GPS coordinates and survey flags, Jordan Stark is able to deploy and locate the exact off-trail placement of soil moisture sensors she placed in Great Smoky Mountains National Park as part of her graduate research at Syracuse University. Elan Young/Hellbender Press
Foundational ecology moves from before times to nowadays in the Smokies
GATLINBURG — In the Middle Ages, salamanders were thought to come from fire. A log set on the hearth would send them scurrying out of the rotten wood, startling those who had gathered around for warmth. We now know that salamanders, of course, come from water — even the European fire salamander with its flame-like yellow markings.
Over the last 20 years of getting my boots soggy in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, I know these creatures to thrive in the clean, shallow streams and trickles of this temperate rainforest, where annual precipitation is higher than anywhere in the U.S. save for the Pacific Northwest.
One way to become acquainted with the park is through the water that veins through the hills and is transmuted into vapor that floats on the air in misty silence. After a rain, you can slake your thirst from the pools formed in the creases of broad rhododendron leaves. Sit by a shallow, fishless stream for long enough and you might spot the quick movement of a salamander tail, maybe a flash of orange or brown, or notice a tiny black amphibian face peeking out from behind a smooth stone in the creek.
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2016 Smokies wildfires: Six years later, the good and the bad come into focus as natural recovery continues
Written by Ben Pounds
Journalists and park officials document damage from the November 2016 wildfires that killed at least 15 people and left hundreds of dwellings and businesses in ruins. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press via Knoxville Mercury
How the 2016 Great Smoky Mountains National Park wildfire affected salamanders and other life, six years on
GATLINBURG — The disastrous Chimney Tops 2 wildfire of 2016 occurred some six years ago, but researchers are still looking at its ecological effects.
The Discover Life in America 2023 Colloquium brought together researchers this month from different fields and universities to present findings on research in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Researchers presented on many topics, ranging from trout to the history of the Mingus family in the park.
One such presentation, the first of the day, from William Peterman, associate professor in wildlife ecology and management at Ohio State University, focused on the effects wildfires had on salamander populations, which he described as negative.
Other presenters touched on the wildfire’s effects as well, including its effects on vegetation and its beneficial effects on the diversity of bird species.
“Smoky Mountains is the self-proclaimed salamander capital of the world,” Peterman said. He focused his study on the plethodontid family of salamanders, which breathe through their skin.
“Kind of think of them as a walking lung,” he said.
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Get a free virtual science lesson in the Smokies this Thursday
A rundown about science efforts in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is set for March 2.
You can learn about myriad scientific studies ongoing in the Smokies from the comfort of your own home.
The park and Discover Life in America are presenting this virtual event from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Register for free on Zoom.
Attendees will “learn about a wide variety of scientific topics, from natural history and weather to geology and more, from researchers currently working in the Smokies,” according to an announcement from DLIA.
The schedule is likely to change, but a tentative schedule is available on the DLIA website.
— Ben Pounds
Updated 1/3: Conservationists express dismay as Feds conclude ‘no significant impact’ from construction of Wears Valley mountain bike complex
Written by JJ Stambaugh
Feds clear 14-mile mountain bike trail network off Foothills Parkway, but no funding is secured
GATLINBURG — Those who logged protests against a National Park Service plan to carve a 14-mile mountain bike trail network through the forest off Foothills Parkway said they still opposed the plan despite federal conclusions it would not adversely impact the natural environment of the area.
“I’m very disappointed,” said Donna Edwards, an outspoken conservationist who lives in Walland and participated in the public scoping process. “What are (the) reasons for choosing the alternative with the largest footprint and greatest environmental impact?
“I fail to understand why mountain bikers’ needs are considered to be more important than those of birders and hikers, considering the extensive mountain bike trail networks in other areas of East Tennessee.”
She said arguments against approving the Wears Valley mountain bike trails were wise and well documented.
Here is the original Hellbender Press story:
A proposed off-road bike trail in the Wears Valley section of the Foothills Parkway that would be operated by the National Park Service has overcome a procedural hurdle but appears to be no closer to actually being built due to a lack of funding.
An environmental assessment to determine the project’s potential impact on wildlife and the environment led to an official “Finding of No Significant Impact” (FONSI), park officials said in a press release issued Thursday.
“We understand the public’s desire to have a purpose-built bike trail, and this marks a step for potential future development of a trail in Wears Valley,” said Cassius Cash, superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. “Having the signed FONSI allows us the opportunity to explore potential funding paths for both the construction and the annual operational costs.”
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Updated: Smokies crews recover drowned Knoxville kayaker
TOWNSEND — Smokies recovery teams on Monday found the body of Carl Keaney, 61, of Knoxville, in the Little River.
Keaney was last seen kayaking the Sinks during high flow when he vanished under water, prompting calls to Great Smoky Mountains National Park rangers who, along with other local crews, proceeded to search for his body for three days.
Here’s the previous Hellbender Press report:
Teams are searching for a missing kayaker in what Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials are now calling a “recovery operation” after a 61-year-old man disappeared underwater while boating above the Sinks on Little River. High water levels from recent heavy rains are making search and recovery difficult.
“Around 3:40 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 16 Great Smoky Mountains National Park dispatch received a call that a 61-year-old man had disappeared underwater while kayaking above The Sinks and did not resurface,” according to a news release from the park.
Park releases Smokies air-tour plan
Commercial air tour routes over Great Smoky Mountains National Park
GATLINBURG — Great Smoky Mountains National Park and other federal officials completed a management plan to formally regulate aircraft tours over the park.
Don’t expect much to change in the skies over the park: The plan allows 946 air tours a year by select helicopter operators, unchanged from the average number of annual flights recorded from 2017 to 2019. Flights may only operate from two hours after daybreak to two hours before sundown.
“The plan establishes measures to protect park resources including natural and cultural resources, preservation of wilderness character, and visitor experience,” according to Smokies officials. Flights will be restricted to six routes over the park, and must maintain an elevation above 2,700 feet of the highest terrain. Cades Cove is off limits, as are several historical sites, including the Walker Sisters Cabin.
Air tours, often to the dismay of many hikers and others, have occurred over the park for most of its history, but no formal flight guidelines were in place.
“We appreciate the tireless work that went into the development of the Smokies air tour management plan,” said Superintendent Cassius Cash. “The plan incorporates several improvements that allow continued air tour activity, while at the same time better protecting the wilderness character of the backcountry, wildlife populations, natural soundscapes, and the visitor experience in historic areas like Cades Cove.”
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian members provided notable input into the development of the plan, which will go into effect in 90 days from Dec.3.
Hellbender Press previously reported on development of the Smokies aircraft management plan.