Displaying items by tag: smokies funding
Updated 10/9: Multiple entities extend funding to Great Smoky Mountains National Park for 10 days
The crest of the Great Smoky Mountains is seen from the Foothills Parkway looking east. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender PressLocal and state partners will continue funding $61,703.18 daily for 10 days during shutdown
Jim Matheny is Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park communications director.
Friends of the Smokies is among several partners that have provided support to fully open the park during the shutdown, including the state of Tennessee, the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, Sevier County, Blount County, Cocke County, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and the cities of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville.
Friends of the Smokies is a nonprofit partner of the national park funded by generous donations and specialty license plates. It funds projects, programs, equipment, and staffing the national park cannot afford with its normal annual budget.
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‘Park it Forward’ and camping fees bring in $10m for Smokies
Fees will support increased ranger presence, improved visitor experience and more
This article was provided by Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
GATLINBURG — In the first year since Great Smoky Mountains National Park launched the Park it Forward program, the park generated over $10 million in recreation fee revenue, which includes parking tag sales and camping fees. The park is using this money to improve visitor safety and increase park ranger presence, as well as repair, enhance and maintain public park facilities. The park’s second year of the parking tag program began this month.
“Our team at Great Smoky Mountains National Park is grateful for the support of our partners, our neighbors and the millions of visitors who are helping us take care of one of the country’s most visited national parks,” said Superintendent Cassius Cash. “We’re already using this funding to increase our search and rescue program, add parking spaces at Laurel Falls trailhead and we are in the process of hiring more than 25 new park rangers."