Tag Archives: nature

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is recruiting roving volunteers to assist park visitors along the Oconaluftee River Trail, Mountain Farm Museum, and fields along Newfound Gap Road near the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. Volunteers are needed from mid-April through mid-November and typically work one four-hour shift per week. Oconaluftee roving volunteers provide information to visitors about park regulations that best protect ...

A scavenger hunt is a great way to explore and learn about the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont is holding a scavenger hunt inside the park this weekend. Participants who register for the scavenger hunt will receive 75 hunt questions/challenges via email by 3:30 p.m. on Friday, March 11 and must report to ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Appalachian Piedmont Zone fire staff plan to conduct a series of controlled burns in Cades Cove on Monday, March 7 through Friday, March 11, 2016. Weather depending, these prescribed fire treatments will take place in four field units totaling 502 acres between Sparks Lane and the Cable Mill Visitor Center area. “These controlled ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park rangers are recruiting volunteers to adopt a phenology monitoring plot in areas throughout the park. Volunteers will collect information as part of an important research project tracking seasonal biological data such as plant flowering dates and the presence of migratory birds. Tracking this phenology data across the park allows scientists to better understand how plants ...

Friends of the Smokies has received a $21,500 grant from the Richard Haiman National Parks Foundation to support the Parks As Classrooms program and to resupply backcountry shelters in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Richard Haiman National Parks Foundation has supported Friends of the Smokies since 1999, contributing more than $400,000, nearly half of which has gone to fund ...

Registration for the Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is opening soon. Wildflowers in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park have lain dormant as the winter’s wet, snowy, and cold weather persists. As the season changes, the warming sun heats the earth, awakening new growth to paint the landscape with a magnificent display of color. Southern migratory ...

Sugarlands Distilling Company has announced the 2016 MoonShare Year of Giving Grant recipients and Appalachian Bear Rescue earned the top spot. Appalachian Bear Rescue and 49 other charitable organizations competed for the most public votes over a month-long period. While the Townsend, Tenn. based bear rescue came in first place, each of the top twelve organizations will receive a $5,000 ...

More than 32,000 drivers in Tennessee and North Carolina are giving back this holiday season with Friends of the Smokies specialty license plates. Sales of full-color specialty license plates in Tennessee and North Carolina support critical projects in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Projects supported by the license plate fees include Student Conservation Association internship positions as well as Parks ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park announces the 40th annual Festival of Christmas Past celebration scheduled on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Sugarlands Visitor Center. The event, sponsored in cooperation with Great Smoky Mountains Association, is free to the public. The festival will include old-time mountain music, traditional harp singing, mountain craft demonstrations, and living ...

Laurel Rematore, executive director of Mesa Verde Museum Association in Colorado since 2008 and director of membership and development at Yosemite Association prior to that, has been named to take over the helm at Great Smoky Mountains Association. Rematore steps in to the leadership role at GSMA as its current executive director, Terry Maddox, is set to retire at year’s ...