Displaying items by tag: look rock
Government censorship rolls toward Smokies
This interpretive sign describing both the Smokies natural haze and the impact of air pollution on the park are among the numerous signs and exhibits targeted for removal from Great Smoky Mountains National Park by a Trump executive order. Save Our Signs
Trump executive order targets history, science and culture in Great Smoky Mountains National Park
This story was originally published by Compass.
GATLINBURG — The Trump Administration’s war against “woke” appears poised to extend to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Ten interpretive signs within the park referencing slavery, science and the Cherokee are included in a leaked dataset of national park educational features subject to removal, according to a Compass review of the now publicly available document.
The signs are subject to removal per the “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order from President Donald Trump, issued in March 2025.
Pierce Gentry at WUOT first reported the inclusion of the Smokies in a massive leaked database that lists hundreds of Department of the Interior sites with signs, exhibits, films and publications that the administration deems offensive.
The Department of the Interior and National Park Service have already removed signs from park-service units elsewhere, including displays at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia that highlighted the people enslaved by George Washington during the Revolutionary War era. A lawsuit is pending.
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$30m comes home to roost for Foothills Parkway rehab project
A view of the Smokies from the southern section of Foothills Parkway. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press
Hellbender told ya so: Big money in hand for southern Foothills Parkway rehab
Hellbender Press reported some particulars months ago, but the National Park Service today announced the official receipt of $30 million dollars for rehabilitation of the southern section of Foothills Parkway between Calderwood and Walland.
It’s been a busy news week out of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, especially related to the Foothills Parkway: Earlier this week the park service announced the latest phase of comment on plans to establish a series of mountain bike trails in Wears Cove at the terminus of that parkway section. Hellbender covered that, too.
Maybe too much Smokies, if that’s a thing, but we felt obligated to report via a park press release the final dispersal of funds for the planned improvements we reported on months ago. Significant traffic closures will likely begin this spring.
The days the Earth stood still (Part 1): Covid cleared the air in the lonely Smokies
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Air Resource Specialist is seen at the Look Rock air quality research station. Courtesy National Park ServiceThe lack of regional and local vehicle traffic during the pandemic greatly reduced measurable pollution in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
This is your Hellbender weekend read, and the first in an occasional Hellbender Press series about the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the natural world
Great Smoky Mountains National Park shut down for six weeks in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Recorded emissions reductions during that period in part illustrate the role motor vehicles play in the park's vexing air-quality issues. The full cascade of effects from the pollution reductions are still being studied.
Hellbender Press interviewed park air quality specialist Jim Renfro about the marked reduction of carbon dioxide and other pollutants documented during the park closure during the pandemic, and the special scientific opportunities it presents. He responded to the following questions via email.
Hellbender Press: You cited “several hundred tons" in pollutant reductions during an interview with WBIR of Knoxville (in 2020). What types of air pollutants does this figure include?
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