Displaying items by tag: smokies parking fees

Campers are seen enjoying a morning at Elkmont Campground in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  National Park Service

Warnings mount that Great Smoky Mountains National Park cuts will negatively affect visitors; reports of cuts at Big South Fork

GATLINBURG — If federal cuts were a color, in this case they’d be Smoky gray.

Fans and supporters of Great Smoky Mountains National Park have struggled to assess the effects of firings on the most-visited national park in the nation since the Trump administration terminated thousands of federal workers in mid-February.

(Three workers were also terminated from Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, according to a shared spreadsheet seen March 5. Hellbender Press has not verified its authenticity, but it tracks with other sources).

Executive Director of the Association of National Park Rangers Bill Wade estimated 12 employees were fired in the Smokies.

(The spreadsheet referenced above also lists 12 terminations at the Smokies).

An anonymous source with knowledge of the firings estimated 15. Exact numbers were not available from the National Park Service, and it’s unclear what types of positions were eliminated.

“The numbers we’ve received are from employees in the parks or others who have contacts with employees in the parks, and they are not verified by the National Park Service,” said Wade. “NPS won’t respond to inquiries for specific information, so we report on the information we have, qualifying it as unverified, but we are generally comfortable with the numbers as being representative of what we know and how we got it.”

Highlights of Cassius Cash’s tenure in Great Smoky Mountains National Park include regular hikes to discuss issues of race and diversity while surrounded by the astonishing biodiversity of the Smokies.  Yosemite Conservancy

Cash spent nearly a decade at helm of Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Peter Bartelme is Yosemite Conservancy public affairs representative.

SAN FRANCISCO ­— Yosemite Conservancy announced Sept. 20 that Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius M. Cash is its new, incoming president and CEO.

Cash will lead the organization into its second century of service — spearheading projects and programs that enhance the visitor experience and inspire donor support to protect and preserve Yosemite National Park for future generations. 

Cash joins the Conservancy after 15 years of service in the National Park Service and 18 years of service with the U.S. Forest Service, most recently serving as superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park for nearly a decade.

Highlights of his time in the Smokies, the most-visited national park, include oversight of the response to the fatal wildfires of 2016; the creation of mandatory paid-permit parking; a focus on diversity; and promotion of adaptive technologies that allow for the disabled to venture into the outdoors. 

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."