|
|
|
|
Immediate Release Contact: Bob Miller 865/436-1207 Some Smokies Roads Remain Closed by Flood Damage Now that this week's floodwaters have subsided, managers at Great Smoky The 10 mile section of Little River Road from the Townsend Wye junction
to A Park contractor began work Thursday morning to clear a large mudslide
on A seven-mile segment of the Foothills Parkway from Look Rock to Lake The following gravel secondary roads remain closed until further notice: Please note that road openings/closings may change throughout the day. Park managers say that the big unknown is the condition of the Park's Current information on Park roads and facilities can be obtained by COMMUNICATIONS CENTER NOTES Visitor Center Hours: Cades Cove 9:00 - 5:00, Oconaluftee 8:00 - 4:30, Sugarlands 8:00 – 6:00. Campgrounds: Abrams Creek Campgrounds is closed due to flooding. Balsam Mountain and Look Rock campgrounds are scheduled to open 5/16. Metcalf Bottoms and Greenbrier Picnic Areas are closed due to flooding. Road Closed : Little River Road (from Elkmont Jct to Townsend), Parson’s Branch Road, Rich Mtn. Road, Upper Tremont Road, Gatlinburg By-Pass, Greenbrier Road, Old NC 284, Upper section of Cataloochee Valley Road, Straight Fork Road, Foothills Parkway (from Look Rock to Rt 129), and Wear Cove Road. Balsam Mtn / Heintooga Road is scheduled to open 5/16. BACKCOUNTRY NOTES
Trail Closures: Polls Gap Trail. The second foot bridge on Hazel Creek
is washed out. The first two foot logs on Caldwell Fork Trail are washed
away which means the Boogerman Trail is only connected from one side.
Trails to Mt LeConte have been checked and there is much damage but trails
are passable. Trails in any drainage are likely to be eroded. PARK SPRING OPENINGS SCHEDULED Great Smoky Mountains National Park has announced its spring opening schedule for Park facilities, including secondary roads, self-registration campgrounds, and concession operations. Roads - Many of the secondary roads that are set to open on March 14 include: Forge Creek, Little Greenbrier, Parson Branch, Rich Mountain, Roundbottom/Straight Fork, and Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. Clingmans Dome Road is set to open on April 1 and the Heintooga Ridge Road at Polls Gap will open on May 16. Two current road construction projects will have minimal impact on travelers to the Smokies this spring: The last of the Newfound Gap Tunnels Rehabilitation project to complete the stone masonry on the guard walls near the two tunnels on the Tennessee side of the Park has resumed and will require intermittent single lane closures in these areas. The lane restrictions will occur on weekdays only, with no lane closures permitted on the weekends. The project will be completed in May. A construction project to rehabilitate the Laurel Creek and Tremont entrance roads began in January 2003 and is scheduled through September 2003. During the spring period, motorists can expect some minor delays while flaggers are used to control traffic flow through alternating lanes of traffic. No lane blockages will be allowed from April 18 through April 27 to accommodate Easter holiday traffic. During the busiest summer months lane closures will only occur on nights during the week. Operating Hours for Visitor Centers -The three visitor centers are open daily and the operating hours through March are: Sugarlands Visitor Center, near Gatlinburg, TN, is open 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Cades Cove Visitor Center, near Townsend, TN, is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and the Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee, NC, hours will be 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. The National Park Reservation Service (NRPS) provides visitors an opportunity to make reservations at three of the Park’s developed campgrounds, group campsites, horse camps, and picnic shelters. Reservations can be made 5 months in advance by calling 1-800-365-2267 or by Internet at http://reservations.nps.gov. Family Campgrounds open on a staggered basis starting March 14. (See the following schedule for exact dates.) Three of the Park’s 10 campgrounds are on NPRS from May 15-October 31: Cades Cove, Elkmont, and Smokemont. Camping fees are $12 per site at the smaller, more primitive campgrounds, $14 at the more developed campgrounds, and, at the reservation campgrounds during the period May 15-October 31, sites will cost $17 per night. In addition, Elkmont riverside campsites are $20 per night. Group Camping will be available at seven campgrounds (see schedule for opening dates) and reservations need to be made through NPRS. Group camping is available at Big Creek, Cataloochee, Cosby, Deep Creek, Elkmont, Cades Cove, and Smokemont. The cost for group camping ranges from $20 to $63 per site/night. Horse Camps at Anthony Creek, Big Creek, Cataloochee, Towstring, and Round Bottom will open March 14 and reservations are only available through NPRS. Horse site fees are $20 at all horse camps except for Big Creek where it is $25. Picnic Areas - There are 10 first-come, first-serve picnic areas. Open all year are Cades Cove, Chimney Tops, Cosby, Greenbrier, Deep Creek, and Metcalf Bottoms. Big Creek and Collins Creek will open on March 14 and Heintooga and Look Rock are scheduled to open on May 16. The private, larger picnic pavilion at Twin Creeks opens on April 1 and reservation is available through NPRS only. Twin Creeks fee ranges from $35-$75 depending on the use and the number of people. In addition, picnickers can reserve five other picnic pavilions on NPRS. They are located at Collins Creek, Cosby, Deep Creek, Metcalf Bottoms, and Greenbrier picnic areas. The cost is $20, except at Greenbrier where it is $10. Horseback Riding is available at four horse concession operations in the Park. The rates are $20 per horse per hour. The horse concession between Gatlinburg and Park Headquarters will open this year as Sugarlands Horseback Riding Stable, following the award of a new concession contract to operate this stable. The tentative opening date for Sugarlands Horseback Riding Stable is May 15. The Smoky Mountain Riding Stable and Cades Cove Riding Stable will open March 14. Smokemont Riding Stable starts up April 5. In addition to horseback rides, Cades Cove Riding Stable also offers, buggy rides ($7.50 per person) and hayrides ($6 per person), as well as special Ranger led hayrides ($8.50 per person). LeConte Lodge, accessible only by trail, will open on March 24. Reservations are required and can be made by calling 865/429-5704, fax 865/774-0045 or e:mail reservations@leconte-lodge.com. One night at the lodge costs $82.75 per adult and $66.50 for children 10 and under (tax not included). The price includes two meals--dinner and breakfast. Campground Concessions - The Cades Cove Campground Store will open for business on March 29. The store provides groceries, and camping supplies, firewood and ice, bike rentals, vending, limited food service and souvenirs. The Elkmont Campground concession provides firewood, ice, and vending of soft drinks, newspapers, and snacks. Smokemont Riding Stables provides firewood, ice and soft drink vending. Firewood is available on a self-service basis at Balsam Mountain Campground. CAMPGROUND SCHEDULE Campgrounds Fee Open Group Sites Opening Date Tennessee: *Cades Cove $14, $17 Year-round March 14 *Elkmont $14, $17 March 14 March 14 Cosby $14 March 14 March 14 Look Rock $14 May 16 Abrams Creek $12 March 14 North Carolina: *Smokemont $14, $17 Year-round March 14 Balsam Mountain $14 May 16 Deep Creek $14 April 4 April 4 Big Creek $12 March 14 March 14 Cataloochee $12 March 14 March 14 *$17 per site during the reservation period May 15-October 31. At Elkmont, riverside sites are $20 during reservation period only. For more detailed information on Park programs or services, consult the Park's newspaper, Smokies Guide, which can be obtained free at the Park's visitor centers, call the Park at 865/436-1200 or check the Park’s web site at www.nps.gov/grsm. -NPS-
|
||||
| Coal-fired plants get permits Agreement brings end to lawsuit By The Associated Press NASHVILLE - The Tennessee Air Pollution Control Board has agreed to issue proposed state permits for two coal-fired power plants near Great Smoky Mountains National Park, requiring them to publicize information about the air pollution they create. The agreement announced Wednesday settles a lawsuit filed in Davidson County Chancery Court last month by a tourism company and three environmental groups. Final action on the permits must be made by Sept. 16. The organizations were angry that more than three years after the state's deadline to issue permits for the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston and John Sevier power plants, the agency still did not have them. Federal and state law requires the board to issue the permits within 18 months of the date they are deemed complete. For the two TVA plants, that was in 1997. The permits require plants to abide by Environmental Protection Agency rules on compliance reporting, record-keeping and monitoring. "This is a complete victory for the citizens of Tennessee," said Dave Muhly, associate regional representative for the Sierra Club, a plaintiff in the lawsuit. "For over three years, these TVA plants have been allowed to operate outside the law. "It's only unfortunate it took a court action to bring the state into compliance with federal and state law." The other groups participating in the lawsuit were the National Parks Conservation Association, Our Children's Earth Foundation and A Walk in the Woods, a Gatlinburg eco-tourism company. TVA has said that despite not having the permits, the plants were still complying with the Clean Air Act. A spokeswoman for the state attorney general had no comment on the settlement. |
||||
| All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory finds new moth type
in Smoky Mountains September 2, 2002 GATLINBURG - A recent discovery during the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory is a moth new to science in the genus Ligdia, whose closest geographic relative is a European species known as the Scorched Carpet. "This group of moths was thought to hail only from the old world, and its presence in the Smokies suggests an ancient geographic connection between North America and Europe," said Dr. David Wagner of the University of Connecticut, who helped collect the first known specimens of the species. The new moth is an inchworm or looper that is part of the family Geometridae, which is a large and successful group of moths. Their caterpillars are an important source of protein for songbirds. The species has a wingspan of nearly an inch and is black and white in color. At rest, with its wings outspread, it resembles a bird dropping, perhaps a ploy to confuse predators. Ligdia was first taken in highelevation black light traps by Dr. James Adams of Dalton (Ga.) State University and is believed to be endemic to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park's hardwood cove forests. "They were very distinct when the trap was opened, and it was clear we had something new and remarkable," said Wagner. "Discoveries such as this lead us to believe that the Smokies will prove to be a treasure trove of biodiversity and the most worthy park for an ATBI." Other than high pollution levels in the park, there are no apparent threats to the Ligdia. However, the species is still poorly studied and little is known about its natural history. Scientists are unsure about what it eats, how it lives and what are sources of future threats. Copyright 2002, The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
|
||||
| DON'T COOK IN THE SHELTERS! On July 13, a bear was reported going into
the Mt. LeConte shelter during the night. Apparently, visitors cooked hotdogs and hamburgers inside the shelter, even though there is sign in the shelter warning people not to cook in the shelter. The bear was attracted to the hamburger grease in the fireplace of the shelter. These same visitors were reported to be angry because there was no chain-link on the shelter to keep the bear from entering. On July 14, the 140 pound female bear was captured and released on site as a form of aversive conditioning. Unfortunately, this was unsuccessful and the bear returned later that night, this time getting into some dirty pots, not to mention keeping the visitors up all night. The shelter was closed temporarily while arrangements were made to remove the bear. During the night of July 16, the bear was captured in a footsnare (thanks to the trail crew and their delicious bait!). A litter crew of five wildlife and four fire employees arrived early the following morning and the bear was immobilized and carried out 6.5 miles. Disc Jockeys from a local radio station (105.5) happened to be in the area on the morning of July 17 and broadcast live via cellular telephone. The bear was relocated to Carter County, Tennessee in the Cherokee National Forest. Since this incident, there have been two more reports of bears in the area. |
||||
|
Bear Attacks - Good reminder of who really is the most dangerous animal (hint: it is not a bear.) The following items were taken from various Updates in 2002. GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK BEAR ASSAULTED BY VISITOR AND LOOSES LUNCH ? On June 28 at 11:50 a.m., GIVE ME A BREAK! BAD NEWS BEAR ? On July 7, 2002, elk researcher, Jennifer ANOTHER CADES COVE BEAR ASSAULTED -- On July 22, we received several |
||||
| Cold water thrown on warm ups Stretching your muscles doesn't make them any more resilient. 30 August 2002 JOHN WHITFIELD Stretching before or after hitting the squash court might be a waste of time. It does little to reduce injuries or muscle soreness, say researchers1. Warming up and cooling down by stretching caught on in the 1960s, when recreational exercise became popular. It was thought to reduce the risk of unused muscles going into painful spasm. The spasm theory turned out to be wrong, but the stretching habit stuck. It is one of the "many superstitions about how to prevent injury and improve performance", comments physiotherapist Rob Herbert of the University of Sydney, Australia. Herbert and his colleague Michael Gabriel have reviewed the evidence on stretching. They found five published studies with samples large enough and controls good enough to be considered reliable. All measured the effects of stretching on muscle soreness; two also looked at injury risk. None of the studies showed any significant benefit. "We can say with a high degree of confidence that stretching does not prevent muscle soreness," says Herbert. "We can't rule out that it reduces injury risk, but the weight of evidence is against it." There's no conclusive evidence that stretching protects muscles, agrees
London-based physiotherapist Mark Todman. "In fact, you can make
your joints more vulnerable by overstretching," he says. Experiments on rabbits give the same result, says Thomas Best of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. "We think that when we stretch we're changing the tissues in some way that'll prevent injury," he says. "But in an animal model, stretching doesn't seem to affect muscle damage." Stretching may be good for some groups, says Best, including the elderly. All the reviewed studies were on healthy young adults, such as students and army recruits. "At this point we haven't answered the whole question," he says. If the benefits of stretching are a myth - along with having cold showers and abstaining from sex before a game - is there anything people can do to improve their performance and reduce the after-effects of sport? Todman recommends a gentle jog before strenuous exercise. This "may
prevent injury, but the evidence is very sparse," says Herbert. He
thinks that repeated exercise alone builds up resistance to muscle damage:
"The only way to prevent soreness is to get soreness." © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002 |
||||
| Exploitation costs the Earth Saving natural resources saves money. 9 August 2002 TOM CLARKE In terms of hard cash, natural habitats are worth far more if left intact than if they are exploited, a new report shows. This is true even if the converted habitat brings apparent economic gains. In net terms, every year's loss of natural habitat from practices such as logging and farming costs around $250 billion in each subsequent year, the report finds1. "The economics are absolutely stark," says ecologist Andrew Balmford of the University of Cambridge, UK, who led the research team. "We thought that the numbers would favour conservation, but not by this much." Natural goods The new analysis places a value on the goods and services that nature provides, just like businesses provide goods and services to consumers. The ability of a forest to regulate climate by absorbing greenhouse gases, filtering water and trapping nutrients are natural services, and the goods include wild animals and plants that can be harvested sustainably. A worldwide network of nature reserves both on land and at sea would
cost about $45 billion a year to maintain, the report estimates. But the
loss of natural goods and services if these habitats were wiped out is
much more - between $4,400 billion and $5,200 billion. Balmford's group based their analysis on five real-life examples: logging of Malaysian tropical forest, small-scale agriculture eating into Cameroon forests, destruction of mangrove swamp in Thailand for shrimp farming, drainage of Canadian marsh for agriculture, and demolition of Philippine coral reef by dynamite fishing. For each one, they estimated the economic returns of exploitation, from the sale of timber or fish, for example, plus the jobs that the industry provides. They compared this with the value of goods and services from a relatively pristine neighbouring ecosystem. But putting a value on natural resources is "extremely difficult", says Kevin Gaston, an ecologist at the University of Sheffield, UK; previous efforts by Costanza and others2 have been heavily criticized. For example, there are few hard figures on which to base dollar estimates of nutrient cycling or carbon dioxide absorption. But even by the most conservative measures, the value of ecosystems is "indisputable", agrees Gaston. Cashing in Nature's worth is neglected, says Costanza, because it provides goods
and services to the public as a whole, not to private interests. Generally
speaking, economics only deals with the conventional market-place, made
up of stocks, shares and services with clear cash value. In the short term, the abolition of environmentally flawed subsidies would go a long way to addressing the problem, the researchers argue. These help industries such as agriculture or manufacturing to operate profitably in a region in which they would otherwise not be able to. Sugar-cane farmers in Florida, for example, are supported by the government to allow them to compete with neighbouring Cuba. As a result, sugar-cane growing is unprofitable overall and has damaged the unique wetlands of the Florida everglades. Worldwide, subsidies such as these cost governments around $950 billion
each year - enough to pay for a worldwide network of nature reserves 20
times over. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002 |
||||
| Clever crows know their tools Birds have rare talent for tool-making. 9 August 2002 KENDALL POWELL Crows may be some of the most innovative toolmakers in the animal kingdom, say researchers. A team at Oxford University, UK, observed Betty, a New Caledonian crow, shaping a hook from a straight piece of wire - and using it to retrieve food1. The bird had never used wire before, or observed others using wire, and had not been trained. Previously, only humans were thought to make tools out of objects without prior experience. "This is solving a problem which is new in the experience of the animal," says team leader Alex Kacelnik. Behavioural scientists are finding that some of the cognitive abilities of this family of birds, including crows, jays and magpies, are comparable to those of mammals, says James Ha, who studies primate and crow behaviour at the University of Washington in Seattle. "These guys are right up there with your dog," he says. In trials, Betty was presented with a straight wire and a bucket of food dropped out of reach down a pipe. Betty would first try to use the wire to lift the bucket; if that didn't work, she quickly fashioned a hook by pulling on the wire with her beak. She successfully gained food in more than half of the trials. This species of crow, Corvus moneduloides, which is native to the southwest
Pacific island of New Caledonia, also makes tools in the wild to retrieve
insects from holes in trees or from under leaves on the forest floor2.
The birds craft hooked tools out of twigs and shape barbed leaves into
tapered implements. The new study explored their tool-making ability in
the lab. © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002 |
||||
|
Botanists probe medieval medicine13th-century folklore inspires 21st-century research scheme.22 July 2002 JOHN WHITFIELDResearchers in Wales are following the lead of medieval medics in the hope of finding new drugs. A project will begin later this year at the country's National Botanic Garden to explore the work of a medical dynasty, the Physicians of Myddfai."[The Myddfai's work] may make a significant contribution to modern medicine," says Terry Turner, a pharmacist at the University of Wales in Cardiff who is involved in the project. "These old boys knew what they were doing - they were experimental and knowledgeable people. "Myddfai is a village in South Wales. Here, in the early thirteenth century, a physician named Rhiwallon founded a line of doctors that spread across Wales and persisted for hundreds of years - some Welshmen still claim descent from the physicians.Legend has it that Rhiwallon's mother was a lake fairy who told him which plants had medicinal uses and where they could be gathered.The Myddfai's most important text, the Red Book of Hergest, dates from around 1400. It describes nearly 500 remedies for ailments such as deafness, lumps and fever, derived from more than 200 plants. "The level of detail is extraordinary," says Rhodri Griffiths of the National Botanic Garden of Wales in Llanarthne. This detail could be vital; the chemicals in a plant depend on when it is picked and how it is processed. When the botanic garden's newly built science centre opens - probably this October - the laboratories hope to probe the Myddfai knowledge using modern techniques such as chemical screening, tissue culture and genetics.Drug companies worldwide are scouring nature for leads. Many are basing their searches on local knowledge, from past or present.Closer lookThe Myddfais' writings are a jumping-off point, not a map, Turner told this week's Society of Conservation Biology meeting in Canterbury, UK. "One mustn't take them as a stricture. We have an awful lot of information that they didn't have." For example, he says, modern extraction techniques get at chemicals that the Myddfai couldn't with just alcohol. There might be therapeutic compounds in the stuff they threw away. Some well-studied plants might bear further inspection. The Myddfai treated
tumours with a poultice made from foxglove - long used to treat heart
disease. "There's a strong case for saying 'let's look more closely
and see what's there'," says Turner.The garden's £5-million
science centre also intends to team up with farmers in the Myddfai region
to develop a commercial medicinal herb-growing operation.
|
||||
| National trails day: June 1 May 17, 2002 It’s time again! The 6th annual Appalachian Trail Work Day on National Trails Day will be held on Saturday June 1, 2002. Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Regional Office of the Appalachian Trail Conference, and the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club will coordinate the work. In recent years nearly 200 volunteers have participated in this effort to care for the A.T. in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The A.T. Maintainers Committee of the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club has total responsibility for insuring that the A.T. and its facilities in the park are maintained on a continuing basis. With your help on National Trails Day projects are completed that otherwise would not be accomplished because of a lack of muscle power. In addition, this day is the primary way of raising funds to help with the maintenance of the Trail. Your registration fees are the primary source of funding for the A.T. Maintenance Fund managed by Friends of the Smokies. It’s time to register for this year’s event. We need you again! The registration fee is $10 ($12 if you register on the day of the event). Registering early helps the Crew Assignment Committee get workers placed in work groups and increases your chance of being assigned to your hike/work preference – and it helps us to get a count for the evening picnic. Only 230 applications can be accepted – so send your form in to reserve your spot on this fun day. You’ll receive a commemorative T-shirt, lots of "Thank you’s", and a great feeling from knowing you’ve helped keep the world’s best-loved foot-path in good condition. Sponsors for the event are: Blue Ridge Mountain Sports, The Happy Hiker, Earth Traverse, Union Tools, Little River Trading Company, River Sports Outfitters and The Climbing Center, Collier Foods, and Food City. We are grateful to these businesses for their continued support of the Appalachian Trail. If you have questions please call Friends of the Smokies (Tennessee Office [Nan Jones] – (865) 453-2428 or 800 845-5665; North Carolina Office [Don McGowan] – (828) 452-0720) or contact Phyllis Henry (865) 577-2604 or (865) 974-3877. We’ll see you at Sugarlands Visitor Center near the Gatlinburg, Tennessee entrance to the park on June 1st! |
||||
| May 16, 2002 Immediate Release Bob Miller (865) 436-1207 New Forest Insect Pest Discovered in Smokies Biologists at Great Smoky Mountains National Park have confirmed the Park's first-recorded infestation with the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, a tiny aphid-like insect that attacks and kills hemlock trees. The first outbreak was confirmed last week about 3 miles north of Fontana Dam in the Swain County, NC portion of the Park and a second infestation was found this week about a mile from Cades Cove in Blount County, TN. The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid is native to China and Japan and is a close relative of the Balsam Woolly Adelgid that has killed over 90% of the Park's Fraser firs at areas like Clingmans Dome and Balsam Mountain. The hemlock adelgid was first detected in the mid-Atlantic states in the 1920's but was not recognized as a serious pest until its population exploded when it reached large forested areas such as Shenandoah National Park in the 1970's. In Shenandoah about 80% of the Park's hemlocks are now infested and most are expected to die. Throughout the 1990's federal and state biologists monitored the adelgid's slow spread north into Maine and south along the Appalachians. The tiny insect can be spread by larger insects, on the feet of birds, and by wind, but the fastest spread occurs when infested landscape materials are brought in for planting in developed areas. Between 1999 and 2001 the insect is believed to have made the jump quickly from the Virginia/North Carolina border down to the Robbinsville, NC area via this human transport. The hemlock adelgid feeds by sucking sap from the bases of the tree's needles, starting with the underside. This parasitism retards the host's growth and causes its needles to discolor from deep green to grayish before they drop off. The loss of new growth generally results in mortality of the tree within a few years. The infested twigs are fairly easy to recognize because the insects clump together at the base of each needle into a whitish mass that resembles a small cotton swab. Areas of the Smokies which are primarily hemlock occupy only about 5,000 acres of the half-million acre national park, but individual hemlocks are scattered widely throughout the Park from the lowest elevations to about 5,000 feet. The hemlock is of particular importance when it grows along stream banks where its deep shade helps to keep mountain streams sufficiently cool to host the Park's cold water fish populations. According to the Kris Johnson, Supervisory Forester at the Smokies, "There is a range of treatment alternatives that may slow or hopefully, someday prevent the widespread loss of hemlocks from our forests. Trees can be treated by injecting a pesticide into the soil where it is taken up through the roots and/or they can be soaked with a soap solution. There are also some promising results from introducing an Asian beetle that feeds exclusively on the adelgid". Johnson said, "The soap and pesticide must be applied by hand so it is not practical to treat large or isolated stands, but in developed areas or with smaller outbreaks we may be able to keep an outbreak in check." Park Vegetation staffers treated the North Carolina stand last week with both the soap and the pesticide and will continue to monitor those trees to see if those treatments were effective. The extent of the infected stand near Cades Cove has not yet been mapped, so managers have not decided on a course of action. Park managers are asking hikers and others visiting the Park to report any sightings of hemlocks with the characteristic cotton-swab deposits on their needles to the Park's Vegetation Management Office at (865) 436-1707. Specific locations and close-up photos are especially helpful in confirming any new infestations. Homeowners who suspect that hemlocks in their yards or other non-park areas may be infested can report their sightings to their county agricultural extension agents.
|
||||
| Park Plans Prescribed Burn Near Cades Cove April 23, 2002 Weather permitting Park managers at Great Smoky Mountains National Park plan to conduct the Park’s largest prescribed burn since the Park’s Fire Management Plan was approved in 1996. A 1,034-acre tract of forest just west of Cades Cove is scheduled for burning on Wednesday, April 24. The central purpose of the Park’s fire use in the interior regions of the Smokies is to replicate as nearly as possible the role that naturally-occurring fires played in shaping and maintaining the Park’s biologically diverse ecosystem. In the case of Wednesday’s "Arbutus Ridge Burn" the Park’s goal is to perpetuate and maintain the yellow pine forest type. Historically, the Arbutus Ridge area was predominantly a yellow pine forest, a condition that was maintained in pre-settlement days by periodic fire. Over the past 70 years or more the pines have been gradually crowded out by oaks and other hardwoods, which can sprout in the shady under-story that has been a result of total suppression of fire. Another factor in the decline of pines in the Smokies has been a large infestation with southern pine beetles. The Arbutus Ridge Burn is expected to create a variety of sunny openings and enhance pine regeneration. The area to be burned is on Arbutus Ridge which lies within about ? miles outside the Cades Cove Loop Road and at least 3 miles inside the Park boundary in Blount County Tennessee. The burn boundaries are made up almost entirely of natural and existing man-made boundaries: Cooper Road to the north, Wet Bottom Trail to the east, Abrams Creek to the south and Stony Branch to the west. Along with having good control lines already in place to keep the fire
within its approved perimeter, the Park has assigned approximately 25
firefighters to ignite the burn and to catch any slop-overs outside the
established containment lines. From The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. |
||||
|
Seven 'Comeback' Elk Pregnant By staff reports From The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. |
||||
|
Last week we witnessed the birth of the early spring wildflowers in the Greenbrier section of the Park. On March 13, as we climbed past 2,200' we entered a layer of new green growth, with bunches of Hepatica, Fringed Phacelia, Spring Beauty, and Rue Anemone flower buds sticking up, just starting to open. What a difference a day makes! The same walk on the 14 greeted us with hundreds of freshly opened white blossoms littering the hillsides in full splendor. There were even some Yellow Trilliums modestly flashing some yellow of their petals. In the Smokies, spring unfolds her skirt of flowers starting at the mid elevations in descending waves downward. It then goes back to conquer the highest elevations. Today I did a short walk in the old Sugarlands community at around 1,500-1,600' checking on a prime morel patch. It was too early for the 'shrooms, but as I left the road behind I found pockets of flowers in full bloom. Came across many Bloodroots, with some even beginning to loose their petals. Again, the wonderful early whites of Hepatica, Rue Anemone and Star Chickweed covered the moist slopes. They were joined with the yellows of Spicebush, and a few Halberd-leaved Violets. The odd hairy tufts of Fraser's Sedge's flowers were out. Young Yellow Buckeye trees are starting to leaf out. The small ones, with their unopened green leaves sticking up from their terminal buds, could be mistaken for some kind of weird mountain pygmy plam tree. The canapy and forest floor are littered with small red Red Maple flowers. Erik Plakanis ©A Walk in the Woods 2002 |
||||
|
On Saturday March 17th, Newfound Gap Road will open to traffic in both directions over the weekends as work on the two tunnels wraps up. Also, for the first time since construction began around Thanksgiving, the Chimney Tops Trail will again be accessible. "For the most part, all of the hard work is done," Park spokesman Bob Miller said. The tunnel walls still have to be painted and work on the exterior of the tunnel is set for upcoming weeks. "Historically, the (retaining) walls were made out of stone," Miller said. The stones were removed from the wall so a concrete reinforced core could be built to meet federal highway requirements. The stones will be replaced as a covering to balance those requirements with a more aesthetic and cultural appearance. Work on the tunnels has remained on schedule with varied times of road closings since the project began almost four months ago. "They're right on time," Miller said. Weekday travelers will still experience one-lane closures in one tunnel or the other through May 17, as the workers finish small jobs and paint the inside walls. During that phase, the single-lane closures will continue for 24 hours a day because of scaffolding inside the tunnels, however, the roads will be open from now on in both directions from 6 p.m. on Fridays to 6 a.m. on Mondays. After Saturday, restrictions on the kinds of vehicles allowed will also come to an end. "There's no height limit anymore," Miller said. Buses, R.V.s and trailers can now pass safely. Greg Wilkerson |
||||
| Baxter Creek Trail will be closed for 30 days starting Mar 6 2002 for bridge construction. | ||||
| Park Openings and Events for Spring 2002
Great Smoky Mountains National Park has announced its spring opening
schedule for Park facilities, including secondary roads, self-registration
campgrounds, and concession operations. Tunnel construction on the Tennessee side of NewfoAund Gap Road will require one lane alternating traffic through the tunnels through March 15. Beginning March 16 buses and RVs will be permitted to travel through the tunnels and work will continue with intermittent single lane closures through May 18, but no lane closures will occur on the weekends. After May 18, construction will cease during peak summer season and resume on August 19 for completion in about one month. Operating Hours for Visitor Centers – The three visitor centers are open daily and the operating hours through March are: Sugarlands Visitor Center, near Gatlinburg, TN, is open 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Cades Cove Visitor Center, near Townsend, TN, is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and the Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee, NC, hours will be 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. The National Park Reservation Service (NRPS) provides visitors an opportunity to make reservations at three of the Park’s developed campgrounds, group campsites, horse camps, and picnic shelters. Reservations can be made 5 months in advance by calling 1-800-365-2267 or by Internet at http://reservations.nps.gov. Family Campgrounds open on a staggered basis starting March 15. (See the following schedule for exact dates.) Three of the Park’s 10 campgrounds are on NPRS from May 15-October 31: Cades Cove, Elkmont, and Smokemont. Camping fees are $12 per site at the smaller, more primitive campgrounds, $14 at the more developed campgrounds, and, at the reservation campgrounds during the period May 15-October 31, sites will cost $17 per night. In addition, Elkmont riverside campsites are $20 per night. Group Camping will be available at seven campgrounds (see schedule for opening dates) and reservations need to be made through NPRS. Group camping is available at Big Creek, Cataloochee, Cosby, Deep Creek, Elkmont, Cades Cove, and Smokemont. The cost for group camping ranges from $20 to $63 per site/night. Horse Camps at Anthony Creek, Big Creek, Cataloochee, Towstring, and Round Bottom will open March 15 and reservations are only available through NPRS. Horse site fees are $20 at all horse camps except for Big Creek where it is $25. Picnic Areas – There are 10 first-come, first-serve picnic areas. Open all year are Cades Cove, Chimney Tops, Cosby, Greenbrier, Deep Creek, and Metcalf Bottoms. Big Creek and Collins Creek will open on March 15 and Heintooga and Look Rock are scheduled to open on May 17. The private, larger picnic pavilion at Twin Creeks opens on April 1 and reservation is available through NPRS only. Twin Creeks fee ranges from $35-$75 depending on the use and the number of people. In addition, picnickers can reserve four other picnic pavilions on NPRS. They are located at Collins Creek, Cosby, Deep Creek or Metcalf Bottoms picnic areas and the cost is $20. Horseback Riding is available at four horse concession operations in the Park. The rates are $15-$20 per horse per hour at the following stables: McCarter's will open on March 9 and Smoky Mountain on March 15. Smokemont begins March 23 and Cades Cove on April 1. At the Cades Cove horse concession, buggy rides ($8 per person) and hayrides ($6 per person) are offered. The Deep Creek horse stables will be closed during the 2002 season. LeConte Lodge, accessible only by trail, will open on March 25. Reservations are required and can be made by calling 865/429-5704, fax 865/429-0045 or e:mail reservations@leconte-lodge.com. One night at the lodge costs $81.50 per adult (tax included) and includes two meals--dinner and breakfast. Campground Concessions - The Cades Cove Campground Store and bicycle rental will open for business on April 1. The store provides snack foods with several hot food items. Wood concessions are available at Elkmont, Smokemont, Cades Cove, and Balsam Mountain. For more detailed information on Park programs or services, consult the Park's newspaper, Smokies Guide, which can be obtained at the Park's visitor centers for $.25 or call the Park at 865/436-1200 or check the Park’s web site at www.nps.gov/grsm. CAMPGROUND SCHEDULE Tennessee: *Cades Cove $14, $17 Year-round March 15 Cosby $14 March 15 March 15 North Carolina: *Smokemont $14, $17 Year-round March 15 *$17 per site during the reservation period May 15-October 31. At Elkmont, riverside sites are $20 during reservation period only.
|
||||
|
Prescribed Fires in the Cades Cove Weather permitting, managers at Great Smoky Mountains National Park plan to conduct a series of prescribed fires Thursday and Friday (March 21,22) in the Cades Cove fields. According to Acting Park Superintendent Phil Francis, "With the limited amount of smoke that these grass fires produce, neighbors outside the Park should not notice any appreciable smoke, but those with asthma or other respiratory problems should avoid visiting in Cades Cove where smoke may be heavy during the burns." Altogether the Park plans to burn off the dead grasses from about 20 tracts totaling about 800 acres. Fire managers are not sure that they will be able to complete the burns on all 800 acres during the two-day period. If they cannot finish Friday the remainder will be burned whenever burning conditions are favorable and sufficient personnel are available to ensure that the burns can be safely contained within their planned boundaries. Burning the fields at this time of year will help accomplish several Park management goals: first, maintain the fields in an open condition economically to enhance wildlife viewing; second, help promote the re-establishment of native grasses such as Indian grass and big bluestem which would have been present during the late-19th and early 20th century period for which the Cove is historically significant. Decades after the pastures were acquired by the Park most of the Cove
was planted in non-native fescue in the 1950s and '60s. March 15, 2002 |
||||
| National Park backers petition Bush for more
funds
By Richard Powelson, News-Sentinel Washington bureau WASHINGTON - Supporters of national parks delivered nearly 19,000 petitions
to the White House on Wednesday - including 335 from Tennessee - that
urge financial support for natural resources. The coalition encouraging the petitions, Americans for National Parks, is composed of about 150 organizations, state and local agencies and businesses. One prominent member is the National Parks Conservation Association, which has a regional office in Knoxville. To make its case for more funding, the groups identified some problems: Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina, the most visited in the country, has frequent haze from air pollution and needs funding to monitor and evaluate air quality and more law enforcement to protect its half-million acres and nearly 10 million annual visitors. Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona had several California condors die last year, but had insufficient funding to determine the cause. Valley Forge National Historical Park in Pennsylvania lacks staff to open to the public most of the sites used by Gen. George Washington and his troops in their 1777-78 encampment. Charles Maynard, former longtime leader of the Friends of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a private fund-raising group, told supporters of national parks gathered outside the U.S. Capitol building Wednesday that many people sacrificed and gave up their homes and churches when the Smokies became a national park in 1934. Smokies' personnel often get tied up at the busiest areas of the park - the visitor's center and at an accident or a crisis in one area - and don't have time to patrol the park regularly to protect its resources, he said. Private groups, such as Friends of the Smokies, have raised a million dollars or more per year to help with expenses of their area's national park. The Smokies alone needs about $7 million extra per year, the coalition estimated. Bush has proposed a $31.5 million budget increase for the National Park Service next fiscal year - a 1.4 percent increase over this fiscal year's level. That is not enough to cover even employees' annual cost-of-living raises, the coalition said. Richard Powelson Copyright 2002 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. |
||||
| Last Cades Cove Family Home Demolished
Offspring salvage part of its remains By Ken Garland, News-Sentinel Blount County bureau CADES COVE - Ruth Davis stood quietly Monday and looked at the pile of rubble that was once the home where she, her sister and two brothers grew up. It was the home where her parents, Kermit and Lois Caughron, spent most of their married life. And it was the home that has stood vacant for almost three years since her father died. The National Park Service had ordered the house torn down. The house, which was built in the early 1950s, didn't have historical value, according to the park service. The Caughrons were the last family to live in Cades Cove. Lois Caughron moved out after her husband died in 1999. The Caughrons farmed and had cattle in the cove. The park service gave lumber that could be salvaged from the house to the Cades Cove Preservation Association, a group interested in helping maintain Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The lumber was pulled from a pile and loaded onto trailers, which will be taken to the home of Ronnie Chambers in Walland. Association officials have said they would like to construct either the house or a replica of the Cable Schoolhouse, from which lumber to build the house was taken. Davis said she almost did not go to Cades Cove to help salvage the lumber. "I wanted to, and then I didn't want to," she said. "I came up here last week and took some pictures of the house." Now, she is left with memories. "I remember my dad sitting in front of the fireplace," she said, her voice catching. "And when we would come to see him, he would walk out with us and sit on the front porch. He'd be there when we left." Park Service maintenance workers pulled down the house in the morning, long before volunteers were allowed in at noon. The loop road was closed while maintenance workers replaced a low-water bridge near the Tipton-Oliver House. "We tried to keep as much of it intact as we could," said Dale Brukiewa, the roads foreman for Cades Cove. "The roof is pretty much intact, but the exterior walls took a beating." He said workers ran a cable through windows at the front and back of the house and pulled out the ends. They then ran the cable through the front and back and pulled those walls out, collapsing the remainder of the house. Brukiewa said some walls showed signs of deterioration. He said the sill plate that ran along the bottom of each wall showed signs of rot and insect damage. Brukiewa said maintenance workers had already removed the windows from the house. "People had already started to break them," he said. "They (windows) were wavy glass and some had bubbles in them. "I think a lot of the ceiling is pretty good. The roof itself, it's pretty modern. There were no historic nails in the house that we could find." Davis' husband, John Davis, her son, John Paul Davis III, and grandson, John Paul Davis IV, helped with the salvage. "This is my grandpa's home, and my momma's home," John Paul Davis III said. "And I got married right over there," he said, pointing to a rise behind the house. "I wonder how the people who made this decision would like to have a cable run through their grandpa's house and it pulled down. "My oldest son is old enough to remember coming here. He stayed at night. The others (children) will have to hear stories. My brother's kids will have to hear stories." A short while later, the youngster found a fabric belt and took it to his grandmother. They talked awhile, and the boy went back to the rubble. He returned a few minutes later with most of a skirt. "It's my skirt," Ruth Davis said, a smile on her face. Although Caughron died almost three years ago, he was not forgotten by visitors. Bunches of artificial flowers have been left at the gate across the driveway to the home. And Monday, an artificial daffodil was taped to a piece of gate hardware, a memory to Kermit Caughron who for many people was Cades Cove.
|
||||
| February 26, 2002
Balsam woolly adelgid numbers decrease in Smokies By Carson Brewer, special to GoSmokies.com Sometimes it’s amazing to see nature change course and do something good to compensate for her evil deeds of the past. Or does she deserve no credit because she’s just doing what comes naturally? Let us study the case of the balsam woolly adelgid for some enlightenment
on these matters. The people who are supposed to know about such things first called it the balsam woolly aphid. But they later decided aphid was wrong and adelgid was right. They are insects. To live, they suck life’s juices from a beautiful evergreen tree, the Fraser fir. Fraser firs and red spruces together comprise what’s called the Great Smokies spruce-fir forest. It grows only on the highest mountains of the Southern Appalachians. The spruce-fir forest grows at altitudes ranging from about 4500 feet to 6600 feet above sea level. The insect was brought from Europe to North America in nursery stock sometime before 1908, when it was discovered on balsam fir in Canada. It never reached the Southern Appalachians until sometime after 1957, when it was discovered on Mt. Mitchell, where 11,000 fir trees were already dead. In 1963, the first adelgids were found inside the national park, on Mt. Sterling. Smoky Park officials believe wind carried the insects from Mitchell to Sterling. By the end of 1978, the adelgids were nearly everywhere in the park where Fraser firs grow. In fact, they had been killed in most places. The Park Service put up the best fight against the adelgids at Clingmans Dome, where heavy spraying equipment could be used. The spray used was something called Safer’s insecticidal soap, a fatty acid made of plant and animal oils. Dr. Ronald L. Hay, an associate professor in the University of Tennessee’s Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, and two of his graduate students, Kristine D. Johnson and C. Kristopher Eagar, in 1978 finished a 2-year study of the adelgids in the park. Ron Hay said the summit of Clingmans Dome was the only place in the park free of adelgids at the end of ’78. He predicted in 1978 that the adelgids would kill the firs on the Dome within 10 to 15 years. He predicted the adelgids will finish killing the mature firs on Mt. Guyot within 3 to 5 years and those on Le Conte within 5 to 10 years. Chris Eagar and Ron Hay are no longer fighting adelgids in the park. Kris Johnson is still after adelgids. She’s a vegetation specialist now, for the Park Service. Some vegetation in the park she wants to keep. Fraser fir, for instance. This means she has to keep fighting adelgids. She’s got help. At least some of it is free. Birds are working for her. Some of them eat adelgids. Spiders also eat adelgids. And so do spider mites. Some of these critters eat both adelgids and adelgid eggs. Both help. Niki Nicols, who has been working for TVA and UT, also will help Kris this year. And the adelgids themselves are working for her. At least, they’re working against themselves. Kris explained. Early in the adelgid invasion, there were lots of healthy fir trees to provide food for the insects. But as time passed, there came to be fewer and fewer healthy fir trees and more and more adelgids. Each adelgid had less to eat and each fir tree had fewer adelgids working to kill it. Another factor is that this is a younger fir forest. Walk the crest of the Smoky high country and you see more young firs and fewer adults. Adelgids prefer adult trees. They can sink their toenails into the rough bark of old trees and move faster. Young firs have smooth, almost slick bark. Not ideal for adelgid travel. Kris offers proof that the adelgids are becoming fewer. She and her helpers placed 100-square-centimeter traps in firs on Clingmans Dome, Le Conte, Mt. Sterling and Balsam Mountain in 2000 and 2001:
|
||||
| February 19, 2002 CADES COVE ROAD CLOSED TEMPORARILY Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials announced the temporary closure of Cades Cove Loop Road to motorists February 25-March 3 for road construction on the south side (exit side) of the 11-mile one-way road. However, hikers and bikers will have a unique opportunity to recreate along the road with some restrictions during the week closure. Park Maintenance crews will replace the 70-foot concrete, low-water creek crossing near the Tipton Place. The existing culvert under the crossing is too small to carry the water and the road has a deep dip there that causes larger vehicles to bottom out. The Park's Maintenance crew will replace the concrete culvert with a larger drainage system to prevent the water overflow from spilling across the road. Oftentimes in the winter water passing over the road freezes causing a hazardous situation. "When motorists negotiate the existing crossing often their rear bumpers would scrape the asphalt," said Smokies Superintendent Mike Tollefson. "We hope to correct that problem at the same time that we improve the drainage structure." While the loop road will be closed to vehicles, pedestrians will have access to a portion of the road and all the trails. Monday, February 25, through Friday, March 1, visitors will be permitted to travel the road from the entrance for about 7 miles past the visitor center, which will be closed, to Hyatt Lane where they can cross the valley back on to the entrance side of the Loop Road. The loop road will be off limits for the remaining section of road (about 4 miles) from the construction site to the exit, near the Ranger Station, where large construction vehicles will enter the road. The other cross road located near the entrance, Sparks Lane, will remain open but the public will not be able to enter the loop road on the south side (exit side). On Saturday, March 2, and Sunday, March 3, all of the road will be accessible to hikers, bikers and cyclists, but visitors will have to go around the construction area during the curing concrete phase. "There will be some National Park Service vehicles travelling the road during the construction so we would like to warn pedestrians to use caution and be on the look out for these moving vehicles," said Superintendent Tollefson. The Cades Cove Campground will remain open and is unaffected by the road closure. -NPS- |
||||
| Ramp picking Banned from Smokies Park in Bid
to Save Native Plant
By The Associated Press GATLINBURG - Collecting ramps, the onion like harbinger of spring for many in the Appalachians, will be banned from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Managers of the country's most-visited national park worried that lovers of what has been described as the "sweetest tasting, vilest smelling plant that grows" could harvest it to death in the Smokies. The Smokies has allowed individuals to pick a peck of ramps - about a grocery bag - a day for personal use even as the Blue Ridge Parkway and Shenandoah National Park barred the practice in recent years. But a recently completed five-year study suggested the leek's numbers are threatened in the Smokies by growing ramp demand, fueled by regional festivals and recipes in magazines such as "Southern Living," Superintendent Mike Tollefson said Tuesday. Everyone expected that "ramp collecting would eventually decline on its own as the native mountain-born people who grew up living off the land grew older," he said. "This has not happened." The Smokies study didn't calculate exactly how many ramps are left in the national park, but the trend was clear. "We didn't want to wait until there was one ramp left," Smokies spokesman Bob Miller said. The study found that contrary to folk wisdom, ramps do not re-sprout if a collector leaves a little of the root tip, or rhizome, in place rather than pulling it up entirely. The research also found that a ramp patch extensively harvested could take 20 years to recover. Though ramps are not endangered and can be found growing in mountain forests above 3,000 feet as far north as Canada, the Smokies has a responsibility to preserve its native plants and animals, Tollefson said. "A key mission of the National Park Service is to provide sanctuary, in perpetuity, for all the plants and animals in the park," he said. Ramps, considered a tasty addition to everything from barbecue to cornbread, can still be picked legally in the Cherokee National Forest surrounding the Smokies or bought commercially. February 20, 2002 |
||||
| Smokies' Hemlocks Threatened by Insect Woolly Adelgids Turn up in South Carolina By Morgan Simmons, News-Sentinel staff writer A tiny, aphid-like insect that destroys hemlock trees has been discovered in the mountains of northwest South Carolina about 40 miles from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The hemlock woolly adelgid was found this winter in a grove of old-growth hemlocks in the Oconee National Forest, near Walhalla, S.C. The infestation was discovered by a tree climber looking for the tallest hemlock in the Eastern United States. The infestation is believed to have been under way for two to hree years. So far it has weakened some of the trees but has not killed them. Last year an outbreak of hemlock woolly adelgids was confirmed just northwest of Robbinsville, N.C., and on Santeetlah Lake. Those discoveries placed the insect less than 10 miles from the Smokies park and the Joyce Kilmer-Slick Rock Wilderness. The insects are about the size of the head of a pin, but they develop large colonies that suck vital sap from hemlock trees. Smokies officials worry the adelgids could have a catastrophic impact on the park's extensive hemlock stands. Park Forestry Supervisor Kristine Johnson said news of the South Carolina outbreak is troubling even though it's located farther from the park than the North Carolina outbreak discovered a year ago. "This is an old-growth forest that migrating birds are likely to visit," Johnson said. "One thing that alarms us is the possibility that birds passing over this area will stop and pick up adelgids on their feet and fly here on their next stop." A native of China and Japan, the hemlock woolly adelgid was accidentally introduced into the United States in the 1950s and has since caused widespread destruction of hemlocks in the Northeast. Until recently, the closest the insects had come to the Smokies was Virginia. In Northern Virginia's Shenandoah National Park 80 percent of the hemlocks have been lost. The Smokies' hemlock stands cover approximately 3,820 acres, or about 1 percent of the park's acreage. The Smokies contain one of the largest remnants of old-growth Eastern hemlocks in existence. Forestry experts say the trees are especially valuable because they provide the shade along mountain streams that maintains the cool water temperatures vital for trout and other aquatic species. Hemlocks grow in about 25 Tennessee counties outside the Smokies. They are especially prevalent in river gorges and on north-facing mountain slopes. They are often sold in nurseries in upper East Tennessee and on the Cumberland Plateau. Hemlock woolly adelgids form white clusters on the needles of the trees. Unlike many destructive arboreal pests, they do not attack the bark. While outbreaks in yards or urban settings can be treated by spraying with soap or insecticides, forest-wide infestations are difficult to control. Researchers say biological controls are the most promising weapon for combating backcountry outbreaks. One such is an East Asian ladybird beetle that preys specifically on hemlock woolly adelgids. Johnson said early detection and treatment of the adelgids could help control an infestation in the park before it spreads. She said on large hemlock trees where the adelgids are high off the ground and difficult to detect, the best thing to look for is a thinning of the crowns. Anyone who believes they've seen hemlock woolly adelgid in or around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is asked to contect Kristine Johnson at 865-436-1707. Copyright 2002 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. |
||||
| Opinions of Land Swap Heard
By Bryan Mitchell, News-Sentinel staff writer Dozens of people lined up Wednesday evening to voice their opinion of a proposed land swap between the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with support outpacing opposition 2-to-1. "The trade will reconnect the nation and allow us to build schools for our children's future," said Leon Jones, chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The meeting, attended by approximately 100 people, was held on the University of Tennessee Agriculture campus and was the second of three meetings scheduled to collect public input about the proposed land ex-change. A similar meeting was held Tuesday night in Cherokee, N.C., while a final forum will be held tonight in Asheville, N.C. The Cherokee would like to trade 168 acres of National Park land known as the Ravensford tract - which looks like an upside down Italy and lies on the southern edge of the park - for a 210-acre tract near the Blue Ridge Parkway. Those in support contend the site is a near-perfect location to build a new school to replace the dilapidated 40-year-old school the Cherokee now use. They also say they would be trading away more land than they are requesting. "Our current school is located on a dangerous intersection and needs to be replaced altogether," Cherokee, N.C., resident Ted Rose said. Those opposed fear the school is a front for the Cherokee band's desire to build more casinos. They charge the swap may be illegal. "I don't want to see this land full of parking lots and casinos at the edge of the park," attendee Roger Jenkins said. "The park ought to remain an intact ecosystem." Historically, precedence rests on the side of the Cherokee: Two similar land swaps have been successfully completed in the past, in California and Florida. "While they are not common, they are also not unheard of," said Pat Parker, chief American Indian liaison officer. The Cherokee have already raised $8 million for the proposed $15 million school and contend that without the new facilities it will be harder to retain students and teach their rich culture. "We don't want our language to die," Jones said. Copyright 2002 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. |
||||
|
EXPERIMENTAL ELK RELEASE -- Female #12 was euthanized
on September 23, 2001. The necropsy results were inconclusive, but signs
strongly indicated she suffered from a neurological parasite. These results
are indicative of meningeal worm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis). We cannot
say for certain at this time. One female remains in the Cherokee area.
We are continuing to monitor the movements of the one elk on the Cherokee
Indian Reservation and two elk just outside the Park boundary. All remaining
elk are being located daily in and
|
||||
|
SHARP FIRE ARSONIST .. $5,000 REWARD -- Over the past couple of weeks, the arson-caused Sharp Fire burned about 7,500 acres between the Park boundary, Deep Creek and Noland Creek. An Incident Management Team from the State of Florida was brought in to help manage the fire. They did an outstanding job working with the Park and the local communities. Considering the ruggedness of the terrain, the dry conditions, and the resulting fire behavior, the Park was fortunate that the fire was controlled without any major accidents. Obviously, the Park does not condone arson-caused fires. These type of
ignitions are not planned for and human and structural safety is placed
in jeopardy. There were at least eight other fires that burned on Park
Again, the Park does not condone arson-caused fire because human and structural safety is placed in jeopardy. However, the overall biotic effects of these fires are not always negative. For example, it is estimated at this time that 90-95% of the Sharp Fire burned with an intensity that did not kill the overstory trees. This opening of the understory should cause opportunities for some sun-loving plants to thrive, at least for a couple of years. And, at least in a few areas, it is expected that yellow pine regeneration will occur. Yellow pines, in general, are disappearing in the Park due to lack of regeneration and mortality due to the Southern Pine Beetle. Park natural resource specialists will be monitoring the effects of the Sharp Fire to learn as much as possible from it. GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND SCIENCE WEEKLY
UPDATE ISSUE NUMBER 112 November 26, 2001 |
||||
|
SCHEDULE FOR TUNNEL REPAIRS ONNEWFOUND GAP ROAD (US 441)
|
||||
|
GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND SCIENCE WEEKLY
UPDATE ISSUE NUMBER 111 November 19, 2001 |
||||
| Hog Hunters Have Gone High Tech 243 Hogs Trapped Last Year By Carson Brewer, special to GoSmokies. com January 7, 2002 The hog hunters in Great Smoky Mountains National Park have gone high tech, says Kim Delozier, senior wildlife technician in the park. Kim says the six men who hunt the European wild boar in the park wear clothing with a human scent suppressant that keeps the hogs from smelling them. This allows the hunters to get closer to the hogs. And the men hunt with new military rifles that produce only low sound on the first shot fired and near silence on subsequent shots. Kim has been involved in the years-long effort to reduce the park's hog problem longer than any other person. He thinks the half-dozen men who hunt and trap hogs have reduced their number and the damage they do about as much as is physically and financially possible. The hunting and trapping goes on about 11 months of the year. October is the month the hogs can live it up without living dangerously and eat like pigs. A fresh crop of acorns is on the ground then, and the hogs usually can fill their bellies quickly and safely. The hunter-trappers last year killed or trapped 243 hogs, compared with 203 in2000and 386 in 1999. The most they ever took out in one year was 1146 in 1986, the year the hunter-trapper program got started as a high-priority project. Sixty-one percent of those taken last year were shot and 38 percent were trapped live. The trapped hogs were given to the state of North Carolina for release in hunting areas many miles from the park. The state of Tennessee has no such arrangement for hogs trapped on the Tennessee side of the park to be resettled in Tennessee hunting areas. Though the hunter-trappers have gone high tech in their hunting, Kim says when they trap hogs they mostly use shelled corn, the bait they've used for years. They putdown a trail of corn leading to a hog trap. If a hog is hungrier than he is suspicious, he'll follow the corn trail right into the trap. A variation of that bait is corn soaked in molasses until it ferments. The ancestors of these particular swine were brought into this country in about1912 and taken to a private hunting lodge owned by George Gordon Moore, an American businessman with international connections. He thought he could gain business advantages with his associates if he could invite them to hunt big game on Hooper Bald, in the mountains of Graham County, North Carolina. Events proved him wrong. His rich friends didn't think highly of invitations to hunt wild hogs, bears, bison, elk and wild turkeys in the Carolina mountains. He had a fine lodge built, using lumber sawed from a different species of tree for each room. To keep his guests clean, Moore installed the first bathtubs in the county. People walked for miles to see them. Nevertheless, the project flopped. Moore, short of cash, failed to pay his lodge manager and gave him the lodge to satisfy the debt. Meanwhile, the hogs were exploring their new territory and expanding it. It was about 1950 that they swam the Little Tennessee River and moved their rooting operations into the Great Smokies. The National Park Service people didn't immediately realize what a creature
they had to deal with. In its ceaseless search for food, it rooted up
Great Smokies soil to find the tiny corms of spring beauties, small pink-blooming
wildflowers that grow in beds of many square yards. It did the same for
many others of the park's finest flowers. Belatedly, the Park Service
fought back, starting in 1959. From then through last year, hunter-trappers
killed or trapped 9738 hogs. They should get their 10,000th hog late this
year or early next. And Kim thinks the job his men are doing is about
as good as can be done. This big wild hog is the "most prolific large
animal in North America," Kim says. A sow can birth up to a dozen
piglets per litter and she can, but usually does not, produce 2 litters
per year. On the other hand, the black bear, the hog's greatest enemy
in the park, produces only 1 litter every 2 years and the cubs nearly
never number more than 4 or 5 per litter; 2 is the most likely number.
|
||||
| Smokies Elk are Doing Well Second release is scheduled to take place next month By Morgan Simmons, News-Sentinel staff writer December 31, 2001 It was almost a year ago that a large crowd gathered to witness the release of 25 elk in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where the animals had not been seen for almost 200 years. Since then the herd has produced at least three calves, lost one adult to brainworms, and put on ample body fat to survive another winter. Biologists say the five-year project, which calls for the release of 50 additional elk in Cataloochee Valley for a total of 75, is off to a promising start. "The elk are thriving," said park spokesman Bob Miller. "And while a few herd members have been mobile, for the most part the gang has stayed right here. The fact that this first batch hasn't moved a lot has saved a lot of worries." Miller said that over the past year most of the elk have hstayed within two miles of the 3-acre acclimation pen that was their home during their first two months in the park. Two bulls did spend several months just outside the park on the Cherokee Indian reservation but returned to Cataloochee on their own when the breeding season arrived in October. Last summer project biologists responded to reports that a cow elk and her calf that had moved just east of the park had caused minor damage to a barbed-wire fence. Miller said the landowner was worried that poachers might kill the cow and calf on his property, and he asked park biologists to catch them and take them back into the park. None of the elk that made forays outside of the park did damage to corn and other crops, although these foods were readily available. Based on the analysis of elk droppings,the elk are eating a wide range of foods, including tree leaves, pine and hemlock twigs, and grass. Over the next four years, biologists will continue to observe Cataloochee's growing elk herd to see how the animals adapt to the mountain habitat. The estimated $1.1 million cost of the project is being covered by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association. Of the 25 elk released in the Smokies early this year, one was euthanized after suffering acute neurological symptoms consistent with brainworms. A necropsy of the animal ruled out brucellosis, tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease. Predators - most likely coyotes - are believed to have been responsible for the death of at least one and possibly as many as three elk calves. Researchers say that six, possibly seven, cows may have delivered calves, but only three are confirmed to have survived. Over the past year the Cataloochee elk herd has drawn nearly 150,000 visitors to the three-quarter-mile-long valley at the eastern end of the park. That's nearly double the average level of visitation there. Elk viewing was especially popular in October when the bulls moved into the fields in the evenings to bugle their mating calls. "Most people are having a ball seeing these huge, majestic animals," said Cataloochee Ranger Walt West. "We work pretty hard to educate people about the need to keep their distance from the elk, both for safety reasons and to minimize disturbance. We have posted signs warning visitors not to approach the elk, and we write citations to those who don't cooperate." While the first elk came from Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area in West Tennessee and Kentucky, the second release batch is expected to arrive in January from Elk Island National Park in Canada. Biologists believe the Elk Island herd will be more inclined to wander than the first herd since they will have come from a larger enclosure. The second herd also is expected to be more wary of vehicles and visitors than the elk now on hand. According to park biologist Kim DeLozier, the increased mobility may be a mixed blessing. "If the new elk don't stay in Cataloochee Valley, it could pose a challenge for us to radio-track them from the ground, and we will need to do much more tracking from the air," DeLozier said. "On the plus side, we may learn more about what types of habitat elk will utilize other than grassy meadows, which only comprise about 2 percent of the park." DeLozier said the animals from Elk Island will have to be transported 2,500 miles in a three-to-four day trip, subjecting them to more stress than the elk from Land Between the Lakes. To minimize stress, DeLozier said the arrival of the second herd won't be a public event, and the animals will be transferred from trucks to the acclimation pen without fanfare. "We are very satisfied with the success of the project so far and especially with the results of the captive acclimation period prior to release," DeLozier said. "It appears the acclimation helps keep the elk healthy following their arrival,helps bind the group into a cohesive social group and helps reduce their wanderings by imprinting them to the pen site." Copyright 2001 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. |
||||
|
NEWFOUND GAP ROAD TUNNELS PROJECT TO BEGIN -- There are two tunnels on the Newfound Gap Road, the north-south road through the Park, which are in sore need of repair. Some of the tunnel roof work needs replacement, and the roadbed of the tunnel will be lowered to accommodate the larger sized vehicles we have on the roads now, that weren't around in the 1930s. The Maintenance Division has taken the lead on this project, working with the Federal Highway Administration, but the other Park divisions have also been involved. For example, Resource Management and Science conducted a study last year that resulted in one construction option not being considered, because it would have had long-lasting environmental effects. Much thought has gone into the timing and planning of the construction to avoid disruption to park visitors as much as possible. Some work is scheduled to begin on November 1, but that should have little impact on traffic. The road will be completely closed from November 26 through December 21 and again from January 3 to January 31. From January 31 to March 15, 2002, there will be single lane closures with traffic lights, and no buses, trailers, or RVs allowed. From March 16 to May 18, there will be temporary single lane closures. The road will be fully open next summer, from May 19 to August 18, then some additional work from August 19 through September 27. GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND SCIENCE WEEKLY UPDATE ISSUE NUMBER 106 October 15, 2001 At the end of the construction, these two tunnels will be much safer
for the visiting public. Electronic signs will be placed at the north
and south entrances to the road to inform visitors of current conditions.
Also, visitors may call the toll free |
||||
| Hiker Achieves 'Triple Crown'
By Glenn Adams Associated Press Writer Saturday, Oct. 27, 2001; 9:30 p.m. EDT THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL, Maine –– For 10 months, he started walking at sunup and didn't stop until nightfall. On Saturday, "Flyin'" Brian Robinson became the first person to hike each of the three U.S. National Scenic Trails in a calendar year when he reached the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail atop Maine's highest peak. He averaged about 30 miles a day since setting out Jan. 1, destined to complete the Pacific Crest Trail in the West, the Continental Divide Trail in the Rockies, and the Appalachian, which runs from Georgia to Maine. With a handful of well-wishers in tow, Robinson finished the 2,168-mile Appalachian on Saturday atop mile-high Mount Katahdin. "This is the toughest five miles," Robinson said after reaching the snowy, wind-swept summit around 11 a.m. Tackling hiking's "Triple Crown" – 7,400 miles through 22 states – took Robinson through hip-deep snow, scorching heat and more than 1 million feet of upward climb. To save precious time, he ate while he walked: Snickers bars, peanut butter, anything calorie-rich. Nary a pound was shed from his 6-foot-1, 155-pound frame. Seven pairs of running shoes later, he looked no worse for the wear Saturday, save a bushy black beard he last trimmed in April. What nearly got him, he said, was the isolation. Since he never slowed down and barely stopped, no one could keep up long enough to make good company. "I'm celebrating in my own way and a lot of that is internal and spiritual," he said at the end, where he had prepared for an anticlimactic ending. "And yet I was quite exhilarated," he said. Only two dozen people have achieved hiking's Triple Crown in their lifetimes. In 1999, two men became the first to hike two of the trails in a single year. Robinson hiked the Pacific Crest – 2,645-miles from Mexico to Canada – in 84 days and six hours, averaging better than 31 miles a day before covering 2,588 miles of the Continental Divide, which has no fixed route over much of its length. Robinson, 40, of San Jose, Calif., is on a leave of absence from his job as a systems engineer for Compaq. He saved $10,000 for the venture, which he dreamed up three years ago after completing the Pacific Crest for the first time. Jeffrey Schaffer of Napa, Calif., author of Pacific Crest Trail guidebooks, said last month that Robinson's accomplishment would be "the greatest feat of endurance on any of the trails." "I think it's comparable to trying to climb the highest peaks on all seven continents in a single year," added Karen Berger of Bronxville, N.Y., author of "Hiking the Triple Crown." "I've quit saying what can and can't be done on the trails," she said. "Humans are amazing." © Copyright 2001 The Associated Press |
||||
|
The Park monitored its thirteenth unhealthy ozone day for 2001 on September
13 at Cove Mountain, with an 8-hour average of 86 parts per billion (an
8-hour average over 84 ppb is an exceedance of the ozone health standard).
Thirteen days is still thirteen days too many days for a national park,
but significantly lower than the previous 128 days between 1998-2000.
Cloudier and wetter conditions this summer helped to keep ozone levels
from building up too high. Ozone pollution is formed by a chemical reaction
of nitrogen oxides and Data from the Park's gaseous pollutant and meteorological monitoring network can now be accessed over the web. A new capability has been added to query the NPS database from a web form. The web site is http://12.45.118.202/. More options on accessing data and summaries are presented on the Data Access entry page at http://www2.nature.nps.gov/ard/gas/netdata1.htm. The State of North Carolina "Clean Smokestacks Bill" saw some
progress in late August to becoming a reality. The proposed bill, already
approved by the Senate, is being considered by the House. The new agreement
maintains the high air quality standards approved by the Senate and reduces
the estimated cost to consumers by about one-third -to just $2 per month
for the average consumer, beginning in 2003. The bill would allow pollution
to be reduced from North Carolina's 14 coal-fired power plants. Sulfur
dioxide emissions would be GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND SCIENCE WEEKLY
UPDATE ISSUE NUMBER 103
|
||||
|
Large stream surveys have been completed in Little River and Cataloochee. Based on visual observations, it appears that fish populations are down about 50%. The reductions in density and biomass are apparently the result of three years of drought. GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND SCIENCE WEEKLY
UPDATE ISSUE NUMBER 103
|
||||
|
All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory - A huge project is underway in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is estimated that there are over 900,000 species of life within the boundaries of the park, but only about 10,000 have been cataloged. The Park is believed to be the most biodiverse place on the planet north of the tropics. A new type of organization, Discover Life in America, is going to attempt to catalogue all species of life in the Park boundaries over the next 12 to 15 years. Discover Life is a partnership of universities, colleges, museums, government agencies, corporate sponsors, and volunteers. One of the organizations goals is to have one web page for each species of life in the park, complete with all known information on the species. Volunteers of any age and from all over the world are wanted to participate in the project. Some early finding, a tarantula the size of a mite, and seven species of flies new to science. |
||||
|
Park Now Part of The Lonely Planet - Erik and Vesna of A Walk in the Woods led Ian Wright and the Brittish crew from The Lonely Planet on an overnight trip to Mt. LeConte Lodge in early August, 1999. The Lonely Planet is a travel show that has aired for the past five years on the Discover and Travel Channels and is viewed by 35 million people worldwide. The segment will be part of The Lonely Planet's Guide to the Deep South, and will air in late December or early January. The trip was a great success. Some highlights were a meal that Ian ate of food totally foraged during our hike up, and a perfect Myrtle Point sunrise. |
||||
|
Research published in the journal Nature (Ageing, Fitness and Neurocognitive Function, Nature, 29 July 1999 ) concludes that vigorous walking helps brain function. Experiments conducted at the University of Illinois showed marked improvement in people's "executive control functions" when walking three times a week. Executive control functions, ability to make, reconsider and remember choices, establishing and managing plans and schedules, help older people live independently. Activities like weight lifting and other anaerobic exercises did not improve these functions. |
||||
 |
|
Walks
Hikes Backpacking
Hiker Shuttle
Trip Planning
Equipment Rental
|
Copyright ©1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 A Walk In The Woods. May be reproduced for non-commercial purposes as long as attribution is given.