“Great Smoky Mountains National Park is surrounded by incredible communities with a long tradition of supporting the park,” said Superintendent Cash. “I look forward to meeting and working with park neighbors as we continue building relationships and partnerships that enable us to protect this special place together.”
The open house events will be held on Tuesday, February 17 at the Oconaluftee Administration Building adjacent to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee, NC; Thursday, February 19 at the Barn Event Center in Townsend, TN; Tuesday, February 24 at the Historic Calhoun House in Bryson City, NC; and Thursday, February 26 at the Calhoun’s Banquet Room in Gatlinburg, TN.
The open house events are hosted by Friends of the Smokies, Great Smoky Mountains Association, the Townsend-Walland Business Alliance, the City of Townsend, and the Historic Calhoun House. Light refreshments will be served from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com
HikinginGlacier.com
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
TetonHikingTrails.com
2 comments
Pretty good, pretty good...
Unfortunately I think this is the trend. I've seen a few other parks join the ranks of backcountry fees, including Yellowstone, which just announced yesterday: http://hikinginglacier.blogspot.com/2015/02/yellowstone-making-changes-to.html
Yes, it is a trend. However, most other National Parks at least provide a break for the elderly, scout groups and frequent fliers in terms of annual backpacking passes. Former Smokies head, Dale Ditmanson said he would make no concessions to anyone (but concessionaires, of course who have their own private login to the backcountry reservation system and are apparently manipulating it to their advantage) I think he was relying on the ignorance of locals with regard to how the fees are managed elsewhere in the system. Of course, elsewhere in the system, public pushback helped stop fees such as the present situation at at Chesapeake and Ohio Canal where they dropped fee increases last week. Cash has an opportunity here to rebuild some of the damaged trust between locals and the NPS. But I don't expect anything from these upper echelon guys. They have to ask for permission from Jarvis before making any significant decisions.
Post a Comment