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Pileated Woodpecker photo by Bob Timmerman
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Nuisance Bears
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Many so-called nuisance bears are just taking advantage of handouts from humans in the form of improperly stored food and garbage. But they are a problem because they associate people with food and this means they could become dangerous.
During 2009 wildlife managers captured 21 individual bears (9 males, 8 females, and 4 unknowns). Two bears were caught twice.
Photo by Eric Gebhart
Usually, wildlife managers examine and process the bears and then release them at or near the site of capture. Seven of the bears were released on-site, and 16 bears were moved to other parts of the park, far from the picnic areas, campgrounds, and parking lots they had come to know as their own personal cafés.
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Teddy Roosevelt to Appear at Wildflower Pilgrimage
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Photo by MarkGlennStudio.com
The welcoming luncheon on Wednesday, April 21 at the opening of the 2010 Wildflower Pilgrimage will host Joe Wiegand as guest speaker in the
guise of Teddy Roosevelt.
Wiegand
is a well-known reprisor of Roosevelt and performed at the White House during
the Bush Administration. He will
also provide the evening program Wednesday night, again as T.R.
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| Where Do GSMA Funds Go? |
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GSMA supports the park in many different ways. Here are a few projects paid for by GSMA: Oconaluftee Visitor Center construction--$2.5 million
Student Conservation Interns--$180,000 Water quality monitoring equipment to look for pollution in streams--$115,000 Parks As Classrooms environmental education for area school children--$78,700 - Save the hemlocks treatments--$50,000
GSMI at Tremont support--$46,000 Seasonal Wildlife Technicians--$33,000 Elk management--$33,000 Historic structure preservation--$25,000 Exhibits for Clingmans Dome Info Center--$24,000 Cades Cove field mowing--$20,000 Wayside exhibits along park roads--$16,800
Park volunteer support--$8,000 Cable Mill Preservation--$7,800 Historic preservation activities--$3,500
- Cataloochee field mowing--$3,000
- Gatlinburg bear officer--$2,500
Backcountry reservation software--$2,000
Personnel:
Free Publications:
Smokies Guide Newspaper
Fishing Regulations Backcountry Permits Campground Regulations
Special Events and Items: - Music of the Mountains
- Mountain Life Festival
- Sorghum making
- Junior Ranger materials
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Wild Hogs
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It has been a very busy year for wildlife managers stalking hogs in the backcountry. Due to people releasing hogs into the park, as well as hogs' high reproduction rates, the park has a large population of these non-native animals.
The hogs carry diseases that are potentially fatal to foxes, coyotes, and other canines, and their rooting destroys native plants, animal habitat, and cultural resources. For these reasons, wildlife managers in the Smokies remove these non-native hogs.
In the previous year, 608 hogs were removed. Click here for more information.
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| Our New Business Members |
Below you will find several new GSMA Business Members who support our park. Please visit them when you're in the area. They, as well as our
individual members, support the Great Smoky Mountains National Park by being
members of GSMA.
You can see all of
GSMA's Business Members by clicking on Our Business Members. To see the
discounts offered to GSMA members go to our website and click on Discounts & Freebies. Then
pick your favorite category and shop.
If you own a business and
would like to be included in this newsletter and our web
site contact Westy Fletcher at 423.487.3131 or
Westy@GSMAssoc.org
Targeted Tourist Media
1178
Ogle Hills Road
Gatlinburg TN 37738
tel: 865.384.1452 June Hagman
email: june@pinpointhd.com
www.scenesfromthesmokies.com
NOC's Great Outpost
1138
Parkway
Gatlinburg TN 37738
tel: 865.277.8209 Lori Ennis
email: nocsgreatoutpost@noc.com
www.noc.com
GSMA members in good
standing will receive a 10% discount on non-sale merchandise.
The Maples' Tree
639
Parkway
Suite #1
Gatlinburg TN 37738
tel: 800.598.0908 Keri Bennett
email: themaplestree@hotmail.com
www.maplestree.com
GSMA Members in good
standing will receive a 10% discount on regularly priced items (not on sale,
closeout, or clearance items).
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Wettest Year on Mt. LeConte
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2009 was the wettest year ever recorded for Mt. LeConte: over 104 inches of precipitation. That's nearly 9 feet of rain and snow!
This is the first time precipitation has been above normal since 2006. We were in a two and a half year drought until May of 2009.
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Road Closures
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A great deal of work will be done on park roads in 2010. Here's a list of the major projects.
Full Closures:
Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail
February 1 - May 28
Clingmans Dome
Road
February 15 - May 28
One-lane closures to continue through June 30
Cades Cove Loop Road
March 1 - May 21
Heintooga Ridge
Road
October 2009 - May 28
Sinks Parking Area - Meigs Creek Trailhead
January 5 -
May 10
Smokemont
Campground
March 10 - May 28
Little River and Jakes Creek Trailheads in
Elkmont
July 5 - August 31
Partial Closures:
Foothills
Parkway-West
May 10 - June 30
Repaving Gatlinburg Bypass to Sugarlands Visitor
Center
April 1 - May 28
The Bypass will be closed entirely for 3 weeks in May
Foothills Parkway-East
Repaving
Late spring - mid-August
This is the largest single project, costing approximately $24 million for design and construction of Bridge 2 on the unfinished Foothills Parkway. Work will begin in the spring of 2010. That area is not open to traffic so no visitor travel will be affected.
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Great Blue Heron
Fast Food Walk Thru
Photo by Bob Timmerman
Here's how Bob describes the situation: I took this photo while my wife was fishing for trout in the Little Pigeon River in the Greenbrier section of the Park. This great blue heron was catching a fish every five minutes for an hour while we were catching nada!
The heron caught about a dozen fish before moving on up the river to a better spot.
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2010 Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage -- April 21-25
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A hike led by Carey Jones, photo by Dr. Ken McFarland
The forest floor will soon be
busting into color with spring wildflowers.
The
60th annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage runs from April 21 to 25 and will be headquartered at Mills
Conference Center in Gatlinburg. With over 150 programs available, both outdoor
and indoor, there will be topics and hikes to please everyone.
Also
included in this year's Pilgrimage will be a "Greener Living Expo",
highlighting ways to be more earth-friendly. Indoor programs will feature
composting and organic gardening, water pollution and its effect on aquatic
life, becoming your own "green grocer", attracting insect-eating birds through
gardening, and much more.
To
learn more about the Pilgrimage click here. Updated information for the 2010 event
will be posted shortly. On-line
registration will begin March 9 and end April 17. Registration fees are: $40 for one day, $75 for 2 or more
days, $10 for students, and children under 12 are free.
For further information about the
Pilgrimage or about exhibit space (we're always on the lookout for good
artists and craftsmen) call 865-436-7318, extension 222 or 254.
Evening
programs are free and open to the public.
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Tree Huggers
Study Old Growth Forests at Pilgrimage
Photo by Dr. Ken McFarland
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Smokies Ski Patrol
Hardy Volunteers
Many people don't know it, but Great Smoky Mountains National Park has its own all volunteer Nordic Ski Patrol, certified through
the National Ski Patrol. There are a total of 8 patrollers this year.
These specially skilled volunteers report snow conditions to park dispatch when they are on patrol. On a typical patrol day, they ski to Collins Gap, about half way to Clingmans Dome.
They work mostly on weekends on Clingmans Dome Road and in the Newfound Gap area, providing information to the park visitors and monitoring winter conditions and visitor use on Clingmans Dome Road. They are able to provide First Aid and some emergency medical services, as well as assist with search and rescue, road closures, and other needs.
While on patrol, they carry a park radio with them which they can use to notify dispatch and/or rangers of any emergency situations. They wear the NPS volunteer patch.
Most of the members have been volunteering in this way for many years and are well versed in cold weather emergency medical services and search and rescue.
You'll love Valerie's new video about the ski patrol!
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Walker Sisters of Little Greenbrier
Special Program February 27
Step back into the past, when times were hard, but life was
simple. Just imagine living without indoor plumbing,
electricity, television, cell phones, or computers.
The
five Walker Sisters of Little Greenbrier are without doubt the best known
family who lived in the park at the time of its creation who were
allowed to remain as residents until their deaths.
Margaret
Jane, Polly, Louisa, Hettie, and Martha tilled the soil, chopped their own
wood, tended their own livestock, canned and preserved the produce from their
garden, sheared sheep, did their own spinning and weaving, made quilts ... you name it and they could do it.
You
are invited to "meet" this remarkable mountain family and learn about their way
of life in a program presented by Robin Goddard, who spent many hours with the
Walker Sisters in her early years.
The program will be held at 1:00 pm on Saturday, February 27, in the
Sugarlands Visitor Center Training Room. There's a nominal $5 fee. To register call 865-436-7318, extension 222 or 254.
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Search for Unmarked Graves
High-Tech Archeology
 Park archeologists are using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to discover the location of unmarked graves.
There is a need to locate these graves, because many descendants of settlers who lived here before the Park was established still wish to be buried here.
To protect existing graves from being disturbed when new sites are opened, it's important to map them all using precise technology.
This process is made easier by GPR which indicates where soil has been disturbed.
During the fall of 2009, several sites of potential unmarked graves were subjected to subsurface scrutiny, including the grounds around Cades Cove Primitive Baptist Church, the former location of the Cades Cove Missionary Baptist Church, and two other potential cemetery locations.
Click here for more information.
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Valentines Day
Gift Memberships
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Give a membership in Great Smoky Mountains Association for a Valentines Day present. Not only does the recipient receive a variety of benefits, including the Smokies Guide newspaper, Bearpaw newsletter, and Smokies Life magazine, and a 15% discount on merchandise, but there's the added benefit of knowing you're helping the park!
And of course, if we're given the recipient's e-mail address they can look forward to receiving the Cub Report e-newsletter, just like the one you're reading now ... full of good articles, information, photos, and wonderful videos to help them enjoy the Smokies even when it's impossible for them to visit in person!
Gift memberships are great for other events, too... like birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions. No shopping, no wrapping, no mailing! Just a thoughtful and useful gift straight from your heart to theirs.
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Contact Membership@GSMAssoc.org
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Any Questions?
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For questions about online purchases, click here and Doug will help you.
For questions about membership, click here and Judy or Marti will help you.
For questions about business membership, click here and Westy will help you.
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