jan 2011 masthead
Enjoy A Fun Quiz Winner Gets Prizes!

Test your knowledge of Logging in the Smokies by taking our Logging Quiz.

The first person to get all the answers correct will win copies of two books: Mountain Home and Logging in the Smokies.

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Owl Prowl
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Owl Eyes by Donna Eaton


Join us on Saturday, January 22, at 7:00 pm for our popular Owl Prowl.  Venture into the woods around Sugarlands Visitor Center with naturalist Liz Domingue to try your luck locating these denizens of the night.


Be prepared for cold weather. Wear warm clothing, hiking boots, and bring gloves, water, a flashlight or headlight, and binoculars. 


Meet Liz at 7:00 pm at Sugarlands Visitor Center.  A registration fee of $10 is required beforehand. Children are always welcome and if they're under 12 there is no charge.


To register call 865-436-7318, Ext. 222 or 254.  This is always a fun event for adults and kids alike!

Featured Products

Pop Up Book
How the World Works
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Sweet Cuddly Bear
Wishbone Bear

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Smokies Foods & More

New Gift Box
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Four Seasons of Beauty
GSMA 2011 Calendar
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Our Most Popular Gifts

Park Logo Tee-Shirt
Park Sign Tee-Shirt
Stone Ground Cornmeal
Blackberry Preserves
Park Logo Windbreaker
Hiking Trails of the Smokies
Sourwood Honey-No Comb
Black Bear T-Shirt

110th Annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count
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The longest running Citizen Science survey in the world, Audubon's annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) will take place from December 14, 2010 to January 5, 2011.


Tens of thousands of volunteers throughout North America will brave winter weather to add a new layer to over a century of data.

We encourage everyone to participate in one or more of the four local counts sponsored by the National Audubon Society and the Knoxville Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society (KTOS).

Knoxville, Sunday, January 2
Contact Dean Edwards,865-660-9701 [email protected]

Birders of all skill levels can participate. You can join a group in the field, cover an area on your own, or (if you live in the count area) count in your own backyard.

New Business Members
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Ober Gatlinburg
1001 Parkway
Gatlinburg TN 37738
tel: 865.436.5423
[email protected]
www.obergatlinburg.com

Ride America's newest aerial tramway to Ober Gatlinburg. Winter skiing & snow tubing, indoor ice rink, water raft rides, black bear habitat, restaurant/lounge, crafts & more.

The Park Vista
705 Cherokee Orchard Road
Gatlinburg TN 37738
tel: 800.222.TREE
[email protected] and [email protected]
www.parkvista.com

William Britten Photography & Gallery
601 Glades Road
No. 5
Gatlinburg TN 37738
tel: 865.599.4929
[email protected]
www.williambritten.com
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Bear in Snow by Brian Shults

Medicine Women and Herbal Remedies
Upcoming
Article in Smokies Life Magazine
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Yellowroot by Vernon Lix


Coming up in the spring issue of Smokies Life magazine will be a story on medicinal plants and the Smoky Mountain "medicine women" who used and use them. Here's a sneak peak of the latest story by Courtney Lix.

"The thing about doctors was that they were often in a hurry," Betty Lou Shepherd, Ila and Jerry's neighbor who grew up on the North Carolina side of the Smokies, tells me, "or they had new-fangled ideas and people didn't trust them."

"So you wouldn't go see a doctor unless you were bleeding to death or something like that?"

"Oh, no, not even then," she says with a smile.

Instead people looked to women in their communities who were gifted in the ways of preparing herbal remedies, midwifery, and had a steady hand for sewing wounds back together.  Each community generally had at least one woman who was known for her "doctoring" skills, and was therefore accustomed to being sought out at all hours of the day and night.

Some women specialized in either midwifery or herbal medicines, but some women did everything, taking care of people in their communities in birth, illness, and death.  Dolly Higden Wiggins, who embraced the role of community caretaker in the Alarka valley of the Smokies from the late 1800s through the mid 1900s, was one such woman.


21st Wilderness Wildlife Week
January 8-15, 2011 in Pigeon Forge
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Deer Herd in Cades Cove by Brian Shults
 
Visitors to Wilderness Wildlife Week will enjoy more than 100 experts sharing their knowledge of the outdoors in more than 175 seminars, lectures, and hands-on workshops. 

Get up close to nature with your choice of more than 50 guided walks and hikes. Music lovers will enjoy tunes performed by authentic Smoky Mountain musicians at AppalachiaFest.

A Year in the Park
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Laurel Falls in Snow by Cindy Shults Rust

To see how the park looked in all four seasons of 2010, you can watch this beautiful video of The Year in Review by Valerie Polk.

Stan Jorstad Exhibit in Kodak
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Great Smoky Mountains National Park by Stan Jorstad

You'll love the exhibit just installed in our Visitor Center in Kodak (3099 Winfield Dunn Parkway, 1.25 miles from Interstate Exit 407).

We have a permanent display of twenty-four panoramic photos of the nation's national parks by Stan Jorstad,
a leader in panoramic photography. 

Jorstad was friends with Ansel Adams and Elliot Porter.  He was the first professional photographer to capture the breathtaking beauty of every one of our national parks.

Caretaker's Blog from Atop Mt. LeConte
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Snowed in?  No problem.  Click here to see the High on LeConte blog.

Ski Patrol Video
ski patrol Photo by Valerie Polk

Enjoy a video about the all volunteer Nordic Ski Patrol at Clingmans Dome by Valerie Polk.
Elk Quiz
Winner!
Answers to last month's Elk quiz:
  1. The first experimental release of the elk in GSMNP came from:  Tennessee/Kentucky border
     
  2. Elk were eliminated from the Appalachian Mountains and Eastern U.S. by:  Over-hunting and lack of habitat
     
  3. Most elk shed their antlers in:  March
     
  4. Most elk calves are born in:  June
     
  5. Dominant bulls gather and breed in September or early October with harems of up to:  All of the above
     
  6. A newborn calf weighs about: 25-40 pounds
     
  7. Wild elk can live as long as: 15 years or longer
     
  8. The Native American name for elk is:  Wapiti
     
  9. Which of the species below was not a successful reintroduction in the GSMNP:  Red wolf
     
  10. Predators of the elk do NOT include:  Porcupines
     
  11. The Genus and Species of elk is:  Cervus elaphus
     
  12. Which state does NOT have a free-ranging population of elk:  Missouri
And the Winner is:  Angela Page of West Virginia!
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