Have you seen one of those green license plates with a black bear lately and wondered what that was all about?  Well, that handsome plate is now worth over $2 million in support of our Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

 

Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park has now raised a grand total of $2,051,320 through its specialty license plate program in North Carolina. The Smokies specialty plate program began in late 1999.

 

"The $2 million mark represents a considerable milestone in the Smokies plate program in North Carolina," said Dale Ditmanson, Superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. "Almost anywhere you go in the park in North Carolina, these tag funds are making a positive difference for both park resources and park visitors. We sincerely appreciate everyone involved in this program's success."

 

Friends of the Smokies has utilized the plate funds to help protect black bears, elk, and other wildlife; to educate tens of thousands of North Carolina school children; to protect Fraser fir trees and hemlock trees from harmful exotic insects; to improve backcountry trails; to create exhibits for the new Oconaluftee Visitor Center now being built near Cherokee; to support volunteer programs; and much more.

 

"Reaching $2 million in sales doesn't happen overnight," said Stephen W. Woody, Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Friends of the Smokies. "We thank everyone involved, from the park staff to the State of North Carolina to the people in the tag offices and all of the drivers. Of course, our work to help the Smokies is far from over. We have many more opportunities to preserve and protect the park and enhance the visitor experience, and we hope North Carolinians will continue to support the Smokies license plate for many more years to come."

 

The Smokies plate is available any time from any local North Carolina license plate agency office.  Of the extra $30 annual fee for the specialty tag, $20 goes to Friends of the Smokies to support projects and programs on the North Carolina side of the park.  More information is available online at www.FriendsOfTheSmokies.org or by calling (828) 452-0720.

 

 

 

 

 
The Friends of the Smokies Tennessee specialty license plate makes a huge impact on Great Smoky Mountains National Park every year thanks to the thousands of Tennesseans who buy or renew Friends plates for their vehicles.  In the first half of 2010, revenue from the Friends of the Smokies specialty license plate in Tennessee raised more than $183,000 to help preserve and protect Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
 
Funds from the sale of Friends' Tennessee plates support a wide array of park projects and programs.  This includes restoration of the lobby at historic Park Headquarters near Gatlinburg, which originally served at a visitors center; funding for Parks as Classrooms, which provides hands-on, curriculum-based learning opportunities for thousands of local schoolchildren; support for the Appalachian Bear Rescue Center, which rehabilitates orphaned and injured black bears for reintroduction into their native habitat; and expansion of treatment areas for the park's eastern hemlock trees under attack by the exotic, invasive hemlock woolly adelgid.
 
"Each year we rely on strong sales of the Friends' Tennessee license plate to help us reach our goal of providing more than $1 million to support park needs," explains Jim Hart, President of Friends of the Smokies. "We are so grateful to our license plate supporters.  Their faithful once-per-year decision to renew their Friends' plates makes a lasting difference in the park we all love."
 
The organization receives $30.75 from each Tennessee Friends of the Smokies plate sold.  Plates are available at any Tennessee County Clerk's office, or can be renewed or ordered by mail.  For more information, visit http://www.friendsofthesmokies.org/plates.html.
 
"The Friends' plates are so noticeable, with the purple mountains and orange sky.  Whenever I see one, it makes me smile because I know that is someone who loves the park and wants to help take care of it," says Park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson.

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Click here to see a great ad designed by Mike Richards. Ad space has been donated throughout 2009 & 2010 to encourage strong sales of the Friends' Tennessee specialty license plate.

 

A total of $1 million from Toyota Motor North America to expand the Smokies' Parks as Classrooms program has the potential to pay big dividends for the future of science.  Read more about how high school students and recent graduates studied butternut trees under attack by a fungus.

 

The article explains, "That's what we're trying to build with this program," said park ranger Emily Guss. "We're hoping to build a good work force for the future."

 

Each year, the Parks as Classrooms program is one the major line items on the Annual Needs List fulfilled for the Park by Friends of the Smokies. 

It's here.  Read about the discovery of emerald ash borer on the Tennessee government website. 

 

Or read the story in the Knoxville News Sentinel. 

 

 

 

Researchers at Great Smoky Mountains National Park are inviting people to volunteer as Citizen Scientists and join park biologists in collecting scientific data and mapping locations of ash trees at selected sites. 
 
There are [three] upcoming dates to choose from: Saturday September 11 (at Oconaluftee in N.C.), Saturday September 25 (at Deep Creek in N.C.), or Saturday, October 2 (at a location TBD in Tenn.).   On each of these dates, the scheduled field activity will run from 9 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
 
Volunteers will learn how to identify ash and other common trees found in the Smoky Mountains, set up a scientific plot, and use a GPS (Global Positioning System) unit.  The ash trees are at risk from the invasive, non-native Emerald Ash Borer, which has now been found nearby in Knox County, Tenn. This beetle can travel undetected in firewood and nursery stock from quarantined areas into new locations in the park.  The data that is collected will help park staff map the locations of ash trees parkwide to monitor the health of the forest and detect future infestations.
 
The volunteers should be prepared to hike up to 5 miles on Park trails and in rough terrain off the main paths.  It is recommended that participants wear long pants and comfortable closed-toe shoes or boots for hiking, and bring snacks, water, sunscreen, and rain gear.  Reservations are necessary and participation for each day is limited to 16 people (children 12 and under must bring an adult).
 
Contact Ranger Susan Simpson at 865/436-1200, ext. 762 to R.S.V.P. for any (or all) of these days and for exact meeting locations.

 

 

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Photograph courtesy of Samuel Hobbs.