Great Smoky Mountains National Park Closure Information if Government Shutdown Occurs

Because of the impeding government shutdown, the Great Smoky Mountains national park will be shutting down all facilities and roadways other than Newfound Gap Road US 441 between Gatlinburg Tennessee and Cherokee North Carolina after midnight tonight.

Newfound Gap Road will still be patrolled by park rangers as well as other areas of the park, though there will be no other support staff such as maintenance personnel and road crews so any inclement weather, downed trees or fallen rocks would close this vital through road until the support staff comes back on duty.

If US 441 were only a park or local road, it too would remain closed as the rest of the GSMNP, but since it is a US Highway, part of the reason why there is no park entrance fee, it cannot be shut down.

The national park is looking to move people along Newfound Gap Road through the park as quickly and efficiently as possible so they are not allowing any parking or sightseeing in the park along the roadway. Last time a government shutdown occurred and the park was closed, fallen trees and snow shutdown Newfound Gap Road/US 441 until the park reopened.

Be advised, though it may be easy for you to move traffic cones blocking parking areas, illegally parking off of the roadway or sneaking into hiking trails, doing so is ill advised and you can end up in serious trouble for disregarding traffic control devices or even worse, trespassing on Federal properly.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park trails and facilities are being closed for security reasons as well as serious safety reasons. Since the park service will be working with a skeleton staff, there will not be an ability to call in additional Rangers required for any type of rescue operation or medical emergency, which is unfortunately fairly common.

There is also great concern that because of the government shutdown reduced official park presence will lead to more vandalism, theft and may lead to more compromised natural and cultural resources.

National Park rangers will take all maters of illegal activity very seriously and given the circumstances, will not necessarily be in the best mood so don't test them or the judge when you are made to appear in federal court.

Of course, there is also great concern for the human factor of the furloughed national park employees that will be out of work for an undetermined amount of time.

All this at time that the national park service will see at least $100,000,000 a year less funding is extremely disheartening at how we value the protection of this nation’s most valuable natural and cultural resources.

The closure of the Great Smoky Mountains National park will be a huge blow to tourists coming specifically to the Smokies to enjoy the park during the beginning of wildflower season.

If the government closure is allowed to drag on, it will have a detrimental dramatic effect on an already bruised local economy as tourists spend $718,000,000 a year in the gateway cities Gatlinburg Tennessee, Pigeon Forge Tennessee, Townsend Tennessee, Cherokee North Carolina, Bryson City and Maggie Valley North Carolina that surround the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park News Release Immediate Release Date: April 8, 2011 If the Government implements a shutdown, nearly the entire Park would be closed beginning Saturday, April 9, all Great Smoky Mountains National Park facilities would be closed, including visitor centers, campgrounds, picnic areas, trails, concession operations, restrooms, and all roads, with the exception of the Newfound Gap Road between Gatlinburg and Cherokee. Newfound Gap Road (U.S. 441) would remain open to through traffic only. No stopping or parking along the road or at trailheads and overlooks is permitted, and all restroom facilities would be closed, including those at Sugarlands Visitor Center near Gatlinburg, Tenn., the Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee, NC, and Newfound Gap. The Clingmans Dome Road which is accessed off Newfound Gap Road would be closed. NPS

Landslide in Great Smoky Mountains National Park closes hiking trail to Mount Le Conte

The Great Smoky Mountains national park has received some much needed seasonal rain which triggered a landslide on the Trillium Gap Hiking trail to Mount Le Conte from the Bushy Mountain trailhead in the Roaring Fork area near Gatlinburg Tennessee.

This popular hiking trail is not only popular with hikers wishing to climb to the top of Mount Le Conte because of its relatively lower angle of elevation; it also is the main thoroughfare for Llamas which bring supplies weekly up to the Mount Le Conte Lodge.

We predicted considerable blow downs of tress and limbs in the park which turned out to come true so hikers and horseback riders in the Great Smoky Mountains national park can expect a large number of trails may have fresh downed trees requiring hikers to climb over or around them.

This week there have also been plenty of both small and large rocks that have fallen into the roadways. Drivers should use caution especially when driving in the early hours in the park before rocks have been cleaned off the road or at night when visibility is reduced.

It may take until sometime in June before the Trillium Gap hiking trail will reopen

Gregory Ride Burn in the Smoky Mountains National Park

Another prescribed burn near Cades Cove Tennessee is scheduled for this Friday April 20th in the Gregory ridge area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to help allow yellow pine reclaim where maples and other hardwoods are dominating what was historically a yellow pine forest.

The prescribed burn of 850 acres will close the Gregory Ridge Hiking Trail from Forge Creek Road trailhead to the intersection with the Gregory Bald Trail as well as backcountry Campsite 12. Bower Creek, Forge Creek, and a small fireline across Gregory Ridge will form the boundaries of this burn south of Cades Cove in Blount County, Tennessee.

21 firefighters will be used for containment of the controlled burn and both ground and aerial ignition methods will be used to start the fire. Since it will take several days for the firefighters and park service personnel to be sure that there are no hazards hot spots or dead snags left in the burn area, the area will be closed to hikers for a few days.

Drivers and nearby residents will be able to see smoke in Townsend, Happy Valley, the Foothills Parkway West, and Walland.

Unlike the prescribed burn to take place in Cades Cove used to keep fields form being reclaimed by forest, this burn is meant to open up part of the canopy in the forest which is now crowding out the original dominating species of yellow pine.

In the past naturally occurring forest fires opened the canopy and allowed this species to thrive here but since man intervened and suppressed fires which "cleansed" the forest of more evasive species, the delicate ecological balance was upset. Southern pine beetles that feed on yellow pines further decreased the yellow pine population.