Latest news with #GreatSmokyMountains
The Independent
10 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
Crash on pedestrian-heavy main strip in Tennessee tourist town of Gatlinburg injures 7
Seven people, including two pedestrians, were injured in a multivehicle crash in the Tennessee tourist town of Gatlinburg on Sunday. The accident occurred at about 4:20 p.m., when a minivan travelling through the middle of the pedestrian-heavy downtown area accelerated unexpectedly, striking a person in a crosswalk before colliding with several other vehicles, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol. One of the struck vehicles hit a roadside sign that fell and injured a second pedestrian. Five other people inside two different vehicles were injured as well. The Tennessee Highway Patrol is investigating, and early indications suggest the accident may have been caused by a medical emergency, according to the agency. Gatlinburg is located the mountains of East Tennessee. It sits between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the country's most visited national park, and Pigeon Forge, home of Dollywood.
Associated Press
11 hours ago
- Health
- Associated Press
Crash on pedestrian-heavy main strip in Tennessee tourist town of Gatlinburg injures 7
GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) — Seven people, including two pedestrians, were injured in a multivehicle crash in the Tennessee tourist town of Gatlinburg on Sunday. The accident occurred at about 4:20 p.m., when a minivan travelling through the middle of the pedestrian-heavy downtown area accelerated unexpectedly, striking a person in a crosswalk before colliding with several other vehicles, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol. One of the struck vehicles hit a roadside sign that fell and injured a second pedestrian. Five other people inside two different vehicles were injured as well. The Tennessee Highway Patrol is investigating, and early indications suggest the accident may have been caused by a medical emergency, according to the agency. Gatlinburg is located the mountains of East Tennessee. It sits between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the country's most visited national park, and Pigeon Forge, home of Dollywood.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
National Parks Battle For Bragging Rights
The National Park Service provides the most authoritative rankings through raw visitation data it collects across its more than 400 sites, including 63 national parks. (Photo credit BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images) The U.S. National Park Service has been in the crosshairs due to President Donald Trump's budget proposal to cut more than $1.2 billion from the agency, along with the firing of 1,000 Park Service employees. Following the backlash, the administration announced an increase in the number of seasonal workers. But can those temporary workers handle the attention kicked up by competition between the parks? Ranking America's national parks has become something of a cottage industry. Travel websites, magazines and organizations have taken to publishing lists ranking parks from best to worst, and touting niche aspects. Winter at El Capitan in California's Yosemite National Park. (Photo) The National Park Service provides the most authoritative rankings through raw visitation data it collects from more than 400 sites, including 63 national parks. What's the most visited park? That continues to be the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It had 12,191,834 visits in 2024. Next is Zion National Park with 4,946,592 visits and Grand Canyon National Park with 4,919,163 visits. The top ten list also includes Yellowstone (4,744,353), Rocky Mountain National Park (4,154,349), Yosemite (4,121,807), Acadia (3,961,661), Olympic (3,717,267), Grand Teton (3,628,222) and Glacier National Park (3,208,755). Travel publications create their own rankings by factoring in criteria that appeal to visitors. Those rankings include such considerations as accessibility, natural beauty, scenic diversity, hiking opportunities, the best wildlife viewing (and what kind of wildlife) and an overall range of activities offered. Social media has largely fueled the ranking trend. Parks that are 'Instagrammable' often get inordinate attention because of their striking beauty alone, when other variables can figure into what can make a national park desirable. Backpacker hiking across a river in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Numerous travel blogs rank national parks. The blog, 'Trip Of A Lifestyle' figured in three factors: 'Wow Factor,' 'Fun Factor' and 'Crowd Factor.' Lauren and Steven Keys visited and photographed all the national parks before ranking them. After 'months of nonstop travel and dozens of hours of debate,' according to their blog, they came up with a definitive personal list. The Keys concluded that seven national parks tie for first place: Death Valley (the hottest place on Earth, but otherworldly in feel), Yosemite, Hawai'i Volcanoes, Yellowstone, American Samoa (one drawback mentioned: 'there are feral dogs everywhere on the island'), Carlsbad Caverns (noted for its massive underground caves and magnificent formations) and Canyonlands, which the couple term, 'one of the best-kept secrets of the National Park system.' Travel blogger Lee Abbamonte has ranked all 63 of the parks based on his tastes and experience. Yosemite tops his list. 'Yosemite is big, it has iconic hikes like Half Dome, and it has amazing waterfalls, trees and vistas,' writes Abbamonte on his blog. 'Tunnel View at sunset is the single most beautiful view in America when Half Dome turns orange at the top.' Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas, with its thermal springs, hiking trails and nine historical bathhouses, was at the bottom of Abbamonte's list. He found the park 'really boring, uninteresting and I don't understand why it's a national park in the first place.' The Quapaw Baths on Bathhouse Row in Hot Springs National Park, in Hot Springs, Ark. (AP Photo/Beth Harpaz) What's the least-visited national park? Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve recorded only 11,907 visits in 2024, no doubt partly because of its remote north Alaska location. Such remote parks, however, are ranked higher by wilderness groups, which value their unspoiled nature, no matter how hard it might be to actually reach them. Forbes has ranked national parks based on crowd size, an increasingly crucial factor given rising popularity. Writer Joe Yogerst compiled ten parks that aren't crushed by urban throngs: Black Canyon of the Gunnison (Colorado), Channel Islands (California), Congaree (South Carolina), Dry Tortugas (Florida), Great Basin (Nevada), Guadalupe Mountains (Texas), Isle Royale (Michigan), Lassen Volcanic (California), North Cascades (Washington State) and Voyageurs (Minnesota). A female leopard relaxes in the branches of a dead tree in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. (Photo by) The race to be the best has recently gone global. In March, the non-profit National Parks Association launched its 'World's Best National Parks,' a year-long campaign that allows the public to vote on favorites. Campaign dates are March 18, 2025, through June 11, 2028. Website visitors can vote for one park per country per day. There are three phases to the campaign: Yosemite National Park currently leads the race, followed by Mkomazi National Park in northeastern Tanzania and Kruger National Park in northeastern South Africa.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Word from the Smokies: Scientific inquiry a thriving enterprise in the Smokies
Birds, bees, bears, dragonflies, salamanders, hemlocks, fungi. Scientific research in Great Smoky Mountains National Park addresses a wide swath of subjects. From Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and states much farther away, scientists from several disciplines have found the park fertile ground for inquiry. No wonder, since the park is the most biodiverse in the National Park System. Discover Life in America (DLiA), a nonprofit park partner that works to discover, understand, and conserve species in the Smokies, has documented nearly 23,000 species in the park and estimates there may be as many as 60,000 to 80,000. The park is unique, an extremely complex and interconnected environment, giving curious scientists many launchpads for study, according to DLiA Communications Director Jaimie Matzko. 'The park's geologic history, vast range in elevation, and large amounts of annual precipitation have not only produced an incredible diversity of species, but also an unparalleled number of unique and diverse ecosystems,' Matzko said. 'The Smokies also host many rare species found nowhere else — 94 endemic species have been confirmed in the park. And it is the largest roadless tract of wilderness east of the Mississippi River, making it ideal for field work and research that require large areas of undisturbed habitats.' Park research goes down many roads, she said, from conservation biology, genetics, and ecology to the impacts of environmental threats like climate change, air pollution, and invasive species. Knowledge about the park has been growing and finding its way into scientific journals while also increasing on-the-ground understanding. Both directly and indirectly, research has benefited the park and the scientific community studying it. The annual Park Science Colloquium, a scientific show-and-tell supported by DLiA and the National Park Service, gives scientists a forum to present their studies and findings. Launched more than 40 years ago, the event hands scientists the microphone about once a year. 'We had a series of them back in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s, had a break, and then started back again in 2008, and have been unbroken since,' said Paul Super, the park's research coordinator and event organizer. In its current iteration, the event is exclusively online. Super's role could be summed up as 'the NPS science guy' in the Smokies. Those who want to engage in science within the park boundary contact him to ask questions or obtain a research permit. In the first quarter of 2025, Super issued 94 permits. In all of 2024, he issued 143. 'We are one of the most-researched national parks in the National Park System. We've had over 2,250 research studies that we can document,' Super said, noting the Smokies and Yellowstone lead in the volume of research conducted, running neck-in-neck. Each scientist's quest starts by asking questions, and plenty have been asked over the years. Recently, researchers in the Smokies have wondered: What happens when bears that become habituated to human food are relocated? How does the forest change over time? How do shifts in climate affect biodiversity, weather, and forecasts? Scientists from a variety of research institutions, such as colleges and government agencies, present their work during the colloquia as they would at academic and professional conferences. They prepare talking points about their hypotheses, methods, variables, limitations, conclusions, and ideas for future inquiry. They also take questions. Most talks during the colloquia are recorded and posted online. Several years' worth of presentations can be viewed free on the DLiA YouTube channel. The talks run 15-20 minutes, include the presenters' slides, and are generally understandable by the non-scientist. The earliest known research in the Smokies dates to 1923, prior to the park's establishment. J.C. Crawford, of the US National Museum, predecessor of the National Museum of Natural History, a Smithsonian institution, traveled to the area to study bees. Crawford described and named several species in his research. 'I have a permit for Crawford from 1923, though I cannot find a publication that clearly indicates he made use of bees collected in what is now the park,' Super said. 'I also have a permit for Albert F. Ganier, a founder of the Tennessee Ornithological Society from 1928. He published a lot about birds of the Smokies. I don't know who was issuing those permits back then.' New avian research has come forth in the 2025 and 2023 colloquia. Because the park has been well surveyed in the past, this has led to better knowledge of the current state of birds, a group that shows signs of strain. Social sciences are also conducted in the park. For Justin Beall, formerly a researcher at Virginia Tech, this meant spending time in the Smokies to research 'overtourism,' or excessive visitation, at nature destinations. Beall wanted to find effective ways to reduce stress on popular outdoor destinations and try out ideas to draw tourists to less-frequented spots. The Smokies, which draws upwards of 12 million visitors a year, was his test case. 'Our primary motivation for selecting this park was that it is so heavily visited and, as a result, experiences environmental and social impacts related to overcrowding,' said Beall, who now works as a conservation social scientist in the Rockies. Because of the timing of his study period — the start of the 2023 fall leaf-peeping season — he was able to collect all his data within three days rather than an anticipated 10. He presented his findings at the 2024 colloquium and hopes to officially publish the results soon. Will Kuhn, the DLiA director of science and research, has held dual roles for the colloquium, as an organizer and presenter. Whether in person or virtual, he said, the research presentations never get boring. 'We're considering ways that we might go hybrid, in-person plus remote, in future years to bring back some of the face-to-face interactivity,' he said. 'What hasn't changed is the incredible quality and breadth of research taking place in the Smokies. I learn lots of new things every year. It's always stimulating!' And sometimes, it's also very concerning. Often, science digs into problems, such as a recent study showing how a pesticide used to control wooly adelgids affects salamanders. Still, it is comforting to know that scientists see the Smokies through the lens of possibility, since scrutiny can lead to improvement. It is Super's belief that science brings greater knowledge to light with the potential for greater good. 'People still make the management decisions, but the scientific studies help inform those decisions so that they are not made in the dark,' he said. And, if there's a theme that connects most of the research, it could be this: the park keeps changing. There's even a presentation about that. To learn more about scientific research in the park, check out past Science Colloquium presentations on the Discover Life in America YouTube channel at or visit the organization's website at Jennifer Fulford is lead editor for the 29,000-member Smokies Life, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the scientific, historical, and interpretive activities of Great Smoky Mountains National Park by providing educational products and services such as this column. Learn more at or reach the author at Jennifer@ This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Word from the Smokies: Scientific inquiry a thriving enterprise in the Smokies
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Little River Road, the Spur to temporarily closed in June for maintenance
GATLINBURG, Tenn. (WATE) — Two roads within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be temporarily closed in June. The National Park Service will be completing maintenance on Little River Road and the Spur. Crews will be mowing and pruning, cleaning out ditches and culverts, repairing shoulder drop-off and mitigating hazardous trees. During the closures, Elkmont, Metcalf Bottoms and Cades Cove will remain accessible, but detours may be in place. Great Smoky Mountains National Park to hold monthly ASL-Interpreted programs Little River Road closures: On June 3 and 4, Little River Road will be closed between Townsend Wye to Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area from 7 a.m. to noon. Wears Valley Road (US 321) between Townsend and Line Springs Road can be used as a detour. On June 5, Little River Road will be closed between Metcalf Bottoms to Elkmont Junction from 7 a.m. to noon. Wears Valley Road between Line Springs Road and Pigeon Forge can be used as a detour. Spur single-lane closures: From June 9-12, temporary single-lane closures will be implemented along the north and southbound Spur from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Laurel Falls Trail in the Smokies closed through 2026 for 'major rehabilitation' Visitors should plan for additional time when traveling in these areas. In addition, motor homes, buses, vans longer than 25 feet and any passenger vehicles towing a trailer are prohibited on Wear Cove Gap Road from the park boundary to the Metcalf Bottoms bridge. In 2024, the park closed Little River Road for the first time to complete road maintenance. During these closures, park staff were able to mow and string trim 24 miles along roadsides, pull and clean 8.5 miles of roadside ditches, repair 27 damaged road shoulder areas and side arm 12 miles of roadside banks. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
