Great Smoky Mountains National Park faces threat

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Story here from the Charlotte Observer:

Having just celebrated its 75th birthday, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park finds its future threatened by wavering public support for America’s green places.

The problem passes from one generation to the next: a chronic lack of financial support in the past, declining visits now and a future shaped by today’s children who are spending far less time in the outdoors.

For decades, park advocates say, Congress has starved the national parks of enough money to keep roads, buildings and trails in adequate repair. The maintenance backlog is now $8 billion, including $230 million in the Smokies alone.

Lawmakers have begun to close that gap in the past two years, however, and the Smokies park got a $64 million infusion this spring from the federal stimulus bill.

Still, the Smokies’ chronic financial problems have park officials speaking publicly about what up to now has been the unthinkable: an entry fee. It would raise millions but likely set off a firestorm of local opposition from those accustomed to using the park for free.

While it is still the nation’s most-visited national park, the number of visitors to the Smokies has dropped for a decade. Last year’s count of 9 million people was 12 percent smaller than in the peak year of 1999.