News
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Permanent Camp: Bracken
By George Ellison, lllustration by Elizabeth Ellison
“Here and elsewhere, bracken is such an aggressive plant that one wonders why it has not taken over the world.”~ R. C. Moran, A Natural History of Ferns
I am a fern aficionado, not a fern authority. Nevertheless, ferns are my favorite plants. And bracken is one of my
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Saving Aquatic Wildlife Becomes Park Ranger’s Passion
By Frances Figart, Creative Services Director
Summer is here! And as temperatures and humidity rise, returning visitors to Great Smoky Mountains National Park are tempted to dip their toes—and more—in the cool waters of the park’s 2,900 miles of clear mountain streams. Many do not yet know that doing so can put wildlife at risk
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“Into the Land of Forgetting” by Allison McKittrick in Smokies Life Fall 2020
Besides supporting Great Smoky Mountains National Park, one of the many perks of a Great Smoky Mountains Association membership is a subscription to Smokies Life magazine. Below is a sneak preview of one of the features in the upcoming fall issue. Become a member by July 15 in order to receive a copy in the mail.
Some of the earliest
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Research on George Masa is Focus of New Podcast Episode
By Frances Figart, Creative Services Director
Today is the anniversary of the death of George Masa, a small Japanese man who, in the early 20th century, made a big impact on those who knew him in the Asheville area and in the Smokies. An episode of GSMA’s new podcast Smoky Mountain Air is dedicated to him and ongoing research into
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Stephen Lynn Bales Talks Birds on New Podcast from GSMA
By Frances Figart, Creative Services Director
One of the first interviewees for our new podcast Smoky Mountain Air is naturalist and birding expert Stephen Lyn Bales. Bales wrote a story about the Winter Wren for Smokies Life magazine in one of our missing issues, Volume 9, #1. These missing issues are no longer in print but, during
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Image for the Asking: Now You See Me; Now You Don’t
Story and Image by Don McGowan
I will always consider one of the singular highlights of my career to have been the opportunity to be a very small part of the elk reintroduction to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I took pictures.
The great bulk of the credit for the work to reintroduce these magnificent creatures lies in the dream and
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Permanent Camp: Mountain Laurel
Story by George Ellison with illustration by Elizabeth Ellison
In order to accomplish pollination, flowering plants have been outwitting, beguiling, and utilizing insects for millions of years. One of the more interesting insect-flower relationships was forged between mountain laurel and its insect visitors.
As we are presently in the
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Image for the Asking: The Place of the Balsams
Story and Image by Don McGowan
With all of the diverse vegetation that covers Great Smoky Mountains National Park, it is sometimes easy to overlook what is underneath. The under layers of all of that biota are rock strata from the basement of time.
Well, let me be completely honest here: the basement of time that I am referencing has a date on
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Playtime in the Smokies
By Mike Aday, Librarian/Archivist
Keeping children occupied during our current situation takes creativity and ingenuity. With the shift to online learning, parents also want ways to limit screen time and provide variety.
Perhaps looking at what children in Appalachia did for fun a hundred years ago can give us some ideas. What kinds of games
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Video feature: Become Bear Aware
By Valerie Polk, GSMA Videographer and Publications Associate
The weekend is upon us, and visitors will be flocking to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Most of them will be eager to see wildlife, and Ursus americanus, the American black bear, is likely at the top of their list.
Please remember that bears are wild animals, and any
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