GSMA and National Park News
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GSMA musical release receives Independent Music Awards nominations
UPDATE: WE WON Best Album - Compilation! Great Smoky Mountains Association's 2017 musical release, Big Bend Killing: The Appalachian Ballad Tradition, received two Independent Music Awards nominations for Best Album – Compilation and Best Music Producer – Roots / Country. Winners will be announced next Saturday, June 22, at the Independent Music Awards ceremony in New York City.
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Behind the scenes with PLA award winner Susan Sachs
By Frances Figart
If you have followed GSMA news this year, the name Susan Sachs will be familiar. We nominated her for an Agency Leadership award through the Public Lands Alliance—and she won!
Promoted last year to education branch chief, Sachs is currently acting chief of resource education. Her award recognizes a public land management agency employee for outstanding accomplishments by championing, cultivating and leading partnerships. We asked her to tell us some of the background that led up to this outstanding recognition.
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Park Tourism Generates $953 million in Visitor Spending
A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 11,421,203 visitors to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2018 spent $953 million in communities near the park. That spending supported 13,737 jobs in the local area. National park tourism is a significant driver in the national economy, with every dollar invested by American taxpayers in the National Park Service returning $10 to the economy.
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DLiA’s Science at Sugarlands Focuses on Fish Restoration
By Frances Figart
Part of the mission of any national park is protecting and restoring species that were once native. Restoring native fish is an exciting area of Smokies science that goes unseen by those who are not swimming or snorkelling in park waters.
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Cades Cove Story re-released by GSMA
“No story of Cades Cove can ever be complete…” These humble words written by A. Randolph Shields in 1977 comprise the first line of The Cades Cove Story. The enduring legacy of this work continues to connect readers to the lives of the people who once lived in one of the most beloved places in all the national parks.
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Park Announces Spring Opening Schedule
Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials finalized the 2019 spring opening schedule for park facilities. Most campgrounds, picnic areas, and roads will open this Friday, April 19, in time for Easter weekend. The remainder of the facilities will open between now and Memorial Day weekend in preparation for the busy summer season.
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Back of Beyond, new Kephart biography from Great Smoky Mountains Association, invites readers to truly 'know the man'
An icon of the Southern Appalachian region known for the seminal books Camping and Woodcraft (1906) and Our Southern Highlanders (1913), Horace Kephart was instrumental in efforts to establish the Appalachian Trail along the Tennessee-North Carolina border.
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A conversation with the authors of the new Kephart biography
Working with literary authorities George Ellison and Janet McCue to edit their new book, Back of Beyond: A Horace Kephart Biography, was like being a roadie for a dynamic singer-songwriter duo (imagine going on tour with Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell). George and Janet are so creative, so steeped in the literature of the Smokies region, and so attuned to all things Kephart that it was mesmerizing and magical to interact with them on a daily basis.
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Back of Beyond excerpt, park entry fee question both featured in upcoming Smokies Life
The most recent Smokies Life magazine – published by the nonprofit Great Smoky Mountains Association and due for release this month – tackles some complex issues currently facing the national park by asking questions like “Why not charge an entry fee?”, “Can highways be made safe for wildlife?” and “What secrets will the region’s best anglers freely share with strangers?”
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We won! GSMA Brings Home Three Awards from Public Lands Alliance
Great Smoky Mountains National Park education branch chief Susan Sachs accepts her award for Agency Leadership and speaks to her years of partnership building during the Public Lands Alliance’s 2019 conference in Denver, CO.
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