Tag: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Great Smoky Mountains National Park will remain open through the holidays despite the ongoing federal government shutdown, but visitors should expect reduced staffing and only basic services, Friends of the Smokies announced Friday.

A new agreement funded by Tennessee, local governments and nonprofit partners will keep Great Smoky Mountains National Park open with basic visitor services from Nov. 3 through Jan. 4, according to a news release. It follows a previous partnership that fully staffed the park from Oct. 4 through Nov. 2, typically one of the Smokies’ busiest periods. The park attracts more than 1.6 million visitors each October.

Beginning Nov. 3, the park will shift to reduced staffing focused on basic visitor services, according to the release. Restrooms, emergency services, parking tag sales and visitor centers that are normally open this time of year will continue operating. Roads and picnic areas, including the popular Cades Cove Loop Road, will remain accessible.

However, many National Park Service employees will be furloughed if the shutdown continues, the release states, and critical work such as trail repairs, hemlock treatment and historic structure maintenance will pause.

“This is a tough time for our partners in the national park,” Friends of the Smokies President and CEO Dana Soehn said in the release. She added that while the nonprofit is “proud to help fund staffing through the holidays,” the group is “deeply saddened” by halted conservation work.

Under the new agreement, Sevier County will pay the federal government directly. Tennessee’s Department of Tourism will contribute $25,000 per week toward the roughly $80,000 weekly cost of running the park. Seven other partners, including Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Blount County, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Friends of the Smokies, will each contribute $7,000. Parking tag revenue will also support operations.

The deal allows major events to continue, including the sold-out Cades Cove Loop Lope footrace on Nov. 9 and several school programs scheduled in November. Weddings and other permitted events already on the calendar will proceed.

Typical seasonal closures will still occur as winter approaches, including some campground and road shutdowns that happen every year. Weather may also temporarily close high-elevation roads.

Partners plan to meet in mid-December to evaluate whether more funding will be needed if the shutdown continues. Soehn said the priority remains “a fully funded park with an end to the shutdown.”