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WCU - Great Smoky Mountains - A Park for America

Planning in the Smokies

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Planning in the Smokies

GSMNP_10184_28_04_01
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-11364.jpg

Planning in the Smokies

GSMNP_10184_28_04_02
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  • guished as a place of direct use by hikers and equestrians. And to Mr. Kephart's plea for holding backcountry use to the land's carrying capacity, I can give assurance that we are in complete agreement—and are proceeding to do so, even to the extent of closing certain abused areas until they recover. But dissection of the Park's wildlands by more roads deprive not only the trail user, but users of existing roads (roads being used to the tune of nine million visits per year), of the great sense of immersion in genuine wilderness that is still possible in the Smokies. The majority of Great Smoky Mountains National Park lands meet fully the criteria of the Wilderness Act, and can be managed accordingly. In most respects, it has been so managed for about 40 years. Legislative establishment of wilderness in the Park will simply give assurance that some future manager won't yield to Mr. Kephart's rationale that a few more roads won't hurt anything. Mr. Kephart's interpretation of the sense of the Wilderness Act is far more strict than was intended by Congress— and than practiced by accepted NPS policy. Wildnerness lands can be—and are—-considered "as wild lands, where DECEMBER 1977 ample but appropriate campsites, facilities and trails can be established . . . ," so they can be used as Mr. Kephart feels the Park should be used; but their establishment and care arenof dependent, on "crews using off-road motor vehicle and mechanical tools" (assuming he means power tools). We have proved that amply, in the past two years, at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This does not rule out the use of motor vehicles and power equipment in emergencies involving human life or urgently needed resource protection. Such use of "minimum tools necessary" is clearly dealt with in widely-accepted Department of the Interior policies. Yes, more people visit by motor vehicles than by foot. But even though 24 percent of visitors recently surveyed in- i dicated irritation with traffic congestion (generally, that which occurs on peak- season weekend afternoons, as traffic jams up in adjacent towns, and holds up exiting visitors), only five percent said they felt there should be more roads or facilities in the Park. Those "men, women, children, aged persons, invalids, etc." make great use of the Park—and no more roads are needed in the two- hundredths of one percent of the U.S. comprising it. Goodness knows, there is ample driving opportunity in the rest of the U.S.—not the least of which is the 470-mile Blue Ridge Parkway, connecting Great Smoky Mountains National Park with Shenandoah's 90-mile-long Skyline Drive. I can't claim to be an expert on what Horace Kephart's views would be today, but that last sentence—' 'and then—well, then I'll get out'' seems to speak volumes about the real meaning, to him, of more roads in the Smokies. Boyd Evison Gatlinburg, TN
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Great Smoky Mountains - A Park for America

This digital collection was created to contribute to the public's understanding of the forces and ideas that led to the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1934. The most vi...

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