Great Smoky Mountains National Park

1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park By: Sarah Camisa

2. What year did the park become an official national park and why? Before the arrival of European settlers, the region was part of the homeland of the Cherokee Indians. Frontiers people began settling the land in the 18th and early 19th century. In 1830 President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act beginning the process that eventually resulted in the forced removal of all Indian tribes east of the Mississippi River to what is now Oklahoma. Many of the Cherokee left, but some, led by renegade warrior Tsali, hid out in the area that is now the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Some of their descendants now live in the Qualla Reservation south of the park. As white settlers moved in, logging grew as a major industry in the mountains, and a rail line, the Little River Railroad , was constructed in the late 19th century to haul timber out of the remote regions of the area. Cut-and-run style clear cutting was destroying the natural beauty of the area, so visitors and locals banded together to raise money for preservation of the land. The U.S. National Park Service wanted a park in the eastern United States, but did not have much money to establish one. Though Congress had authorized the park in 1926, there was no nucleus of federally-owned land around which to build a park. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. contributed $5 million, the U.S. government added $2 million, and private citizens from Tennessee and North Carolina pitched in to assemble the land for the park, piece by piece. Slowly, mountain homesteaders, miners, and loggers were evicted from the land. Farms and timbering operations were abolished in establishing the protected area of the park. Travel writer Horace Depart, for whom Mount Depart was named, and photographer George Masa were instrumental in fostering the development of the park. The park was officially established on June 15, 1934. During the Great Depression the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Works Progress Administration, and other federal organizations made trails, fire watchtowers, and other infrastructure improvements to the park and Smoky Mountains.

3. What kind of rocks can be found in your park? There are basically three types of rocks in the Smokies, sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic. These rocks are over 1 billion years old and are composed of gneiss, schist, (metamorphic rocks) and some granite (igneous rocks).

4. What special landforms or features are inside your park? The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of the most visited national parks. It offers breathtaking mountain scenery, including panoramic views, rushing mountain streams, and mature hardwood forests stretching to the horizon.

5. How was the park formed? About 10,000 years ago, when glaciers advanced from the north during the last Pleistocene ice age, the Great Smoky Mountains were already millions of years old. The glaciers cooled the climate of the entire region. Lured by the cold, northern evergreens and other plants extended their range south into the lands of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Later, as the glaciers receded, these forests also withdrew, remaining only on the heights of the Smokies where conditions were cool and moist. Throughout the park signs advise visitors to see "the world as it once was.“ Because the great glaciers were stopped in their southward journey by these mountains, which include 25 peaks above 6,000 feet, the Great Smokies today harbor a unique blend of northern and southern animals and plants.

6. How is the land inside the park currently changing? The land inside the park is fairly good. Great Smokey Mountains National Park, has some eroding, which is called “trail eroding”. On an all park basis, water erosion is the most important problem in a park, but fortunately Great smoky mountain national park doesn’t have any water erosion.

7. What environmental issues are affecting your park? Unfortunately, Great smoky mountains national park is very polluted. It is the #1 rated most polluted park. They say it has almost as much smog as L.A, which is really sad. Most park pollution comes from burning fossil fuels – coal, oil, and gas. It also comes from cars, trains, planes, trucks, and construction equipment. Hopefully, we will see a change.

8. How is technology used to help preserve and maintain the park? Technology is used in many ways to help preserve the park. They use eco-friendly transportation devices to get around the park that will not pollute it. Also, they use SAMI. SAMI is a voluntary, multi-organizational initiative charged to help reduce the amount of pollution in the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

9. Map of the Park a

10. Pictures and Diagrams

11. Bibliography 1. "Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Air Quality (U.S. National Park Service)." U.S. National Park Service - Experience Your America. Web. 02 June 2010. <http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/air-quality.htm>. 2. "Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Google Search." Google. Web. 02 June 2010. <http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=great smoky mountains national park&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi>. 3. "Great Smoky Mountains National Park (U.S. National Park Service)." U.S. National Park Service - Experience Your America. Web. 02 June 2010. <http://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm>. 4. Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Web. 02 June 2010. <http://www.great.smoky.mountains.national-park.com/>. 5. "Great Smoky Mountains National Park." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 02 June 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smoky_Mountains_National_Park>. 6. Rudolphy, From Katy. "An Overview of Great Smoky Mountains National Park." Geography Home Page - Geography at About.com. 04 Sept. 2009. Web. 02 June 2010. <http://geography.about.com/od/specificplacesofinterest/a/greatsmokey.htm>.. 7. Standards, Todays. "History Of The Great Smoky Mountains National Park - GSMNP." Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Smoky Mountain Cabins, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge TN Cabin Rentals. Web. 02 June 2010. <http://www.gsmnp.com/pages/history.html>.