Among the major concerns for the region is whether the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is open to visitors. The uncertainty surrounding the 816-square-mile park comes at a bad time, considering the October leaf season brings more tourists than any other time of year. To make matters worse, this time last year, much of the area was shut down as business owners recovered from Hurricane Helene.

Smokies Life CEO Jacqueline Harp told The Smoky Mountain News that visitors flock to the park from around the world this time of year to take in the stunning fall leaf colors and enjoy the wildlife activity that comes with the elk rut.

“This is a critical time for Smokies Life and for the tourism economy in the gateway communities,” Harp said.

In October 2013, there was a 16-day shutdown during which the park was mostly closed off to the public with parking lots barricaded and trailheads blocked, and there was a marked economic impact. For example, the Great Smoky Mountains Association, now called Smokies Life, claimed to have lost more than $1 million in revenue in 2013, a year when it was projected to make a total of $7 million.

Last time the government shut down from December 2018 to January 2019, the National Parks Service workforce was cut by almost 90%, but the Smokies stayed open, and the local economy seemed to fare OK.

While people decried to park closure in 2013, when national parks remained open nationwide in 2018, there were issues reported, such as overflowing trash cans, unmaintained or locked facilities and even human feces on the ground. This go round, closures and furloughs are being dictated by a National Park Service government shutdown contingency plan published late last year. Perhaps learning from 2018, sanitation services are to be maintained during the 2025 shutdown.

In 2023, The Smokies implemented a new parking tag program to generate some revenue meant to sustain operations. That program is still in place, and because park rangers are still on the clock as the contingency plan mandates that activities to “protect life and property” will be ongoing, that will still be enforced. However, the plan notes that there will be no “visitor services.”

Roads and trails will remain open, as will many of the facilities. According to the National Park Service, the following facilities and roads are currently closed: Cades Cove Loop Road, Cades Cove Picnic Area, Cades Cove Visitor Center, Chimneys Picnic Area, and Sugarlands Visitor Center. Other bathrooms and campgrounds are open. However, this is all subject to change depending on how long the shutdown plays out and whether resources begin to dwindle.

"If visitor access becomes a safety, health or resource protection issue (weather, road conditions, resource damage, garbage build-up to the extent that it endangers human health or wildlife, etc.), the area must be closed," the contingency plan reads.

While the park’s visitor centers were supposed to be closed down during the 2018 shutdown, donations from the Great Smoky Mountains Association allowed the visitor centers at Oconaluftee, Sugarlands and Cades Cave to keep their doors open to holiday travelers looking to learn more about the splendor of the mountains. Additional support from GSMA and Friends of the Smokies also allowed the park to sustain some visitor services.

This time, Smokies Life will maintain continuity of services, including retail sales and information desks, at the visitor centers at Oconaluftee and Kuwohi, as well as ones outside the park in Townsend and Gatlinburg in Tennessee and Swain County on the North Carolina side. Restrooms will also be maintained at these locations. Harp said that Smokies Life will not provide direct financial support to park as it had in the past — for now.

“That could change," she said. "The park also has the option to explore donations with gateway communities that rely on sig tourism revenue. [The park service] will first go to state and city funding sources to see if there’s an appetite to see if local communities want to help support keeping the park open. If not, we will consider cash support to keep some services operating in the park.”