With spikes on his shoes, a helmet on his head, a rope on his harness and a chainsaw on his belt, Ken Gragg starts to climb. He moves easily up the red maple tree, pausing as he reaches a Y in the trunk. Balancing on his spikes, he assesses his surroundings, draws his chainsaw and cuts away the smaller half of the Y. It falls to the ground with a crackle and a thump, and Gragg continues climbing. 

From bears and bobcats to eagles and elk, 22,893 species have been documented so far in Great Smoky Mountains National Park — and nearly half of them are insects. Becky Nichols, the park’s long-time entomologist, has dedicated her career to learning about and protecting lifeforms like bees, wasps, moths and butterflies. 

As a child in rural Washington state, Nichols gravitated toward nature and animals of all sorts. She knew from a young age that she wanted a career related to the environment. 

From George Masa’s 1915 arrival in Asheville until his death in 1933, the trailblazing Japanese photographer explored the Smoky Mountains, mapping trails and capturing the region’s grandeur and beauty in photographs that helped make the case for the creation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. But Masa’s friends — and the researchers who followed — have long wondered: where did Masa’s love of the mountains originate?

The National Park Service is seeking tips from the public to aid in the ongoing investigation of an assault that occurred in the Deep Creek area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

On Dec. 22, 2025, at approximately 5:40 p.m., an individual approached two vehicles believed to have been involved in a motor vehicle collision near the Deep Creek Picnic Area.

What do rangers eat for lunch? How did the Great Smoky Mountains get their name? Do rangers have to feed the bears? Are there alligators in the park? What about moose? Dolphins? 

“The kids really want to know,” said Scott Young, a volunteer at Great Smoky Mountains National Park who, together with his wife Jayne, has answered every letter kids from across the country send to the national park since they first took on the task in 2021.

The National Park Service is requesting tips from the public to aid in an investigation of a deer poached from fields near Sparks Lane in Cades Cove.  

On the morning of Dec. 22, park rangers responded to a report of a deer that had been shot with an arrow in a field off Sparks Lane within the Cades Cove Loop Road.

The iconic adage “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” coined in 1939 by Winston Churchill, the famous British statesman, has been used to describe all sorts of mysteries over the years. In fact, there’s no shortage of mysteries in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where long-standing stories of vanished persons or the locations of old cemeteries persist. One unsolved Smokies mystery involves an 80-year-old piece of government art.

Embrace the spirit of the season with two festive events at Great Smoky Mountains National Park this December.

Visitors are invited to celebrate Appalachian holiday traditions and create new memories during the “Festival of Christmas Past, Present and Future” from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 13, and the Holiday Homecoming on Saturday, Dec. 20, at the Sugarlands Visitor Center and Oconaluftee Visitor Center, respectively. 

The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy has transferred 1,060 acres in Haywood County to the State of North Carolina to become part of public lands managed by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission.

These tracts include land for the Cold Mountain Game Land and Pisgah Game Lands, including the 409-acre White Oak Mountain tract adjoining the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that SAHC purchased in December 2024.

Growing up in Swain County, Nathan Dee Greene ate a lot of apples. The family had several trees of their own, but every fall, they bought bushels from the nearby orchard on Laurel Branch, across the Tuckasegee River from Great Smoky Mountains National Park.