The National Park Service urges visitors to not feed or approach black bears in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The park has seen an increase in incidents involving visitors feeding bears. Feeding wildlife is illegal and endangers you, other visitors and bears. 

With their tough, leathery shells, unique digging habits and pattern of giving birth to identical quadruplets, nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) are full of quirks. These solitary creatures are skilled burrowers and surprisingly adaptable — so much so that they’ve expanded their range to include some of the highest elevations in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

The National Park Service and Federal Highway Administration continue to work toward emergency repairs for U.S. 441/Newfound Gap Road following the Aug. 1 washout and landslide. The agencies plan to award a contract in August and expect that construction will be complete in early October.

The National Park Service (NPS) reminds visitors to slow down and enjoy the views in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Over the next month, park rangers in cooperation with partner agencies will conduct increased traffic safety enforcement throughout the park.

When Claire Stovall applied to the Artist-in-Residence program at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, she hoped to use the time to work on the wildlife textile collages she had highlighted in her application. Then she told her family she’d been selected for the program — and that plan spun on a swivel.  

When visitors come to explore Great Smoky Mountains National Park, they have access to a wealth of knowledge highlighting the diversity of plants, animals, and ecosystems found in this special place. Among them are lichens — a lesser-known group of species whose members were largely undiscovered as recently as two decades ago. Since then, the Smokies have grown into a hub of lichen discovery and documentation, with the number of species in the park nearly tripling from 340 to 965.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is seeking individuals to join the Elk Rover volunteer team for the upcoming 2025 season. Elk Rovers share information with visitors about safe wildlife viewing and help keep elk and visitors safe. Elk Rovers will be stationed at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

Volunteer duties include: 

• Standing and walking for extended periods. 
• Assisting with traffic management along US 441/Newfound Gap Road. 
• Assisting and guiding visitors. 
• Educating visitors about wildlife safety and etiquette. 
• Answering general questions about the park.

Interested volunteers should commit to one, four-hour afternoon shift per week on either Friday, Saturday or Sunday starting in July and continuing through mid-November. 

All new Elk Rovers are required to attend a mandatory in-person training session in July. Additionally, volunteers will have the opportunity to learn alongside a dedicated team of experienced rovers and park rangers who will provide on-the-job training.

Learn more at nps.gov/grsm/getinvolved/volunteer.htm.

Starting July 14, Great Smoky Mountains National Park will kick off a rehabilitation of a 7-mile stretch of Newfound Gap Road on the North Carolina side of the park.  

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of the most biodiverse places in the world, so it’s no surprise that many of the plants and animals chosen as symbols of the two states it straddles — North Carolina and Tennessee — are found within its boundary.

To the Editor:

In compliance with Executive Order 14253, an official sign has now been posted in the Oconaluftee Visitors Center of our beloved (and already beleaguered) Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and, I presume, at all of the hundreds of other sites overseen by the National Park Service.