Great Smoky Mountains National Park open amid shutdown — for now
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a vital economic driver for the whole region.
File photo
When the federal government shut down at midnight Oct. 1, there were a lot of questions, especially for Western North Carolina, where business owners and residents are already on the heels of a year of economic uncertainty.
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.
Just a day before the shutdown, the park put out a press release announcing that tourism had contributed $2 billion to local economies over the last year. Great Smoky Mountains National Park has a higher cumulative benefit to the local economy than any other national park in the country, the release stated.
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“People come to the Smokies to do many things, from hiking to driving to picnicking and camping and end up supporting the US and local economies along the way,” said Acting Superintendent Charles Sellars in the release.
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, 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 the 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 near shuttered restrooms. This go round, closures and furloughs are being dictated by a National Park Service government shutdown contingency plan published late last month. 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 on the clock as the contingency plan mandates that activities to “protect life and property” will be ongoing, that will 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. Cades Cove Loop Road, Cades Cove Picnic Area, Cades Cove Visitor Center, Chimneys Picnic Area and Sugarlands Visitor Center were initially closed. Other bathrooms and campgrounds have remained 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. The park also has the option to explore donations with gateway communities that rely on significant tourism revenue,” Harp said. “[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.”
A couple of days after Harp’s interview with SMN, Friends of the Smokies announced that the park would stay open through Friday, Oct. 10. Along with a few county and municipal governments, the state of Tennessee and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Friends of the Smokies provided the funding to ensure all park facilities would be fully operational for a week.
“Importantly, this funding ensures that staff are on duty for servicing restrooms, responding to visitors in need, and providing essential services to protect wildlife during this peak visitor season,” said Dana Soehn, President and CEO of Friends of the Smokies.
On Oct. 3, EBCI Tribal Council unanimously passed Emergency Resolution 593, authorizing the tribe to collaborate with national park staff to prevent the closure of U.S. 441/Newfound Gap Road from Cherokee to Gatlinburg through the park.
Principal Chief Michell Hicks explained that a closure would significantly impact the tribal economy. The resolution mentioned important sites only accessible along the route, including Kuwohi, the Appalachian Trail and the Rockefeller Memorial.
By voting for the Oct. 3 resolution, tribal officials agreed to finance the road. The tribe will be seeking reimbursement for its expenditures, per a unanimously passed amendment proposed by Attorney General Michael McConnell.
The State of Tennessee has agreed to provide $80,000 with all other entities contributing more than $45,500 each for the week. Some of the costs of operating the park are also offset by recreations fees from parking tags and campgrounds in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
In addition, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation issued a press release Oct. 3 noting that the scenic byway is open for traffic.
“Travelers can still drive to scenic overlooks, hike trails, camp out, and picnic on the Parkway, but should plan trips carefully in consideration that some facilities will be closed. The motor road will remain open, with the exception of the stretches where continuing road updates and Hurricane Helene recovery projects are taking place,” the release reads.
Because of funding through the foundation, visitor centers in Asheville, Spruce Pine and Galax, Virginia will open up. Those sites, while not in the SMN coverage area, will drive traffic across the whole parkway.
“October is one of the highest-visitation months in the national park as visitors flock to the mountains to see autumn colors,” said Carolyn Ward, CEO of the foundation. “We are pleased to ensure more facilities are open to welcome visitors.”
Staff Writer Lily Levin contributed reporting on this story.
