The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is asking for public input on its newly announced 'Park it Forward' plan for 2023 to charge for parking in all parking spaces in the park.
Jessica Webb
editor@thesmokymountaintimes.com
Word spread quickly after Great Smoky Mountains National Park announced on its website and through social media on Wednesday, April 6 that it is proposing new, parkwide parking fees.
The proposal is for parking to cost $5 a day, $15 a week or $40 for an annual pass, which people could get online or at machines in the park. Beginning in 2023, this would apply for all designated parking spaces. Other fees already in place would increase also. Front country camping would go up to about $30 for most sites with backcountry campsites, picnic pavilions and day-use cabin rental fees also set to increase in the coming year.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited park in the county, yet it doesn’t have an entrance fee like most parks. In a video launching the “Park it Forward” effort, GSMNP Superintendent Cassius Cash asks visitors to help shoulder the responsibility for the maintenance of the park that has seen enormous growth over the past few years.
“We’re at a crossroads now in how we look to the future. When I came here, we had 10.1 million visitors, the most-visited national park in the country. Now there's 14.1 million people coming to the park. As you would imagine, it requires more resources to deal with the extra wear-and-tear on our trails, our picnic areas, restrooms, and our historic cabins. The park is feeling the strain. Our staff is feeling the strain,” Superintendent Cassius Cash said. “The good news is that we have a solution. We call it ‘Park It Forward.’”
On the GSMNP’s Facebook announcement, many who commented recognized the need and said they were more than happy to pay the parking fees. For locals, however, the idea of paying to enter the national park is enough to make them bristle given the history of its founding.
The National Park Service lays out its reasoning online, stating the park’s budget, which is appropriated by Congress has remained stagnant despite the explosion in visitors and that the park has been left with finding ways to maintain public parking facilities, visitor safety and recreational habitats, such as trails and wildlife viewing areas.
The question of a local’s discount is addressed with the following response “the annual tag option is provided to meet the needs of local residents.”
No entrance fee
Some could interpret the parking fees as a workaround from charging an entrance fee.
While the majority of the land that makes up the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was formed from private lands held by logging companies, about 85% from 18 companies, the rest was from individuals who had established their lives in the area.
Some families in Swain County were displaced not just once, but more than once between those communities and family lands that were taken during the formation of Fontana Lake and Fontana Dam and again when the park was finalized. Many families have ancestors buried within the parks boundaries. According the park service, some were also provided “lifetime leases within the park,” although the Park Service adds the caveat that the original deeds didn’t “spell out that they can’t charge an entry fee.”
Later legislation prevented entrance fees for the Smokies. The land transfer of Newfound Gap 441 and Little River Road Hwy 71/73 in 1951 that prohibited a toll on the road. Then, a federal law in 1994 said the park can’t charge entrance fees where tolls are prohibited on primary roads.
User fees for camping and other services have long been in place, with the introduction of fees for backcountry sites in 2013.
For details, visit www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/whyfree.htm.
Public input
With the announcement, the NPS is seeking input from the public through May 7. A virtual public meeting is also planned on April 14, from 5-6 p.m. To attend, log in at https://tinyurl.com/mttkdyxs. Additionally, participants are welcome to call in on listen-only mode, and not view the presentation, by dialing 929-436-2866 and entering passcode 980 8025 4376#.
To comment: go online (preferred method) to https://parkplanning.nps.gov/GRSMfeeproposal2023.
You can also mail comments to:
Superintendent Cassius Cash
Attn: 2023 Smokies Fee Program Changes Proposal
107 Park Headquarters Road
Gatlinburg, TN 37738