Two-State Group Asks More
Funds For
Smoky, Mountain Park
(Continued from page 1)
funds be more than doubled, from
$127,700 to $300,000, the committee
asserted that the Park road system
requires not normal maintenance
"?*but major rehabilitation."
During war years the 155 miles
?f primary roads, 146 miles of un
paved roads and 654 miles of trails j
suffered "marked deterioration," J
and the maintenance fund should
be increased to $300,000 "in order
that they may not be lost to use."
In future years, this cost will de
cline.
Emphasis was placed on the ,
omission and cuts made in propos
als for physical improvements; in
which the two-state committee had !
planned for the expenditure of
$545,000 during fiscal 1949, and the
announced budget calls for $58,300,
approximately one-tenth of what
was desired.
The National Park Service, in (
preparing its budget request after I
considering proposals of the joint
committee, had shaved its physical I
projects to a cost of $419,300 and
included two items not suggested
by the state groups. These were
$1,100 for ground improvements at
Twenty Miie Creek and $10,800 for
museum exhibits to be placed at
Oconaluftee Ranger Station.
Museum Buildings Asked
Arguments presented for indi
vidual projects were as follows:
To rehabilitate buildings, $18,
400 (omitted from budget), of pio
neer families in the Smokies area
"typical of the period of Abraham
Lincoln." This is a solemn obliga
tion of the Park Service and of the
Congress . . . otherwise a major
aspect of this Park will be lost.
To construct living quarters for
the Oconaluftee station ranger and
supply the North Carolina head-;
quarters building with water, $17,'
500. 44In this age of enlightened
sanitation it is not believed that
Congress intentionally requires
that a public servant should be de
nied the use of a modern toilet, or
that visitors to the Park should,
of necessity, fertilize its vegeta
tion."
To build a museum at Mingus
Creek in North Carolina ($153,200)
and convert a portion of the admin
istration building at Gatlinburg
into a museum (67,700 ? both
itenu omitted from budget). Thou
sands of items have been collected
to carry out this "earliest and most
fundamental of plans for the de
velopment of the Great Smokies.
The joint committee submits that
the time has come when the Con
gress should provide these build
ings."
Road Cuts Hit
Major roads also were cut heav
ily, it was pointed out, from the
requested $998,000 to $268,200, this j
latter amount being asked for in
the budget to grade and surface
the Heintooga Ridge road.
Projects omitted in the budget
include the Cades Cove road in
Tennessee for which $125,000 was
desired to complete a partially
constructed route/' "basic to the
usage of the Tennessee side of the
Park." The major omission was
; the $522,400 asked for the start of
construction on the estimated $9
million Bryson City to Fontana
road "to take the place of a North
Carolina highway flooded out by
TVA's Fontana Dam."
Ten-Year Plan
t
Mr. Heazel pointed out that the
National Park Service has had
completed for more than 10 years
a master-plan for development of
the Park which when caried out
will provide the facilities necessary
to accommodate the ever increasing
visitors attracted to the Park.
"This v.as a long range plan to
be carried out over a period, of
years. However, except for the
completion of one trans-park high
way and the providing of several
camping and picnicking areas, very
little has been accomplished ex
cept for the trail and other work
done by the Civilian Conservation
Corps, much of which has lost its
value by reasons of inadequate
maintenance.
The personnel provided for the
Great Smoky Mountains National
Park has been insufficient to ren
der adequate service to visitors so
as to enable them to appreciate and
enjoy what the Park offers for rec
reation, entertainment, and cultur
al development. An illustration is
that in 1946, Yellowstone Park had
r
'three permanent naturalists and
22 seasonal naturalists and the
Great Smoky Mountains NaUonal
Park had only one permanent nat
uralist and one temporary natur
alist for one montti and the visi
tors that year to the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park numbered
1,147,000 and to Yellowstone Park
814,000. This condition improved
very little in 1947.
The 1946 operations fund (oper
ation, protection and maintenance)
per visitor for the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park was 10.4
cents; for Shenandoah Park 15.4
cents; Cor Yosemite, California.
53.2 cents; and for parks as a
whole, 35.4 cents; for parks west
of the Mississippi 43.8 cents and for
parks east of the Mississippi 16.2
cents. The appropriation for op- j
erations for 1947 was substantially ;
the same as for 1946. I
i
Although the Park Service took
jurisdiction over the area in 1930
the Service has been able to com
plete only one major road in the
park, this being a part of the trans
park highway connecting Tennessee
and North Carolina, the North Car
olina portion having been built by
the state. Nor has the Park Serv
ice been able to develop a museum
program included in the early
plans. Pioneer buildings are rot
ting for lack of maintenance. Trails
are suffering from lack of upkeep. ]
Forest growth is crowding the ex
isting reads to the point where the
views are obscured. Some of the
existing roads need to be rebuilt.
Western North Carolina Asso
ciated Communities being acutely
aware of the situation submitted a
brief to the Secretary of the In
terior on February 5, 1947, protest
ing the lack of personnel, mainte
nance, and development and asking
his assistance in the securing of
funds. .
As a result of the activities of
Western North Carolina Associated
Communities, which is an associa
tion of the Chamber of Commerce .
of Western North Carolina, the
States of North Carolina and Ten
nessee became so concerned over
The Great Smoky Mountains Na- |
tional Park that during the past
year conferences were held by the
two Commissions representing their
State's interest with respect to the
Park, and, they formed the Joint
North Carolina-Tennessee Com
mute for development of the Great
Smoky Mountains National Park.
This committee informed itself as I
to the situation by access to the i
public records, field inspection and
conferences and on September 25,
1947, presented their recommenda
tions to the Director of the Nation
al Park Service.
The people of North Carolina and
Tennessee, and in fact all of the
Nation have the right to expect the
Congress to make it possible for the |
Park Service to comply with these
agreements a a* also oemplete a
reasonable portion of tha Park'*
Development Plan without further
delay ? and this means in the fiscal
year of 1949.
The program by this joint Norths
Carolina - Tennessee Committee
asks only this and nothing more.
An appropriation by the Congress
for National Parks this year which
is not adequate to provide for the
carrying out of the whole of this
program can mean that hundreds
of thousands of people may be de
prived of the use and enjoyment
of this one Great National Park
that is so accessible to them. The
visitor load of 1,186,748 people in
1947 on this Park is almost the ca
pacity of the Park in its present
neglected state of development,
Shell provision be made to take
care of the increased numbers of
visitors to The Great Smoky Moun
tains National Park in the years
that are immediately ahead: It is
for the Congress to answer this
question at this present session.
Since the first resolution was in
troduced in the Congress urging a
park in the Southern Appalachians,
54 years have passed. Since the
Park Service took charge in 1930,
the^>eighteenth year is passing ?
and The Great Smoky Moun
tains National Park is so far from
development it still remains little
more than a forest preserve.
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