Branching out at Oconaluftee

The more than 29,000 people who support Smokies Life as Park Keepers live all across the country, but on Friday, May 9, a group of them gathered to build personal connections with each other and Smokies Life CEO Jacqueline Harp against the backdrop of a rushing Oconaluftee River.

“Really this is just an effort to give our members an opportunity to spend more time together,” Harp told the group gathered in front of Oconaluftee Visitor Center as the morning sun warmed the chill air. “So I’m really excited that we’re here.”

Over the course of the next two hours, Harp led an exploration of the riverside trail and nearby Mountain Farm Museum in an event that was one of 27 Branch Out experiences Smokies Life planned for 2025. These programs offer Park Keepers—participants in Smokies Life’s membership program—the chance to meet birds, butterflies, insects, and salamanders in the company of expert naturalists, learn the art of wildlife tracking, and engage with forest bathing and nature journaling, among other unique experiences.

This array of offerings is as varied as the work of Smokies Life itself, which Harp described as the group strolled along the river. Smokies Life staffs information desks and bookstores at park visitor centers, supports National Park Service positions in everything from interpretation to water quality monitoring, writes and publishes an ever-growing list of book titles, and even funded the 2011 construction of the LEED-certified Oconaluftee Visitor Center. Working in a complex organizational landscape, Smokies Life collaborates not only with the federal government and the National Park Service but also with the three other nonprofits who are designated as official partners of Great Smoky Mountains National Park—Friends of the Smokies, Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont, and Discover Life in America.

“The services that we provide and the funding that we provide for the park have to be centered around education, science, research, and interpretation,” Harp explained. “We can’t fund whatever we want, but as long as it’s in those very specific lanes, we have a lot of latitude around the things that we can help support.”

Having just stepped into the CEO’s role in September 2024, Harp is learning more every day about Smokies Life, the projects it supports, and the unique landscape it serves. As she led the group down the trail, she answered questions not only about Smokies Life, but about her own path to working with the organization, the logistical challenges of moving herself and her family from their longtime home in Chattanooga up to the Smokies, and her plans for the organization’s future. Attendees said they were impressed with Harp’s knowledge of the park given her short tenure with Smokies Life thus far.

“I’m trying to throttle my enthusiasm to do a million new things in my first year and really learn what our organization does,” Harp said. “What are we good at? Where do we have opportunities? So this year is a lot of learning.”

If learning is the goal, the Smokies is a great place to be. With 22,744 documented species (and counting), 816 square miles of terrain, and more than 12 million visits each year, there’s always something new to explore, something unexpected around the corner. Such was the case even with this gentle frontcountry stroll, as the group parted to make way for Volunteer-in-Park Bill Douglas as he pushed a cart full of dried grasses. In passing, Douglas offered an invitation to come by the adjacent Mountain Farm Museum to watch him demonstrate traditional broom-making—an invitation the group eagerly accepted.

By the time the event ended, the sun had risen high enough to shine out most of the morning’s chill, and new connections had been forged between people who began the day as strangers. For instance, Kristie Foster, who drove more than four hours from Denton, North Carolina, to spend time in the Smokies, learned that she and Harp share an alma mater. The two spent a few minutes comparing notes on their college experiences. 

“I loved getting to talk to other people and to learn about their interest in the park,” Foster said. “Because I know about my interest in the park, but to hear other people’s viewpoints—that was very nice.”

Other attendees drove fewer miles but still placed high value on those hours together at Oconaluftee. Vesna Plakanis, co-owner of guide company A Walk in the Woods and vice chair of Discover Life in America’s board of directors, said it was invigorating to meet other Park Keepers and hear Harp’s vision and excitement. Steve Law, who recently retired from a career in conservation work and relocated to Sylva, North Carolina, agreed with that sentiment.

“It was my first Branch Out event,” he said, “and I’d like to do more.”

If you missed this Branch Out event, plenty more opportunities await! Coming up are a forest bathing guided walk starting at Mingus Mill on June 4, a mindful birding experience starting at Kuwohi June 8, and morning yoga at Oconaluftee June 13. Sign up for these events or the many others ahead this year at SmokiesLife.org/branch-out-events. If you’re not yet a Park Keeper, first visit SmokiesLife.org/membership to get started. Memberships start at $40 and come with an array of benefits.