Meet the Park Partners
It takes many hands to maintain the more than 500,000 acres in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and enhance visitor experiences each year. To that end, four primary park partners, all nonprofits, provide essential support to the park in a variety of ways—financial, programmatic, scientific, and operational. In collaboration with the National Park Service, these organizations contribute to the ongoing preservation of the park’s natural resources, heritage, and appeal for current and future generations.
Smokies Life
Since 1953, the nonprofit Smokies Life has supported the National Park Service’s educational, scientific, and historic preservation efforts. It runs the park’s bookstores and publishes books and other media about the Smokies’ natural and cultural resources, include several guidebooks. Smokies Life has given more than $54 million to assist with conservation, education, and construction projects.
Members of Smokies Life, Park Keepers, receive several benefits:
- subscription to Smokies Life Journal, access to Smokies Guide, the park newspaper, and Smokies LIVE blog
- a 15 percent discount on books, music, gifts, and other Smokies Life products in park stores and web store
- access to Branch Out events, such as group hikes, backpacking excursions, and educational sessions led by expert
Become a Park Keeper online, or call 888.898.9102, x257
Friends of the Smokies
As the park’s philanthropic partner, Friends of the Smokies contributes to needed projects and programs in Great Smoky Mountains National Park that would otherwise go unfunded. Since 1993, Friends has raised more than $100 million toward a diverse array of park needs. Friends provides millions of dollars each year to help:
- Trails Forever crews restore and improve trails
- Forever Places crews preserve historic structures
- protect bears, elk, and other wildlife
- supply search and rescue crews with training and equipment
- improve access for people with mobility needs
- fund school programs and transportation
- monitor park air and water quality for restoration
- treat trees to deter deadly invasive insects
To make a tax-deductible donation, visit Friends of the Smokies, or purchase a specialty license plate at BearPlate.org.
Discover Life in America
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is home to more plants, animals, fungi, and other forms of biological diversity than any other national park in the United States. Discover Life in America, a nonprofit park partner, works to discover, understand, and conserve these natural wonders.
Since 1998, DLiA has collaborated with the park, scientists, and public on the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory to identify every species in the park and understand their part in the ecosystem. The ATBI has documented over 12,000 species previously unrecorded in the Smokies, including over 1,000 new to science. This research informs critical conservation decisions.
DLiA also offers outreach and education programs, inspiring stewardship of nature and fostering the next generation of advocates. Participate at DLiA.org.
Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont
Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont is an environmental education center inside the park that connects people to nature through immersive, multi-day experiences in the Smokies. Through residential workshops, summer camps, and school programs, Tremont promotes curiosity and inspires learning for thousands of people each year.
Adult programming includes the Southern Appalachian Naturalist Certification program in Appalachian ecology and interpretive techniques. Tremont also hosts photography courses, a writers conference, backpacking adventures, professional development for teachers, wilderness first responder training, and an adult summer camp.
Youth summer camps and school field trips explore the park for days at a time, challenging campers to connect with nature through new, empowering, discovery-oriented experiences.
For program fees and scholarship information, visit GSMIT.
