FROM THE CEO AND THE BOARD
DEFINING OUR FUTURE
As our world continued to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, our association took stock of the “new normal” and initiated several projects that would shape the future of both Great Smoky Mountains National Park and our organization. We worked with park staff to prepare for the following year’s launch of Park It Forward, an ambitious multifaceted project to generate significant funds on a predictable, annual basis that would be reinvested into the park. We prepared the association workforce to take over primary staffing responsibility for the busy Sugarlands and Oconaluftee Visitor Center information desks by late fall 2022 so that the park’s limited number of Resource Education rangers could then give more free public programs out in the park instead of working at those desks. We assembled a branding task force to understand how we might better position Great Smoky Mountains Association for future success through our organization name and messaging. We also began working with park partner Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont to design an annual writer’s conference to debut in fall 2023.
The park welcomed 12.9 million visitors in 2022, an imperceptible reduction from 2021’s record of 14.1 million visitors. Association gross retail sales grew to $12.8 million, a nearly 17% increase over the prior year, owing to our improved staffing in a very tight labor market as well as more foot traffic in our stores as pandemic restrictions eased. Our membership roster held steady while our Legacy Fund operating endowment grew to $2,572,823, moving ever closer toward the goal of $20 million. When fully funded, the interest generated by this endowment will offset the association’s operating expenses. This will in turn allow us to contribute even more of our annual proceeds to park projects. As our operations returned to pre-pandemic productivity, our financial assistance to the park approached pre-pandemic levels: our cash aid totaled $1,275,226, and our in-kind aid was valued at $1,279,500, bringing our total aid to park to $2,554,726.
This year we were pleased to enter into a new cooperating association agreement with the National Park Service with a 10-year term, continuing our partnership that has flourished since 1953. We also bid to renew our concession contract that permits us to sell various visitor safety and convenience items in our stores, such as bottled water, sunscreen, and rain ponchos—items visitors should never be without on their park adventures.
The nationwide network of nonprofit partners, the Public Lands Alliance, honored us with several awards. We won Publication of the Year for our book A Search for Safe Passage by Creative Services Director Frances Figart with illustrations by Graphic Designer Emma Oxford, as well as Outstanding Public Engagement Program for the Storybook Trails project,
MITCH CRISP, Chair, Board of Directors
LAUREL REMATORE, Chief Executive Officer
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Ellis Bacon
Jamie Ballinger
Geoff Cantrell, Vice Chair
Mitch Crisp, Chair
Lisa Davis
Jerry DeWeese
Jan HoustonHickman, Secretary
Katie Kerr
Gaynell Lawson, Treasurer
Kelly Leonard
Ed McAlister
Dan Pierce
Ron Storto
Tom Taylor
a collaboration of the National Park Service, GSMA, and a variety of children’s books authors.
We bid farewell to North Carolina board members Kelly Leonard and Ronald Storto, whose terms of service ended. Kelly served as board chair and then as treasurer, while Ron chaired the Human Resources Committee and served on a wide variety of other committees. We are deeply grateful to both of them for their time and counsel.
This year we also lost two enormously influential contributors to GSMA’s growth and success. Former board chair Dan Lawson passed away on July 30th and retired executive director Terry Maddox passed away on December 21st. Both men infused a sense of innovation and partnership in our organization that continues to this day. Rest in peace, Dan and Terry. We closed the books on another remarkable year thanks to the support of our members, customers, vendors, park partners, and public lands alliance network of peers across the nation. We are grateful that you share our commitment to help preserve and protect Great Smoky Mountains National Park through education, interpretation, and research. We appreciate your continued stewardship of the association very much!
With gratitude,
Mitch Crisp, Chair, Board of Directors Laurel Rematore, CEO
UNDER THE STREAMS
NEW FIELD GUIDE ILLUMINATES THE UNDERWATER WORLD OF SMOKIES FISHES
Anglers, snorkelers, and anyone else who wants to learn more about the creatures swimming in Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s 2,900 miles of streams and rivers have a dependable companion to help them follow ing the April 2022 release of Fishes of the Smokies. The first comprehensive guide to fish species in the park, Fishes of the Smokies joins Great Smoky Mountains Association’s* beloved “Of the Smokies” series of pocket-sized field guides, which includes comprehensive overviews of birds, wildflowers, reptiles and amphibians, ferns, trees, mammals, and butterflies and moths.
FISHES
Debut author Grant Fisher draws on years of knowledge acquired during his tenure as a park employee to describe 80 distinct fish species. Each species profile contains detailed photography and illustrations alongside information about habitat, range, diet, and conservation history.
“Through working in the Smokies, I always observed that one of the topics visitors seemed to know the least about, but be quite interested in, was fish,” Fisher said. “I think that most readers will be surprised to learn that the Smokies are home to so many different fish. A casual stroll or drive in the park reveals many small streams, but I believe very few people actually expect them to hold such diversity.”
Fisher, a native of Sevier County, Tennessee, holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Carson-Newman University and a master’s degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. His research there focused on determining the effect urban stream restoration designs have on allowing aquatic insect and fish communities to function more naturally. While working for NPS, he conducted park-wide vital sign surveys of fish and aquatic insect species, helped restore populations of native brook trout, worked to systemically treat eastern hemlock trees against the hemlock woolly adelgid, and removed exotic plant species from sensitive habitat areas in the Smokies.
Complementing Fisher’s work is an introduction from Smokies Supervisory Fish Biologist Matt Kulp, which cov-
conservation issues, and how to see fish up close by angling or snorkeling. GSMA Publications Associate Aaron Searcy* edited the book.
“It’s a fascinating book, because in addition to featuring game fish like trout and bass, it opens your eyes to the many other amazing species that are often very small and beautiful, with fascinating life cycles and adaptation strategies for mating, raising their young, and finding food,” Searcy said.
Searcy sees the book as evidence of GSMA’s “special superpower” as an established partner of the national park. This position allows the organization to pair the editorial skills of its staff with the subject matter knowledge of current and former National Park Service employees, outpacing the depth and quality of research that might normally be expected of a small, regional publisher. The result is a resource that will be enjoyed by park visitors for years to come.
“From its well-researched species profiles to its detailed accounts of park history, Fishes of the Smokies carries on a long tradition of accessible, practical field guides to the flora and fauna of the park—created or vetted by those with the most intimate knowledge of the landscape,” Searcy said.
Since its publication, Fishes of the Smokies has sold more than 2,300 copies, bringing in nearly $30,000 to GSMA that can then be put to work toward the protection and preservation of America’s most-visited national park. The 4.5-by-6-inch paperback is available for $14.95 in the park’s visitor center bookstores and at GSMA’s online store at SmokiesInformation.org.
* GSMA rebranded as Smokies Life in February 2024. Aaron Searcy was promoted to the position of lead editor in January 2023.
MOST WANTED
EFFORTS UNDERWAY TO CATALOG SMOKIES SPECIES DIVERSITY
In 2022, the Smokies Most Wanted initiative from park partner Discover Life in America helped to significantly increase scientific knowledge about the myriad species living in Great Smoky Mountains National Park—and support from Great Smoky Mountains Association* was instrumental to making it happen.
“One of the big ideas behind Smokies Most Wanted is that it gets more eyes out in the park,” said Todd Witcher, DLiA’s executive director. “It’s a huge place and we can’t be everywhere at once, but visitors are out and about all day, every day, and they help us complete the big picture.”
Through its flagship project, the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory, DLiA works to identify and learn all it can about the 60,000 species estimated to live in the Smokies. So far, more than 22,000 have been identified. The Smokies Most Wanted initiative encourages park visitors to aid the effort by recording any living things they encounter in the Smokies and uploading those observations via the iNaturalist app. The goal is to find new species in the park, fill in knowledge gaps about where and when these creatures occur, and track the whereabouts of non-native species.
The initiative also features a “wanted list” of more than 100 high-priority species for which more information is needed about their abundance and distribution within the park. These include native species ranging from the eastern giant swallowtail butterfly and the common snapping turtle to white turtlehead and dwarf iris as well as invasive plants and animals such as the European starling, joro spider, and spotted lanternfly.
DLiA operates with a small staff, so to ensure the initiative’s success, it enlisted help from GSMA. We responded by providing funding toward staffing and printing costs associated with DLiA’s efforts to increase use of iNaturalist in the park and encourage visitors to seek out listed species. This funding helped DLiA complete year one of a three-year public outreach campaign and conduct several outreach events. In the fall, DLiA staff set up educational booths outside the Sugarlands and Oconaluftee visitor centers for three days and held four events at REI in Pigeon
Forge, with all seven events aiming to educate the public on how they could get involved with Smokies Most Wanted. Additionally, DLiA staff, interns, and affiliates contributed nearly 4,000 iNaturalist observations to the effort.
GSMA staff also provided “almost unlimited help” in branding and promoting Smokies Most Wanted, Witcher said. The creative team donated time for its marketing coordinator to assist with the launch and also produced a variety of written materials in support of the effort, including editing and distribution of a “Word from the Smokies” column written by DLiA’s Will Kuhn, which appeared in the Asheville Citizen Times, and establishment of a regular department within the biannual Smokies Life Magazine * featuring the “Smokies Most Wanted” initiative. Each installment highlights a selection of species from the list—and many of the issues promote most wanted species on the back cover.
The results of these efforts were impressive. In 2022, iNaturalist users recorded 25 new species in the park, and the 35,414 observations they logged in the Smokies represented a 41 percent increase from 2021. Also in 2022, the number of iNaturalist users logging observations in the park increased 13 percent and the number of species identified rose by 28 percent.
Participation has only continued to grow in the years since. As of November 2024, the Smokies Most Wanted project had garnered nearly 130,000 observations in the park, including 257 new species records. Since its inception in 1998, the ATBI has identified 22,102 species in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, including 11,245 that had not been recorded there before the ATBI was initiated and 1,092 that were new to science.
The blue grosbeak (P lea, formerly Guiraca caerulea medium-sized seed-eating bird on the Smokies Most Wanted List.
* In 2024, GSMA rebranded to become Smokies Life and Smokies Life Magazine became Life Journal.
OUTDOOR LITERACY
BILINGUAL STORYBOOK TRAIL GROWS PARTNERSHIPS WITH CHEROKEE COMMUNITY
Of all the family-friendly displays Great Smoky Mountains Association* has created since launching Storybook Trails of the Smokies in 2021, the one that debuted in October 2022—the series’ inaugural bilingual installment—stands alone as a unique project made possible by a diverse coalition of partners.
Beginning October 8 on the Oconaluftee River Trail near Cherokee, the storybook trail presented the award-winning children’s book We Are Grateful Otsaliheliga by Cherokee Nation author Traci Sorell, inviting readers to walk through the seasons with a Cherokee family as they celebrate each new part of the year with an expression of
gratitude. Families walking the trail could stop at each of the 17 panels displaying the book’s pages and Cherokee syllabary translations of the English text. Additional panels explained the project and partners involved, pronunciations for Cherokee syllabary characters, Cherokee cultural history, and how to learn more about Smokies stories.
“This project was groundbreaking in that it opened the door to deeper partnerships across the board,” said GSMA Publications Associate Aaron Searcy. “It was a nice example of what becomes possible when partners— including GSMA, the National Park Service, the Cherokee Speakers Council, Charlesbridge Publishing, and the University of Tennessee Extension Office—come together to make something amazing happen.”
The process allowed GSMA to begin fostering relationships within the tribe that have only grown and strengthened in the years since. The storybook trail debuted on the final day of the Cherokee Indian Fair, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ largest annual celebration. It remained there for one month before moving to the Cosby Nature Trail in Tennessee for five more weeks.
We Are Grateful Otsaliheliga was the sixth book featured on the Storybook Trail of the Smokies series, which launched in 2021. However, it was the first book chosen for display that came from a publisher other than GSMA. Author Traci Sorell and Charlesbridge Publishing eagerly agreed to allow use of the book. Smokies Life then collaborated with Cherokee language speakers enrolled in the
“Most everyone we spoke with loved the story, the signs, and the trail, too,” said GSMNP Ranger Katie Corrigan. According to Corrigan, trail visitors included those from nearby communities, including Cosby, Maryville, and Knoxville, but also those from as far away as New Mexico, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois. “It was a great way for our entire family to enjoy this trail,” said one visitor.
OUTDOOR LITERACY
EBCI, whose land sits adjacent to the park boundary. This partnership ensured the completed panels reflected EBCI culture and dialect, which differs in some ways from that of the Oklahoma-based Cherokee Nation to which Sorell belongs.
“The EBCI partners translated everything that’s in Cherokee in the book, and we put that in syllabary on top of each sign as a learning resource,” Searcy explained.
The project revealed the importance of bilingual offerings in trying to reach the diverse populations seeking connection to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and GSMA is continuing in that effort. In 2023, the organization launched a program in partnership with the City of Gatlinburg to create another bilingual storybook trail, this time translated into Spanish.
Storybook Trail of the Smokies has reached more than 30,000 young people and their parents, promoting both literacy and love for this special place. Based on an application encapsulating the first five displays, the project received the 2022 Outstanding Public Engagement Award from the Public Lands Alliance.
* GSMA rebranded as Smokies Life in February 2024.
A panel from the We are Grateful Otsaliheliga Storybook Trail display book illustrations and text while encouraging interaction with the trail through educational prompts developed by NPS staff.
FINANCIAL REVIEW 2022
as of Dec. 31,
CHARGED UP
EMERGENCY BATTERY REPLACEMENT HIGHLIGHTS
IMPORTANCE OF FINANCIAL
In May of 2022, the National Park Service discovered that the two dozen power storage batteries supplying Clingmans Dome Visitor Center* were failing and needed immediate replacement. This could have been devastating news for Great Smoky Mountains Association*, which runs the retail store there, but thanks to a financial management philosophy built around expecting the unexpected, GSMA was able to swiftly meet this emergency expense.
“As a responsive, nonprofit partner to the National Park Service, we insist on trying to do first-rate business under really challenging, remote work conditions, such as those up at the top of Clingmans Dome and way at the back of the Cades Cove Loop, and we have to be able to respond to unusual needs,” said GSMA CEO Laurel Rematore*.
Located near the trailhead for Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s highest peak, Clingmans Dome Visitor Center is far removed from the traditional energy grid. A solar array typically provides the building with electrical power, but the region’s frequent clouds and fog often render the solar panels ineffective—in which case, outdoor generators kick on, storing power in a bank of batteries.
But on May 31, GSMA learned that the batteries were no longer holding a charge, causing the generators to run constantly. This drastically increased fuel costs and created an unpleasant, noisy distraction for visitors who had driven a significant distance to appreciate the area’s remote beauty. NPS would typically be responsible for replacing the batteries, but the agency couldn’t cover the $15,000 cost within the current year’s budget.
Since joining GSMA in 2016, Rematore had made financial sustainability a core focus for the organization, working to set aside reserve accounts to ensure funding for emergency expenses and future needs, pay off debts, and support GSMA’s thriving retail business. When the failing batteries were discovered, the importance of the tedious
STRATEGY
accounting work completed over the past several years came into sharp focus.
“GSMA positions itself to be responsive to highly unusual situations that we’re faced with, and we have a thriving partnership with the National Park Service, so when they come to us with news like this, we don’t miss a beat,” Rematore said. “We have $15,000 set aside we can draw on, because we know this is important.”
Retail employees at Clingmans Dome depend on electrical power to process a high volume of credit card transactions, generating income that is used to further the missions of GSMA and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. But the outpost is important for many other reasons as well. Park visitors often take shelter in the building when storms whip up on the mountain, and retail workers carry NPS emergency radios so they can contact dispatch in case of emergency. Without electricity, it would be impossible to keep the radios charged or offer visitors a comfortable refuge during adverse weather events.
Thanks to quick action from both GSMA and NPS, the visitor center was able to carry on these critical functions with little interruption. Within 24 hours of learning about the issue, Rematore authorized $15,000 from GSMA’s operating cash to purchase 24 replacement batteries. This expenditure was categorized as unbudgeted aid to park. NPS installed the new batteries once they arrived.
“Making this investment in power storage batteries as soon as possible was the right thing to do,” said Rematore. “By doing so, we were able to minimize safety issues for our staff, maintain a pleasing outdoor experience, and deliver the excellent customer experience we are known for providing throughout the park.”
* GSMA rebranded as Smokies Life in February 2024. In September 2024, the traditional Cherokee name “Kuwohi” was restored to Clingmans Dome. Rematore retired as CEO in November 2024.
WRITER’S REVELATIONS
STEVE KEMP WRITER’S RESIDENCY RETURNS AFTER PANDEMIC BREAK
After taking a hiatus in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Steve Kemp Writer’s Residency returned in 2022—and Sue Wasserman, who had originally been selected for the 2020 program, couldn’t have been more excited.
“Beginning this residency, at least for me, is like being a kid in the proverbial candy store,” she wrote upon starting her adventure in April 2022. “My eyes pop, thinking of all the delicious possibilities. The only challenge, given the brief timeframe, is choosing what to focus on.”
A writer, nature photographer, teaching artist, and book editor with a previous career in corporate communications and public relations, Wasserman has had bylines in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Southern Living, American Style, and the Atlanta Journal Constitution , as well as in GSMA’s own Smokies Life Magazine *. She is the author of two books: A Moment’s Notice and Walk with Me: Exploring Nature’s Wisdom. In accepting the residency, which since 2017 has offered one chosen writer the opportunity to spend six weeks honing their craft amid the beauty of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Wasserman was eager for the opportunity to express her authentic voice as a writer in a way that is often difficult to do when producing commissioned articles for a particular publication’s specific audience. During her six weeks in the Smokies, Wasserman explored as much terrain as possible—in terms of both the natural environment and the written word.
“I’ve rarely met someone who is routinely more ‘in the moment’ and ‘of the moment’ than Sue,” said Creative Services Director Frances Figart, who oversees the residency. “She is extremely dedicated, organized, and loyal to the causes and interests about which she is passionate, which largely revolve around nature and teaching others about it. She loves working with both adults and children, using language and nature to evoke each other’s nuances with excellent interpretive success.”
Sue Wasserman
Wasserman made good use of her time in the Smokies, crafting an array of articles for Great Smoky Mountains Association’s* “Word from the Smokies” column as well as for the Smokies LIVE blog. She began her adventure by participating in the Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage, where Ranger Brad Free* introduced her to Elkmont, which quickly became one of her favorite places in the park. Later, she tagged along with a group of Furman University students for part of their three-week in-park learning experience, spotted a bear during a hike to Andrews Bald with residency namesake Steve Kemp, traveled to the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center at Purchase Knob on the North Carolina side of the park, encountered river otters and plein air painters in Cades Cove, and delved into the archives at the Collections Preservation Center with Smokies Librarian-Archivist Michael Aday.
The experience was a transformative one for Wasserman. The residency’s conclusion was as much a beginning as it was an end.
“Sometimes I’m amazed by how little I know about so much,” she said. “Luckily for me, however, I’m endlessly curious and open to the possibilities. In my brief time as GSMA’s Steve Kemp Writer-in-Residence, the doors have swung wide open to expand my knowledge and help me understand the national park in previously unexpected ways.”
* In 2024, Smokies Life Magazine was renamed to Smokies Life Journal. GSMA rebranded as Smokies Life in February 2024. Free left the Smokies in June 2024 for a position at a different National Park Service site.
GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS ASSOCIATION
supports the perpetual preservation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the national park system by promoting greater public interest and appreciation through education, interpretation, and research.
