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Smokies
Smokescreen means entrance fee for
backpackers Lawsuit
Filed 3/02/13
This is
an entrance Fee.
Smokies land was
donated by private entities and the US govt.
Native Tennesseans and North Carolinians
were kicked out of their homes and land to
create a public area. We give Superintendent
Ditmanson 20.3 million tax dollars annually.
Last year conferred another 64 million EXTRA
stimulus tax dollars to build roads and fix
horse trails, now he wants to take more of
our money to increase his staff. Isn't that
what tax dollars are for in the first place,
to support the park? He blew through what
amounts to 3 times his annual budget with no
mention of any "backcountry" issues with
backpackers. The good ole Smokies 911
Scheme: Tell the public there is a security
issue and they will gladly open their
wallets. Tennesseans have always been a
shrewd bunch. That's why the Tennessee
legislature placed a
deed restriction
on Newfound Gap road before ceding it to the
Park Service stipulating that there could
never be a toll on this road. Once enacted,
this tax on backpackers will, like most toll
roads only increase over time. It is a foot
in the door for other entrance fees. First
backpackers, then horses, hikers and
automobiles.
See the
actual deed here.
Sign the Petition
to Repeal this Tax
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We need your assistance to fight the
feds in court. Can you spare some
coin to keep the Smokies free as it was
intended?
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Johnny Molloy, noted Smokies
backpacker, author and Southern
Forest Watch member, has this to
say about the fee,
"That
Great Smoky Mountains National
Park does not charge an entrance
fee is a point of pride for this
native Tennessean. And that the
park shall remain “forever
free”, means forever free and
not until park personnel decide
they need money for something.
Why don't they put quarter slots
on the bathroom doors at park
visitor centers? How about a fee
for bicycling Cades Cove? How
about a fee for entering an
historic building? We know the
answer. The public would become
outraged. Instead, they are
targeting backcountry users
because they can; the permitting
system provides the venue for
general revenue generation."
Read
the
article Molloy wrote
opposing this backcountry tax
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We support additional wilderness
designation for CNF and the work
done by Wildsouth.
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Check us out on
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No one is more synonymous
with fly fishing in the
Smokies than North Carolina
Resident and retired
Professor, Dr. Jim Casada.
Casada's book, Fly Fishing
in the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park: An Insider's
Guide to a Pursuit of
Passion has long been
considered the bible for
Smokies anglers and his work
with the Smoky Mountain
Field School underscores his
lifelong love of the Park.
As a noted outdoor writer
with books too numerous to
mention Casada was first to
call out the Sugarlands for
their “solution in search of
a problem” Jim's work to
expose the hypocrisy of this
absurd and unfair fee
proposal continues on a
daily basis.
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