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Great Smoky Mountains National ParkLight snowfalls typically occur several times each winter in the park.
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Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Professional Development
 
A school teacher leads a class in the park.
The Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont is a residential environmental learning center located in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Tremont offers workshops and programs for everyone, from teachers to grade school children to Elderhostel groups. Several special programs for teachers are offered including Teacher Escape Weekends, a Southern Appalachian Naturalist Certification series, and Science Teacher Institutes, to help you improve your teaching skills while enjoying the beauty of the park. For more information, call (865) 448-6709 or visit the Tremont website.

The Smoky Mountain Field School offers high-quality workshops, hikes, and adventures for people who want to enhance their enjoyment, appreciation, and understanding of the Smokies and the great outdoors. For more information and a schedule of programs, call (865) 974-0150.
Longhorn Beetle
Dispatches from the Field
Go behind the scenes with scientists in the Great Smoky Mountains.
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Santeetlah salamander
Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center
Promoting research and science education
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Flame azalea can be found growing on heath balds in the park.  

Did You Know?
The park’s high elevation heath balds are treeless expanses where dense thickets of shrubs such as mountain laurel, rhododendron, and sand myrtle grow. Known as “laurel slicks” and “hells” by early settlers, heath balds were most likely created by forest fires long ago.

Last Updated: October 30, 2009 at 09:42 EST