• Approximately 1,500 black bears live in the national park.

    Great Smoky Mountains

    National Park NC,TN

Issue 8: Fire in the Smoky Mountains

Controlled fire in Cades Cove.

Fire crews regularly burn fire-dependent native grasslands in Cades Cove.

NPS photo by Heath Bailey.

Resource Roundup: Highlights of scientific projects and findings for Summer, 2010

Meet the Managers: Fire Management

Focus On… bringing fire back to the Great Smoky Mountains

  • NPS Profile: Bringing controlled fire to Little Cataloochee
  • Partner Profile: Trees tell the history of fire
  • Links to… information about fire, further research, and volunteering opportunities
  • And for those in school… information about education & experience needed to become an expert in controlled fires and firefighting in national lands

Return to the Dispatches from the Field issue index.

Did You Know?

Scientists estimate that 100,000 different species live in the park.

What lives in Great Smoky Mountains National Park? Although the question sounds simple, it is actually extremely complex. Right now scientists think that we only know about 17 percent of the plants and animals that live in the park, or about 17,000 species of a probable 100,000 different organisms.