Partners

Smokies 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.

 

Discover Life in America

Great Smoky Mountains National Park hosts the most biological diversity of any U.S. national park. Since 1998, Discover Life in America (DLiA), a nonprofit partner, has collaborated on the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) to identify every species in the park, documenting over 12,000 previously unrecorded species, including over 1,000 new to science. This research guides conservation efforts, while DLiA’s outreach and education programs inspire stewardship and cultivate future nature advocates.

 

Friends of the Smokies

As the park’s philanthropic partner, Friends of the Smokies contributes to needed projects and programs in the park. Since 1993, Friends has raised more than $100 million toward a diverse array of park needs. Friends provides millions of dollars each year to support the Trails Forever crew, Forever Places crew, wildlife protection, and search-and-rescue training and equipment. Friends also supports access for people with mobility needs, educational activities with schools, and forest conservation efforts.

 

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.

 

Smokies Life

Since 1953, the nonprofit Smokies Life has supported the park’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. Smokies Life offers memberships to individuals, Park Keepers, and businesses, Lookout League.