Smoky Signal Podcast

Two rangers look out from Great Smoky Mountains National Park under the words "Smoky Signal: Great Smoky Mountains National Park."










Smoky Signal is a podcast exploring the science behind the Smokies.

Click the image to the left to listen now!

 

Season One: Collections

In season one, we explore three stories on the theme of Collections. We learn about renewing traditional plant gathering practices in the park, a natural history museum with thousands of specimens, and even the collection of something pretty stinky (in the name of science, of course).

What can we learn about the Smokies—and ourselves—through these acts of collection?

Listen Online & Apple Podcasts

 

The Smoky Signal Team

Smoky Signal is produced by Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center. Antoine Fletcher and Alix Pfennigwerth reported, produced, and hosted the show. Lisa Horstman (Smokies Life) created the cover art for season one.

 

Collections | Scat-ology: Researching Elk Fecal Matter in the Smokies

Don't step in it! Research it! In this episode, Great Smoky Mountains National Park staff teams up with the U.S. Geological Society and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville to learn more about elk abundance, recruitment, and survival since being reintroduced in the Smokies in 2001.

Special thanks to Jessia Braunstein, Dr. Joe Clark, and Joe Yarkovich. Artwork by Lisa Horstman (Great Smoky Mountains Association).
 

Collections | Mysteries of the Museum

From hellbenders to Smoky madtoms to rusty patched bumble bees, Antoine explores the natural history collections of the Smokies. Where do these collections come from? What can we learn from them? And how can studying decades-old specimens inform how we manage the park?

Special thanks to Baird Todd, Mike Aday, Paul Super, Becky Nichols, and Janie Bitner. Artwork by Lisa Horstman (Great Smoky Mountains Association).



Collections | Gathering Sochan

Alix explores how citizens of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians are renewing connections to their traditional homelands in the park, with the help of a certain plant species.

Special thanks to Tommy Cabe and Joshua Albritton. Artwork by Lisa Horstman (Great Smoky Mountains Association).

36 CFR § 2.6 (NPS Plant Gathering Rule): https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/36/2.6
GSMNP Sochan Gathering FONSI & General Agreement: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=382&projectID=82263&documentID=94060
EBCI - Sochan Gathering in GSMNP: https://cherokeenaturalresources.com/sochan-gathering/
EBCI - Cherokee Choices: https://phhs.ebci-nsn.gov/cherokee-choices/
Presidential Memorandum - Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Federal Decision Making: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/111521-OSTP-CEQ-ITEK-Memo.pdf

Last updated: February 27, 2024

Park footer

Contact Info

Mailing Address:

107 Park Headquarters Road
Gatlinburg, TN 37738

Phone:

(865)436-1200

Contact Us