Environmental Update Main Great Smoky Mountains Main Stop the North Shore road! Keep Elkmont Natural!

Protect the Great Smoky Mountains: No North Shore Road! Nearly 75 hikers from around the Appalachian region attended our hike to Save the Smokies on Tuesday, Feb 22, 2005 (a work day no less!) and well over 100 stayed for the subsequent Park Service public meeting. The meeting was the final round of public input on the proposed North Shore Road before the draft EIS is released later in the year. Our big push was to publicize the cash settlement as an alternative to the destructive 34 mile road through the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains. The hike was a cooperative effort of several environmental groups which in itself was a great accomplishment. Sierra Club had great representation. Five Knoxville activists drove across the mountain to attend. Will Skelton led the Q & A session with an excellent question regarding the Park Service alternatives and the 1943 Agreement. Norm Sharp on the national Wildlands Committee came from South Carolina and took part in the hike. Sierra Club members from GA, SC, NC and TN in attendance. over 5,000 postcards were sent to Sierra Club homes in western NC, eastern TN over 100 people attended the hike/public meeting in Bryson City, NC (the beginning of the proposed road) 4 media outlets took part in the hike: Charlotte Observer, Asheville C-T, Smoky Mountain News and WLOS TV. (Asheville Citizen-Times and WLOS blurb included here, Charlotte and Smoky Mountain News will be longer stories to hopefully come out next week) Sierra Club led top story on WLOS/ABC outlet at 5:30, 6:00 and 11:00 news. Find out more at tennessee.sierraclub.org Up to Top