Basic Organization Information
FRIENDS OF GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK INC
- Also Known As:
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Friends of the Smokies
- Physical Address:
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Kodak, TN
37764 7660
- EIN:
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62-1564782
- Web URL:
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www.friendsofthesmok...
- NTEE Category:
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C Environmental Quality Protection, Beautification
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C12 Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution
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C Environmental Quality Protection, Beautification
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C30 Natural Resource Conservation and Protection
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C Environmental Quality Protection, Beautification
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C99 Environmental Quality, Protection, and Beautification N.E.C.
- Year Founded:
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1995
- Ruling Year:
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1996
- How This Organization Is Funded:
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2012 Contributions and Grants - $1,435,662
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License plate revenue- State of Tennessee & State of North Carolina - $815,883
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Special Events, net of direct expenses - $269,440
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Mission Statement
While the National Park Service is charged with taking care of the core needs of the park's natural, cultural, and visitor resources, Friends of the Smokies helps the park do even more, catalyzing efforts to study, protect, and restore our natural heritage; expanding programs that benefit schoolchildren in surrounding communities; restoring and sharing the park's rich cultural history; improving opportunities for safe recreation in the backcountry; and acting on other timely opportunities to preserve and protect the Great Smoky Mountains. Working together, we make the Smokies even greater.
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Impact Summary from the Nonprofit
Each year, Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park provides more than $1 million to support education, historic preservation, trail maintenance, and wildlife, natural and cultural resource protection, and volunteerism in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Revenue and Expenses
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Revenue and Expense data from Forms 990 for 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 are included in the GuideStar Premium Report.
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Balance Sheet
Balance Sheet data from Forms 990 for Year 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 are included in the GuideStar Premium Report.
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Leadership
Mr. James Hart
Profile:
Spent 35 years in television station management. Managed NBC stations in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Cincinnati, Ohio, as well as WBIR-TV Channel 10 in Knoxville, 1981-1994. President of Multimedia Broadcasting.
Senior Vice President for Television- Scripps Howard Broadcasting 1995 until retirement in 2002.
Appointed Executive Director of Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in May 2002. President of Friends of the Smokies since February 2005.
Leadership Statement:
Our challenge is to keep moving forward and continue to emphasize Great Smoky Mountains National Park as a national, natural treasure that is worth preserving and protecting. We are thankful for every faithful and generous gift of volunteer time and financial resources.- Jim Hart, President
Highest Paid Employees & Their Compensation
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Program:
2013 Parks As Classrooms Support
- Budget:
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$112,372
- Category:
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Education
- Population Served:
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Children Only (5 - 14 years)
Program Description:
Approximately 18,000 students every year in Tennessee and North Carolina receive curriculum-based environmental education opportunities through the Parks as Classrooms program. These hand-on, ranger-led lessons utilizing Great Smoky Mountains National Park as an enormous outdoor classroom help foster a love for nature and inform the next generation of park supporters.
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2013 Cherokee Student Archaeological Field School
- Budget:
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$9,523
- Category:
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Youth Development
- Population Served:
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Native Americans/American Indians
Program Description:
The focus of this project is to support cataloging the artifacts excavated in 2012 and preparing a field report. The field school is a cooperative effort between the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), the National Park Service, and the University of Tennessee's Archeological Research Laboratories. The EBCI have committed to providing an additional $9,000 to help support this analysis and cataloging.
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Program:
2013 Suppress Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Infestation
- Budget:
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$50,000
- Category:
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Environment
- Population Served:
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General Public/Unspecified
Program Description:
Since 2003, Friends of the Smokies has taken a leadership role in supporting the most ambitious program in the Southeast aimed at protecting hemlocks from the invasive and deadly hemlock woolly adelgid. To date, more than 200,000 individual hemlock trees have been hand-treated, and more than 4,400 acres of hemlock-dominated forest have been set aside as special conservation areas. The eastern hemlock is the only shade-tolerant conifer in the Smokies, and it helps to regulate forest and stream temperatures to support the habitat of a myriad of other spoecies including brook trout and migratory birds. Protection includes a combination of soap spraying in the front country, systemic pesticides in more remote areas, and biological control using predator beetles raised in the Lindsay Young Beneficial Insect Lab at UT.
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2013 Black Bear Conservation Programs
- Budget:
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$39,300
- Category:
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Animal-Related
- Population Served:
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General Public/Unspecified
Program Description:
$34,300 for seasonal staff to manage wildlife and safety issues, especially working traffic jams that result from bear sightings along park roadways for the protection of both black bears and park visitors; $10,000 to support the Appalachian Bear Rescue center in Townsend, TN which rehabilitates orphaned and injured black bears for reintroduction into their native habitat; $4,000 to maintain black bear-resistant food storage hoisting systems at all backcountry campsites & shelters for the safety of hikers and bears
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2013 Support Appalachian Trail Ridgerunner Program
- Budget:
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$51,930
- Category:
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Employment
- Population Served:
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Adults
Program Description:
Each year the park recruits a series of individuals who provide a presence on the Appalchian Trail from March through October. They provide visitor information, natural resource protection, perform trail maintenance, pack out litter, keep up composting privies, report on trail and backcountry shelter conditions, report emergencies, advise hkers on food storage and other regulations, and relay real-time information regarding possible problem bears. The presence on the A.T. for over 15 years has made a huge difference in the park's ability to manage the A.T. in the Smokies.
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Evidence of Impact
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