Click Here –>1950's
1960
1960: Sugarlands Visitor Center is dedicated, becoming the first structure built in the park that is strictly for the purpose of helping visitors to plan their trips.
>Mission 66
1962
1962: Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring serves to reinforce the already building interest in the environment.
August 22, 1962: National Park System visitation reaches 1 billion. Superintendent Overly welcomes the "billionth visitor" representative, Mr. Martin and his family at Sugarlands Visitor Center.
1963
1963: Another non-native forest insect, Balsam Wooly Adelgid, is spotted in the park for the first time at Mt. Sterling. Balsam Wooly Adelgid, a tin bark burrowing insect, feeds on the park’s Fraser Fir trees killing 95% of the parks firs over 30 years.
>What’s Killing The Trees?
1963: The Roaring Fork Motor Nature trail is opened to the public. By the end of the month 3,528 vehicles entered the loop.
> Plan your visit
1964
1964: Congress passes the Wilderness Act, providing for enhanced protection of wild lands, including sections of the national parks.
> Wilderness Act Info
> Wilderness Act Info
1964: The last surviving Walker Sister still living in the park, Louisa, dies at the age of 82.
> The Walker Sisters
The Walker Sisters of Little Greenbrier 1965
1965: The first Student Conservation Association (SCA) group does volunteer work in the park. The group of 16 high school students from ten states, marks the beginning of a longstanding relationship with SCA that continues to provide up to 50 young adults each year to do jobs in every division in every park division.
> www.thesca.org
1965: Section 8 G of the Foothills Parkway in Blount County, and Look Rock Campground are open to the public.
> The Foothills Parkway
1966
1966: “Save our Smokies” hike helps to defeat a proposed second trans-mountain road connecting Bryson City with Townsend.
> Wilderness Movement in the Smokies
1968
1968: GSMNP chief ranger G. Lee Sneddon drafts the1st Bear Management Plan for the park. The program seeks to re-educate people as well as bears.
> Black Bear Info
Black Bear Folio 1969
1969: Maryville College begins operating the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont. Today, Tremont is still a park partner but a separate non profit operating in the park, providing camps and classes to people of all ages.
> Tremont Site