Cades Cove Loop Road Closed November 29-30!

The hemlocks need additional treatment to kill the wooly adelgids, those Asian insects that have killed so many of the lovely trees in the Park. The 11 mile road around Cades Cove will be closed to all vehicular traffic, including bicycles but hikers will be allowed.

On November 30, only the western end of the Loop Road will be closed to vehicular traffic. Visitors will be detoured at Hyatt Lane (the second crossroad) and directed to cross the valley and exit. The detour will shorten the tour of the Cove to eight miles and will eliminate access to the Cades Cove Visitors Center and the Cable Mill area for the day. It will also affect the following trailheads: Abrams Falls, Cooper Road, Rabbit Creek, Wet Bottom Trails and the Gregory Ridge trailhead.

Large truck-mounted sprayers will treat the trees with an insecticidal soap/oil solution that has proved efficient in killing some of the pests. So make your plans accordingly and mark your calendars with the dates.

Wisconsin Developer Bringing the “Dells” to Sevierville

My sister and I grew up in Michigan and spent wonderful summers at a cottage near Glen Arbor, Michigan on Glen Lake. They were long summers of low key, water sports and horseback-riding filled days and we relished the evenings spent with our parents in the family-oriented taverns surrounding Glen Lake. Great memories.

As my parents aged and their finances increased, northern Michigan summers were relinquished for summers spent in the more luxurious Long Lake Lodge in the Wisconsin Dells. The resemblance to our idyllic Michigan vacations ended with the landscape. The lodge was relaxed and comfortable with great food and wonderful water and pool facilities and the bar was as close as the nearest college student servers. It was definitely a step up for our family, and gave my sister and I a new perspective and a taste of sophistication as we contemplated college.

I say all this in anticipation of the new Wilderness Resort that was just announced for Sevierville. Pete Hellend, third-generation co-owner of the family owned Wisconsin enterprise that developed the indoor water park concept in the Dells, will break ground on the $100 million resort in May.

As per the Dells, the hotel and condos will feature rugged, mountain architecture, lots of stone and logs and water, water, water. It will be connected to Sevierville’s $182 Million Events Center on Route 66 coming in to Sevierville, near the Eagle’s Landing Golf Course and will feature restaurants, a shared court yard, coffee shops and retail, plus new roads and easier access. In addition a second resort hotel on 14 acres south of the first will showcase another 348 guest rooms and business center.

If this resort is as successful as the other Hellend projects in the Dells, Sevierville will have to work hard and fast to draw workers to the area for the needed employee base of 200, with an expected expansion of 1000 jobs. Pigeon Forge is already having trouble recruiting enough employees to staff the increased expansion there, so we’ll watch this project with interest closely………..I’ll also reflect back on my youth during its construction and hope the Resort will resonate with the same comfort and sophistication that I so enjoyed in the Dells of Wisconsin.

Main Street Marketplace and Riverwalk are Back on Drawing Boards!

Building permits could be issued as early as next week for the proposed development in Pigeon Forge that has been delayed for months over a dispute with the Environmental Protection Agency. It seems that the retail, resort and entertainment complex did not obtain the necessary wetlands permit, and the EPA halted progress on the project until the developers had met all its demands.

The Riverwalk project is located on a 150 acre property bordered on south of Teaster Road and Jake Thomas Road, and it’s southern most border is lined by the Little Pigeon River. This property will contain Marketplace, a 270,000-square foot lifestyle center with a projected cost of $75 million. It will contain restaurants, retail establishments and a 12-screen movie complex. About two acres of this property contains the wetlands that were inadvertently damaged by a contractor during site prep work, and the lack of a permit drew the ire of the EPA. All is well now and work can once again commence.

On the north side of Teaster, across the street from Riverwalk, the Pigeon Forge Village is planned. This project is an estimated $525 million development on 110 acres. The plans here are for condos, a water park, retail shops, restaurants resort lodges and entertainment venues.

The two different projects will employ about 3,400 people and generate more than $40 million a year in annual tax revenues. It is an interesting fact that Pigeon Forge is home to 5,400 residences and already the various attractions, hotels, motels and resorts are having to “import” employees to staff their businesses!

T-Shirts Net Friends of the Smokies $70,000

What a huge success the “Save the Hemlocks” tee shirts have been! The Great Smoky Mountain Association has sold over 6,000 of the short and long-sleeved shirts to date, and they are well on their way to meeting the $100,000 goal.

All the money go to the Friends of the Smokies and is used for the various hemlock projects like the successful nicotine spraying for hemlock predators and treatments with the special ageldid-eating beetles that were released in the park this year.

The shirts feature the art of Robert Tino, one of our most famous Smokies artists, and they can still be purchased. To order yours, call 1-888-898-9102 or visit www.SmokiesStore.org.

Twin Creeks Science Center to Be A Reality

Because of the invaluable assistance of both the Friends of the Smokies and the Great Smoky Mountain Association, the long delayed Science Center has finally been slated for construction late this year or early in 2006. Each of the organizations above raised $285,000 to make the center possible. It will be built in the Park not far from Gatlinburg.

The new space will be the catalyst for the Park’s large natural history collection, with many items scattered in different resting places. Now all the items can be put on display at the Science Center. There will also be facilities for the flora and fauna collections to be properly stored and exhibited and the specimens will be available to visiting researchers and scientists.

There will also be offices for park scientists, short term work space for visiting researchers, a 1,000 square foot education room for seminars and impromptu programs, a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) data room, a map room with enough space to spread out and use the maps, wet labs and an “aquaria” room to raise insect larva and for other aquatic research.