There had been no previous systemic, park-wide scientific study to provide a benchmark for future recommendations for the Smokies before Wednesday's report, Kiernan said. The public was forced to rely on conflicting findings of various groups, scientists and organizations when trying to evaluate the park's ecosystem, he said.
Raw data for the report was combined from the National Park Service, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and various state agencies to gather all data that is published or unpublished on parks, Kiernan said.
"This has significant scientific credibility in the United States and is gaining it worldwide," he said. Several areas of concern were noted in the report on the Smokies. Among them are:
? Ground level ozone and acid rain "threaten the health of park visitors, staff, vegetation, soils and streams."
? Air pollution has diminished visibility from an average of 113 miles from prime viewing locations to an average of 25 miles.
? The park has an annual budget shortfall of more than $11 million, and needs another 108 new full-time positions to adequately protect resources.
? Nonnative pests and diseases are killing off Fraser firs, hemlocks, dogwoods, butternuts and beech trees.
Much of the air pollution in the Smokies is from the burning of fossil fuels, particularly those used in power plants, factories and automobiles, officials said.
Conservation association program analyst Jill Stephens and Sandy McLaughlin, a researcher at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, described the scope of the park's air-pollution problem Wednesday while at the Twin Creeks research station.
At the research station, one of three in the Smokies and Oak Ridge, 35 trees are constantly monitored by devices that check their growth, sap flow and other vital signs every half-hour, they said.
While pollutants affect vegetation throughout the park, trees that grow at higher elevations - such as spruce and firs trees - are hit especially hard, Stephens said. Also, rainfall is up to 10 times as acidic as normal precipitation in the park and fog is often 100 times more acidic, McLaughlin said.
Jim Renfro, a Park Service air-resource specialist, said that some species of plants are showing "visible leaf damage" from the pollution, while others aren't growing as well. He also noted that during the past 15 years the park has had more than 300 "bad-air days," meaning ozone levels were high enough to threaten public health.
"That's way too many," he said. "There shouldn't be any in a national park."
Experts expect the Smokies to be designated a "non-attainment" area Thursday when the EPA releases its list of areas that haven't met federal clean-air standards meant to protect public health.
Officials of the parks conservation group also are opposed to the proposed North Shore Road project, also known as the "Road to Nowhere," in Swain County, N.C. The road was started in the early 1960s, but work ended because of cost and environmental problems.
The issue appeared again in 2000 when North Carolina Rep. Charles Taylor and Sen. Jesse Helms tacked a new $16 million appropriation for the road onto a transportation bill. The conservation group contends completing the road would be costly and also inflict serious environmental damage to the park.
LOL. We in the Carolinas are blessed with an overabundance of natural ozone. Ozone is what give the Smokies their name. It is the ozone that makes them look "smokey".
Much of this naturally occurring ozone has been increased over the last century with the success of the reforestation efforts of which the Great Smokey Mountain National Park is an integral part of. In the 1800s total deforestation covered much of the Smokies and the Blue Ridge. Today there is an almost unending canopy of trees throughout both ranges and the abundance of ozone that comes with the forest.
Ozone is not a pollutant! If you want to get rid of the ozone, you have to get rid of the forest.