Just over a decade ago the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was in trouble. Budgets were tightening, visitation was increasing, and the backlog of basic maintenance needs was preventing the park from embarking on new projects to meet the needs of its users. The nonprofit organization Friends of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park stepped into this void, and over the last 12 years its partnership with park staff has breathed new life into this beloved national treasure.

The work of the Friends, and its growing popularity with residents in Tennessee and North Carolina, was highlighted Aug. 11 when the group held its 11th annual two-state telethon on WBIR-TV in Knoxville and WLOS-TV in Asheville. The two-state effort raised $181,000.

“I am always amazed at the number of people who call in each year,” said Park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson.

The Friends of the Smokies was founded in 1993 because leaders in the park’s neighboring communities were keenly aware of its problems. These communities depend on the park’s nearly 10 million visitors a year to fuel their tourism-based economies, and they knew that the federal government had begun to backslide in its commitment to the park.

Since then, the Friends of the Smokies has raised more than $12 million through individual, corporate and foundation contributions, merchandise sales, special events like the telethon, and sales of specialty license plates in Tennessee and North Carolina. It has more than 3,000 active members and thousands of others who contribute through donation boxes in the park.

In 2005 alone, Friends is helping with more than 40 projects and programs with contributions of more than $1.1 million. Among some of the more prominent on this side of the park are:

• Parks as Classrooms programs and high school science internships at the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center (in Haywood County) — $47,960.

• Support the 5th year of the experimental return of elk to the Smokies — $40,000.

• Reprint Cataloochee elk brochure — $1,430.

• Support international migratory bird programs — $3,413.

• Restore a historic building in the Cataloochee area — $2,500.

• Purchase night-vision goggles for poaching patrols — $10,500.

• Support Student Conservation Association internship program in the Smokies — $115,000.

Whether it’s education, preventing poaching, trail maintenance or wildlife restoration programs, the Friends has become an integral part of this national park. We should all be grateful for the organization’s work, and those who are able should support the Friends of the Smokies in whatever way they can.

For more information, visit the North Carolina Friends office at 160 South Main Street, Waynesville; call them at 828.452.0720; email grtsmoky@bellsouth.net; or visit the Web site at www.friendsofthesmokies.org.