Students from Robbie Moody’s Tuscola High School class set up a “salamander pond” near Purchase Knob in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. They injected the tiny amphibians with a dye. Soon, Haywood County eighth-graders will return to the pond and recapture the salamanders. They’ll record data about how they have grown and changed, and the information will be passed along to park scientists to help them learn more about the life of these tiny amphibians who are often an indicator of the health of waterways and the effects of deteriorating air quality on wildlife.

“This is real data, not some kids playing at being scientists,” said GSMNP Purchase Knob Education Coordinator Susan Sacks. “It is incredibly exciting.”

Sacks was speaking last week at the Purchase Knob Science and Education Center to a crowd of about 50 who were invited by the Friends of the Smokies to the Haywood County site. Carolina Power and Light was making a $50,000 donation to the year-old Purchase Knob project, money that will help turn the old home into a research and education center. Plans include upgrading the existing house to house scientists, building an outdoor pavilion and making other improvements.

The 530-acre Purchase Knob tract was donated to the Park Service last year by Voit Gilmore and Kathryn McNeil. It is one of five learning centers being funded nationwide by the National Park Service. The concept is to let students and community members help conduct real research.

The Purchase Knob Science and Education Center is ahead of the other four because the Smokies was already engaged in similar activities at its Tremont Institute in Tennessee, said GSMNP superintendent Mike Tollefson.

“The goal is to blend research and education together, so kids can get a real hands-on look at the environment and what we are doing,” said Tollefson. “We’re kind of leading the way because of what was already happening at Tremont.”

Sacks said 1,000 students have already been up to Purchase Knob, working on projects like creating/monitoring an ozone garden to gauge the effects of air pollution on plants, studying the soil to learn more about its qualities, and capturing birds.

“If you’ve never seen a small child hold a bird, measure it, then let it go, I invite you to come up this summer when we do that again. It is an incredible thing to see,” said Paul Super, the GSMNP scientist who is working with Sacks at Purchase Knob to create programs that mix science and education.

“I feel like North Carolina is frothing at the mouth to have this here,” said Super.

Sacks said the Purchase Knob center will eventually be able to house up to eight scientists at a time. She also wants to continue building relationships with Western Carolina University and school systems in the region. Several WCU professors, representatives from the Haywood County school system, and local government officials from Haywood County attended the donation ceremony last week.

The CP&L donation actually was made to the Friends of the Smokies, an organization that assists the National Park Service by raising funds, promoting public awareness and providing volunteers for needed projects. Friends has donated more than $7 million to the GSMNP since the organization was founded in 1993.

The Friends of the Smokies recently opened a North Carolina office, which is located on Main Street in Waynesville.

“We are indebted to CP&L for their thoughtfulness, creativity and generosity,” said Myron Coulter, a member of the Board of Directors of the Friends. “We will be good stewards and see that the full benefit of this goes to youngsters, the environment, and the greater culture and society we have here.”

(For more information about the Friends of the Smokies, including volunteer opportunities and membership information, call 1.800.845.5665 or visit the website at www.friendsofthesmokies.org)

 

Back to Top
The Smoky Mountain News