III 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 137 

Recognizing and commending the people of the Great Smoky Mountains 

National Park on the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the park. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 7, 2009 

Mr. ALEXANDER (for himself, Mr. BURR, Mr. CORKER, and Mrs. HAGAN) 

submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing and commending the people of the Great Smoky 

Mountains National Park on the 75th anniversary of 

the establishment of the park. 

Whereas, in the 1920s, groups of citizens and officials in 

Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee displayed enormous foresight in recognizing the potential 

benefits of a national park in the Southern Appalachian 

Mountains; 

Whereas the location of the park that became the Great 

Smoky Mountains National Park was selected from 

among the finest examples of the most scenic and intact 

mountain forests in the Southeastern United States; 

Whereas the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was the product of more than 2 decades of 


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•SRES 137 IS 

determined effort by leaders of communities across Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee; 

Whereas the State legislatures and Governors of North Carolina and Tennessee exercised great vision in appropriating the funding that was used, along with funding 

from the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fund, to 

purchase more than 400,000 acres of private land that 

became part of the Great Smoky Mountains National 

Park; 

Whereas the citizens of communities surrounding the Great 

Smoky Mountains National Park generously contributed 

funding for land acquisition to bring the Great Smoky 

Mountains National Park into being; 

Whereas more than 1,100 families and other property owners 

were called upon to sacrifice their farms and homes for 

the benefit and enjoyment of future generations that 

would visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park; 

Whereas the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established as a completed park by the Act entitled ‘‘An 

Act to establish a minimum area for the Great Smoky 

Mountains National Park, and for other purposes’’, approved June 15, 1934 (16 U.S.C. 403g); 

Whereas the Great Smoky Mountains National Park covers 

approximately 521,621 acres of land in the States of 

Tennessee and North Carolina, making it the largest protected area in the Eastern United States; 

Whereas the Great Smoky Mountains National Park provides 

sanctuary for the most diverse flora and fauna of any national park in the temperate United States, and preserves 

an unparalleled collection of historic structures as a 


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•SRES 137 IS 

‘‘time capsule’’ of Appalachian culture during the 19th 

and early 20th centuries; 

Whereas, on September 2, 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Great Smoky Mountains National 

Park; 

Whereas the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has been 

the most popular national park in the United States since 

it opened, and attracts between 9,000,000 and 

10,000,000 visitors each year, making it the most visited 

of the 58 national parks in the United States; and 

Whereas visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National 

Park contribute more than $700,000,000 to the local 

economy each year, resulting in more than 14,000 jobs 

in North Carolina and Tennessee: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) commends the citizens of Western North 

3 Carolina and Eastern Tennessee for their vision and 

4 sacrifice; 

5 (2) commends the people of the Great Smoky 

6 Mountains National Park and the National Park 

7 Service for 75 years of successful management and 

8 preservation of the park land; 

9 (3) congratulates the people of the Great 

10 Smoky Mountains National Park on the 75th anni11 versary of the park; and 

12 (4) requests the Secretary of the Senate to 

13 transmit an enrolled copy of this resolution for apVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:48 May 08, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR137.IS SR137

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•SRES 137 IS 

1 propriate display to the headquarters of the Great 

2 Smoky Mountains National Park. 

Æ 


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