The other side of the coin is that funding for improvements in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is hard to come by in times when the Department of the Interior's budget isn't real flush. The Smoky Mountains Natural History Association, established in 1953, produces most of the printed material offered in the park, and finds private funding sources for projects that don't fit into the normal budget process, like wildlife management programs and educational exhibits. Friends of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, organized in 1995, helps provide funding for larger-scale projects and facilities, and assists in lobbying state and federal agencies for additional funding. One of the Friends' most visible activities is the creation of vanity license plates in Tennessee and North Carolina to provide a continuing revenue stream. As status symbols go, this one is very big in the counties surrounding the park in both states.
All help is appreciated.
That's what those people you might see with clipboards, laptop computers and calculators are doing. They're even using global positioning satellite technology to document the exact location of everything they find. Construction of a forensic laboratory began in 1999 to provide on-site space to study the results of the program. When the ATBI is completed sometime in the second decade of the 21st century, it's anticipated that the number of known species within the park will increase tenfold. This estimated surge in knowledge, where the currently documented number of 9,800 species of flora and fauna is expected to exceed 100,000, will change the way our children and generations to follow them learn the natural sciences.