Llamas in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Right now, a visitor cannot carry a loaded gun in a National Park but Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn has proposed a bill that would overturn regulations on firearm possession in National Parks and Wildlife Refuges that have been in effect since 1987. This amendment would prohibit the Secretary of Interior from enforcing regulations currently in place that require gun owners to have their guns unloaded while visiting most units of the National Park System. That would include the Appalachian Trail.

Senator Coburn’s amendment could dramatically degrade the experience of park visitors and put their safety at risk if units of the National Park System were compelled to follow state gun laws. It would increase poaching and much worse. In many cases, states would also allow guns in their state parks. Do we really want gun massacres in the parks  the same way we have them in shopping malls?

Read all about it from the Coalition of National Park Retirees, the people who know the parks best and can voice their opinion.

The Greenway is a pleasant, partly paved walk along the Little Tennessee River with many amenities, including benches, restrooms, and picnic tables. It’s four miles one way and if you don’t have any way to get back to your car, you have an eight-mile flat, easy walk where you’ll meet many friendly people. This walk is a change of pace from the heavily wooded forest trails; here you’ll see open sky, wetlands, historic bridges and yes, a little traffic. It goes in a general east/west direction but the Greenway map calls it north/south so you’ll be walking trail south. The mileage is posted every quarter-mile, starting from Suli Marsh.

A greenway is a linear open space established along a natural corridor, such as a river, stream, or rail-to-trail route for conservation, recreation, and even transportation. Greenways help preserve important natural landscapes, provide links between fragmented habitats, and protect wetlands. They can connect parks, nature preserves, cultural facilities, and historic sites with business and residential areas. People hike, run, bike, roller blade and walk their dogs. Greenways attract walkers who would not ordinarily go into the woods. An older couple walking their dog said that they probably did 1,000 miles a year on the Little Tennessee Greenway because they walk it every day.