Not all Gen-Xers take years to figure out what they want to do with their lives. Tobias Miller, now 36, has known since high school that he wanted to work outdoors. As South District maintenance-worker supervisor for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Miller got his wish. He’s responsible for the entire North Carolina side of the park—400 miles of trails and 69 cemeteries containing 2,011 gravesites.
by Danny Bernstein in Vol. 15 / Iss. 37 on 04/08/2009
Related topics: hiking
My husband, Lenny, and I first visited Great Smoky Mountains National Park back in 1974. We were on a driving vacation from New Jersey and thought we could “do” both Shenandoah National Park and the Smokies in a mere two weeks. While I carried a pack filled with food, water and diapers, Lenny backpacked our 15-month-old up the Smokies’ Ramsey Cascades Trail, east of Gatlinburg, Tenn. We marveled at the huge hemlocks and the profusion of blooming red bee balm. Past the old Jeep road, the trail became rocky, wet and precarious, but we reached the cascades.
Trails Forever is the signature fundraising initiative connected to Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s 75th anniversary celebration. The Trails Foreverendowment will fund an additional permanent trail maintenance work crew to support trail improvement projects along the 800+ miles of hiking trails inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Friends of the Smokies is the beneficiary of a $2 million challenge grant from the Aslan Foundation of Knoxville. The Aslan Foundation is the legacy of avid Smokies hiker and founding Friends board member Lindsay Young. Because it is a $2 million pledge to be matched by Friends of the Smokies over the next 2 to 3 years, Trails Forever is a unique opportunity for anyone who loves the Smokies to contribute to its lasting preservation.
Since 1997, the Aslan Foundation has given more than $240,000 to Friends of the Smokies to aid in the preservation and protection of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Previously the foundation provided $5,000 for restoring historic log cabins in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and $170,000 to aid in the fight to save the Park’s hemlocks from the destructive hemlock woolly adelgid. The latter grant supported the expansion of a laboratory at the University of Tennessee where scientists rear insects are reared that feed upon the hemlock wooly adelgid. Because of the Aslan Foundation’s great support, the facility was named the Lindsay Young Beneficial Insects Laboratory.
Following Mr. Young’s passing in 2006, the Aslan Foundation has continued to build upon his history of philanthropy. The Aslan Foundation board and the Young family feel confident that because of his love for the Smokies and the people of East Tennessee, Lindsay Young would feel proud that he established the Trails Forever endowment for Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We are very grateful to the Aslan Foundation and the Young Family for establishing the Trails Forever endowment as a way to acknowledge Mr. Young’s love for the Smokies for all time. No legacy could be more deserving or more fitting.
To support Trails Forever, contact Development Director Sarah Weeks at 800-845-5665 or fotssw@bellsouth.net. Donations can also be made here.
To volunteer to work on a Trails Forever work project, contact the Park’s 75th Anniversary Volunteer Coordinator Jeremy Sweat at (865) 436-1711 or Jeremy_Sweat@nps.gov
