Victims of 2016 wildfire that spread from Smokies park will get to pursue their claims against National Park Service

The town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, was surrounded and invaded by wildfires that spread from the adjoining Great Smoky Mountains National Park in November 2016; 14 people died. (File photo by Pail Efird, Knoxville News Sentinel)

As the nation comes to grips with increased threat of wildfires, a federal court has reopened the door to damage claims from victims of a fire that burned part of a town next to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park almost seven years ago and may have been a harbinger of change.

Under a federal appeals court ruling Thursday, victims will still be able to sue the National Park Service for alleged mismanagement that led to the fire. The court "unanimously overruled a district judge who dismissed the suit over what amounted to a paperwork error," reports Tyler Whetstone of the Knoxville News Sentinel.

"U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer ruled last year the families failed in court documents to include core assertions that are required to proceed with the lawsuit. . . . Officials have not been interviewed under oath. No one has had to answer for what went wrong that deadly Thanksgiving weekend," when 14 people died. The News Sentinel has reported that park officials were aware of the dangers the fire posed but failed to notify city or county officials until midday Nov. 28, 2016. By then fire was speeding toward Gatlinburg," a town of 4,000 that adjoins the park's main entrance.

The park's fire manager "saw weather reports calling for high winds ahead of predicted rainfall and knew trouble could be on its way" four days into the fire, Whetstone notes. "The fire was still small at the time. He texted a park firefighter saying things would be 'interesting with 60 mph gusts predicted ... not sure any of us can do much at this point.' A third-party report paid for by Gatlinburg and Sevier County after the fire said a lack of information led to the disaster."

Friday flora/fauna: Invasive black carp thrive in mid-America; homes found for L.A. ponies, ousted as city ends rides

Black carp (U.S. Geological Survey photo)

Invasive and damaging black carp have established themselves in the Mississippi, Ohio and Illinois rivers, according to a study that is "the first to identify an established population, or one that is naturally reproducing and living to adulthood, anywhere in the U.S.," reports Meredith Howard of the Belleville News-Democrat in Illinois. The study was done by Southern Illinois University, the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Missouri State University and the Missouri Department of Conservation.

USGS said the carp “prey on species such as snails and mussels and pose a risk to many already imperiled native mussels in this region.” Howard notes, "Mussels improve water quality by filtering out algae, bacteria and pollutants and they also provide nutrition for other species." The carp, native to east Asia, were imported to control vegetation in Southern fish farms. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the recently passed water-resources appropriation expands federal efforts to control Asian carp.

Alessia Del Val, 4, on a Griffith Park pony. (LAT/Christina House)

Since 1948, pony rides have been available in Griffith Park in Los Angeles, but under pressure from animal-welfare activists who said (sometimes yelling at children during rides) that the horses were overworked, the city didn't renew the contract for the petting zoo, which expires Dec. 21. A veterinary inspection "did not show any outright signs of neglect or animal abuse, the expert found some animals were in need of help for saddle sores, as well as hoof and dental care," the Los Angeles Times reports. "The expert recommended better shelter and amenities, such as easier access to lower water troughs."

Owner Stephen Weeks worried that he wouldn't be able to find homes for more than 30 ponies, but he said he got 50 calls a day, and by Wednesday 25 had homes. Weeks told the Times the rest will probably go to a sanctuary so they can get medical care, and he chose not to sell any for auction or to another horse-ride business. “Some ponies are obviously capable of working, but as far as commercially working, it’s just my preference,” he said. “They’ve done that, and now they should experience something new in life, less work. ... It's almost like saying goodbye to a family pet.”

Photo from The Notebook by Poplar Terrace and Friends

Bradford pear trees were once a popular landscape planting, but they turned out to have several problems, including being invasive and hurting other species. It got so bad in Kentucky that the University of Kentucky is offering a bounty (seedlings of better species) for proof of destruction of Bradfords, a cultivar of the callery pear. In Louisville, "Bradford pears were aggressively growing into a field of white flowering trees on River Road, resulting in the destruction of the much-needed native species and the surrounding forest land," so they were removed, local philanthropist Christy Brown reports in her latest Poplar Terrace newsletter. "Ultimately, while it may be alarming to see so many trees uprooted, bear in mind that removing invasive species helps protect the biodiversity our River City relies on. In order to protect the resilience of our environment, we must protect the wild lands which enrich our health, culture, and economy."

Squadrons of all-terrain wheelchairs arrive at U.S. parks

 Action Trackchair (Aimee Copeland Foundation photo)

"Georgia and South Dakota are the latest states to provide off-road wheelchairs on public trails," report Andrea Sachs and Natalie B. Compton of The Washington Post.

The arrival of "Action Trackchairs" in Georgia's Cloudland Canyon State Park is a game changer for travel blogger and Georgia native Cory Lee. Lee has cruised 40 countries on seven continents in his wheelchair but was unable to explore Cloudland trails. “I’ll finally be able to go on these trails for the first time in my life,” Lee said. “The trails are off-limits in my regular wheelchairs."

Georgia's Department of Natural Resources and the Aimee Copeland Foundation partnered to "unveiled a fleet of all-terrain power wheelchairs for rent at 11 state parks and outdoorsy destinations, including Cloudland Canyon. Action Trackchairs are equipped with tank-like tracks capable of traversing rocks, roots, streams and sand; clearing fallen trees; plowing through tall grass; and tackling uphill climbs," write Sachs and Compton.

Each program has its own reservations system and requirements. For Georgia’s service, visitors must provide proof of their disability and a photo ID, plus complete an online training course available through All Terrain Georgia. Once certified, the organization will forward the rental request to the park. People are encouraged to plan ahead: The certification course takes about an hour; the foundation needs 72-hour advance notice, and the park requires a 48-hour heads-up.

National parks put up 'selfie stands' to help manage crowds wanting to get that perfect photograph of their visit

Selfie stand in Iowa's Black Hawk County

Parks are so overrun this summer that crowd control has become a major issue for the National Park Service. Some parks "are using counterintuitive tricks like encouraging selfies in one place to prevent them in another, and they are rolling out algorithms and autonomous vehicles to manage the throngs of recreation-seekers," Katharine Gammon of The Guardian reports. Park officials "are also acknowledging a hard truth: perhaps there simply isn’t enough space at America’s most iconic attractions for everyone who wants to visit them."

One major challenge is "the many visitors all aiming to get the perfect photograph, Gammon reports. "At popular spots in Yosemite and near the Grand Canyon, some have even fallen to their deaths in the process. . . . Enter the selfie station: a humble wooden stand in front of a stunning vista, ready to hold a camera for a safe and easy photo experience. They are part of an effort to corral people’s natural desire to take photos and to promote less-well-known areas."

State parks are doing likewise. "Tom Hazelton, who leads Iowa’s County Conservation System, has overseen the installation of more than a hundred selfie stations in his state" in the last three years, Gammon reports. “They are getting used and they are low maintenance and easy to build; the signs are $30 and the wood is another $60, and there you go.”

Iconic section of Blue Ridge Parkway shuts March 1-May 24

Linn Cove Viaduct in spring (Photo via Merritt McKinney)

If you're planning to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway to see spring blooms, you may have to take a detour or two. A signature stretch of the federal road, the Linn Cove Viaduct around Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina, will be closed from March 1 until May 24, just before Memorial Day.

"A seven-mile section of the parkway will be completely closed to traffic. The section of the Tanawha hiking trail below the bridge will also be closed," Karen Chavez reports for the Asheville Citizen-Times. "A traffic detour will be put in place from Milepost 298.6 at Holloway Mountain Road to Milepost 305.1 at U.S. 221."

Chavez explains, "Road work at high elevations must take place in a small window between weather conditions suitable for paving projects, and to cause as little impact to the visitor season as possible, said parkway spokeswoman Leesa Brandon." Other parkway sections are closed or will be; for a real-time map, click here.

The repaving will be the first since the viaduct opened in 1987, completing construction of the 469-mile parkway from Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. "The views along the winding viaduct are a huge tourist draw to the parkway, which is the most visited site in the National Park Service. More than 16 million people visited the parkway last year," Chavez reports.

Park Service seeks big entrance-fee hikes, mostly in West, for infrastructure and maintenance

The National Park Service wants big increases in entrance fees "at 17 of its most popular parks, mostly in the U.S. West," reports Felicia Fonseca The Associated Press. "Visitors to the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Zion and other national parks would be charged $70 per vehicle, up from the fee of $30 for a weekly pass. At others, the hike is nearly triple, from $25 to $70."

Most national parks and other Park Service sites do not charge entrance fees, Fonseca notes: "The 118 that do keep 80 percent of revenue for things like fixing restrooms, signs, trails, exhibits and campgrounds and send 20 percent into a pot to help other free park sites." The only Eastern parks affected would be Acadia in Maine and Shenandoah in Virginia.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke endorsed the increases as a 30-day public comment period on the proposal opened Tuesday. "The Park Service says it expects to raise $70 million a year with the proposal at a time when national parks repeatedly have been breaking visitation records and putting a strain on park resources," Fonseca reports. "It comes not long after many of the parks that charge entrance fees raised them. The rationale is the same this time around — to address a backlog of maintenance and infrastructure projects."

Other interests said the hikes might reduce visitation at parks. Kevin Dahl, senior program manager in Arizona for the National Parks Conservation Association, told Fonseca that Congress, not vistors, should bear maintenance costs should fall to Congress, not visitors. “We’ve supported increases at the parks,” he said. “They are a huge value for the price of entrance. But we want to look closely at this, and we want local communities to look closely at this, to see if it would impact visitation because we don’t want to price people out of the parks.”