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I' 1 l f . ri I' YI HIS YEAR MARKS the golden anniversary of my love affair with the national parks. The first kiss? Half a century ago, at Acadia in Maine, as the sun emerged from the dark Atlantic into a lavender sky. The second, at Yosemite, on a night the moon impaled itself on the crown of El Capitan. Since then, I've visited nearly 100 units of the National Park System — mountain ice and desert grit, tundra plain and river of grass, red rock canyon, monuments, memorials, battlefields, seashores, wild rivers, scenic trails. As a suitor, I face a lot of competition. Most Americans are in love with their national parks, too. Every year between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July more than one newspa- per or magazine headline deplores the fact that the parks are being loved to death by too many visitors. But in 2003, this famil- iar story had a more disturbing twist. Career professionals within the Park Service, charged with conserving the parks "unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations," were said to be facing a crisis imposed not by tens of millions of friendly admirers but by a handful of decision makers in the adminis- tration of President George W. Bush. To sample the state of the park system and the mood of its caretakers, I decided to pay a visit to Great Smoky Mountains, the most visited of all the national parks. Straddling the Appalachian spine of North Carolina and Tennessee, Great Smoky packs in nearly l o million visitors a year. When I last visited the park, 10 years ago, the Sugarlainds Vis- itor Center just outside Gatlinburg, Tenn., struck me as a cramped space with unimaginative exhibits and a lugubrious orientation film. But now I found the center transformed into a showcase of interpretive excellence, bookstore, a spacious audito- rium, and a five -star film good enough to draw you back for a second sitting. This $500,000 makeover was funded not by federal appropriations but rather by increased sales revenues from the local natural history associa- tion's bookstore. The film was financed by campground fees and a grant from the nonprofit Friends of Great Smoky Moun- tains National Park . "There was a decision here to stop whining and try a new approach to doing business," said Acting Supt. Phil Francis. "The idea was to get the private sector more involved with the park." A decade ago, he explained, less than one percent Cove at Great Smol<y Mountains National Parl<, right. The Commandant's House in Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, above, 24 PRESERVATION JanuarylFebruary 2004