Department of Environment & Conservation
Jim Fyke, Commissioner

Ken Burns’ recent landmark series “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” on PBS has brought welcome interest and attention to our country’s exceptional public spaces. His comprehensive look at the historical path to the creation of our national park system comes at the same time when Tennessee and North Carolina are celebrating the 75th anniversary of America’s most visited national park – the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It has been my pleasure to serve on the Smokies Commission for the past four years and to participate in a number of celebration events this year for the Great Smokies’ anniversary.

There are many common threads running between Burns’ series and the Smokies anniversary. Both celebrate the uniquely American idea for public ownership of the nation’s most special natural and historic locations. Our country recognized its distinctive scenery, forests and wild creatures and then decided to safeguard and secure them in perpetuity by placing their possession in the hands of the people. As U.S. Senator and former Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander has noted, “India has its Taj Mahal, Italy has its art, England its history, but we have the great American outdoors.”  This “we” is the American democratic experiment in nature. Our national and state parks reflect our desire for a classless American culture, where every person owns a piece of the nation’s most majestic assets. Just as the Roosevelt Arch at Yellowstone Park reminds visitors to the first national park in the world that it was established for the benefit and enjoyment of the people, I am reminded of the Tennessee General Assembly’s guiding language more than 70 years ago for establishing Tennessee State Parks as “dedicated to and forever reserved for the recreational and cultural use and enjoyment of the people.”

I am grateful to our ancestors across the centuries that had the vision, courage and leadership to preserve special places in the United States and Tennessee for all the people. As U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said standing at Newfound Gap in September, “We are humbled by the courage and sacrifice of all the people whose lands became the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  We stand on the shoulders of giants.”  Governor Phil Bredesen echoed Secretary Salazar by noting, “As we celebrate a milestone in our park's history, may we also be reminded of the generous spirit and faith in the future that gave it birth, and may we be moved to recommit ourselves to that spirit and that faith in all we do as a nation."

Each generation has a stewardship responsibility to sustain our magnificent public places and treasured open spaces. Thank you for your support of Tennessee State Parks as we preserve and protect Tennessee’s natural, cultural and historic resources so that all citizens, rich or poor, may enjoy them forever.

Jim Fyke Commissioner