The Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s role as a benefactor for local communities on its periphery is starkly revealed in a new study commissioned by the National Park Service. Its economic impact on several counties in Tennessee and North Carolina amounts to several hundred million dollars and provides work for upwards of 14,000 people, the study says.

By contrast, the park draws more than twice as many people as the second-ranked national park and generates half again as much in revenue and jobs in the local economies. Results of the study were released Tuesday by Bob Miller, management assistant at the Smokies park. James Gramann, a social scientist at Texas A&M University, who also is affiliated with the park service, conducted the study. Miller’s statement, says Fran Mainella, director of the park service, asked in 2004 for an annual study on parks’ economic impact on surrounding communities beginning with 2005. It is those results that were made public Tuesday. They provide a state-by-state breakdown of how the 388 parks’ visitor spending be

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