National Parks

President Bush has proposed the biggest increase ever for our National parks. The budget for the National Park Service this fiscal year, which starts October 1, will be $1.9 billion. The appropriation for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for the last four years and the upcoming fiscal year is as follows: FY04:$15,329,000; FY05:$16,358,000; FY06:$16,796,000; FY07:$17,201,000; FY08:$18,690,000 (proposed). One very strong and fast-growing trend in recent years has been for friends or support groups all over the Nation to make monetary contributions and volunteer thousands of hours of service to our parks.