Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the busiest National park in the U.S., but with the park service cutting nearly a quarter of all positions last year, volunteers have made up the difference.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
For the next installment of our series Here to Help, we hear from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee. It's the most visited national park in the country. National parks are increasingly reliant on volunteers, like married couple Scott and Jayne Young. Producer Annie Bennett met the Youngs when she was an AmeriCorps worker in the park three years ago.
ANNIE BENNETT, BYLINE: The National Park Service runs on volunteers like Scott and Jayne Young in the Smoky Mountains.
SCOTT YOUNG: And the good thing with us is we're never in a rut because we do so many different jobs. It's not like we're doing the same thing every day.
BENNETT: Scott and Jayne Young are known around town in Gatlinburg. They've been featured in local news magazines, and they're as intertwined with the park as black bears and pioneers.
JAYNE YOUNG: So we were hooked the first time we came - first time we came 'cause we saw a mama bear in a tree with cubs. And when we started researching and find out you can be active almost year-round, we go, that's a good place for us.
S YOUNG: See any wildlife like the elk out here. We're also going to check and see how the pigs are doing today. They got little pigs that they raise throughout the summer, so...
J YOUNG: And chickens.
BENNETT: Oh, God, they're so little.
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BENNETT: I asked Scott about all the different jobs they had done in their time as volunteers, and he just gave me a piece of paper.
S YOUNG: We do Adopt-a-Trail, Adopt-a-Cabin, Adopt-a-Phenology.
BENNETT: It barely fit on one page.
S YOUNG: And we do the adaptive chairs to take them out.
J YOUNG: And by the way, we've got over 13,000 hours apiece - volunteer hours for the park.
BENNETT: And they never once got paid.
J YOUNG: We have tagged butterflies. We have collared a bear.
BENNETT: It's the most visited national park in the country and it relies on volunteers like the Youngs to keep it running.
S YOUNG: We do recreations for Christmas Past and Daisy Town Days, where we dress up in period costume.
J YOUNG: Smokies Service Day.
S YOUNG: Smokies Service Days.
J YOUNG: Litter patrol.
S YOUNG: Yep. Just answering any questions that they have about the history.
BENNETT: What's the most common question you get asked?
S YOUNG: Where's the bathroom?
BENNETT: Lately, there's been an especially high need for volunteers.
J YOUNG: 'Cause the visitation's gone up. This park was built to handle 6.1 million and we're getting...
S YOUNG: Twelve, 13.
J YOUNG: Yeah. Even if we're just taking a ride or doing an errand and we're through the park, we look at it with different eyes now. Now we're looking to see if there's any problems or issues that we need to report back to the park 'cause you need eyes everywhere. There isn't enough people around to be in every square inch of 800 miles.
BENNETT: The Youngs estimate that about 99% of their shifts are worked together, but they never get sick of each other.
S YOUNG: No.
J YOUNG: No (laughter).
S YOUNG: No, no.
J YOUNG: It feels weird if we're not together.
S YOUNG: Everybody asks us that, but no, we get along really, really well.
BENNETT: Their love for the park and for each other is infectious, and their work ethic is inspiring.
J YOUNG: Once you go up that road to the mountains and you hear the peace and quiet and it - just said (ph) very serene. I said, I feel very close to God when I'm up there. If we didn't volunteer, I'm not sure what we would do because this gives us a reason to get up and get moving and stay moving, stay engaged, stay involved and keep learning.
S YOUNG: But we like what we do, and we do what we like. And you can't beat our office.
BENNETT: For NPR News, I'm Annie Bennett.
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