You are here

North Carolina Legislature Retains Specialty Plates For Blue Ridge Parkway, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Appalachian Trail

Share
NC Smokies plate

The black bear is now safe on North Carolina license plates. Photo courtesy of Friends of the Smokies.

I never thought that I would be watching suspenseful events involving my car license plate. But in a dramatic move by the North Carolina General Assembly, our full-color specialty license tag has been saved. The black bear on the back of my car is now safe.

In the closing hours last Thursday, the North Carolina Legislature reversed a previous 2011 bill that would have removed my bear and other colorful plates from the road by 2015. These specialty plates cost $30 on top of the regular North Carolina motor vehicle registration fee.

The non-profit organizations that benefit from these specialty plate sales -- the Friends of the Smokies, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy -- receive $20 for each plate dedicated to their organization that is purchased or renewed. That translates into a lot of money for the organizations. The other $10 is spent by the state through the Special Registration Plate Account, which funds visitor centers and wildflower highway beautification projects.

Holly Demuth, North Carolina Director of the Friends of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, says, "I am thrilled that we were able to rescue the full-color license plate. Friends of the Smokies is able to donate $400,000 annually to Great Smoky Mountains National Park for projects that help the park. Some $1 million goes to three Western North Carolina parks including the Smokies, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Appalachian Trail."

Carolyn Ward, CEO of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, and Ms. Demuth of Friends of the Smokies, joined their two organizations together to work on protecting the full color Specialty Plate program.

“We care deeply about our parks and the revenue that people can provide to them. This program is critical to ensuring that we are able to continue to fund educational programs, visitor services and environmental protection projects for both our parks,” said Ms. Ward in a press release.

For a third year the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) license plate money has helped fund bear poles along the A.T. in the Smokies. Designed to work like old-fashioned laundry lines, the poles allow backpackers to hang up their food high and away from the reach of black bears. More than 70 miles of the A.T. is in the Smokies. One of the stipulations of the license plate program is that all the money received has to be spent in North Carolina. For the 2013 grant cycle, $35,000 is available for a broad range of A.T.-related projects in the state.

For the last couple of years, I've watched as non-profits in North Carolina worked hard to undo a bill that should never have been passed in the first place. The staff traveled to Raleigh, the state capital, to talk to legislators and convince them to continue allowing specialty plates.

Our parks need money now more than ever due to declining federal dollars. And license plates are a voluntary, fun way to show support for our favorite park.

Comments

Thank you, Danny, for an excellent summary of the importance of saving the plates for the benefit of public lands as well as for the travel and tourism promotion and highway beautification funding they provide.

All of us at Friends of the Smokies are so thankful for everyone who has bought and/or renewed our North Carolina bear plate, and for those who can now do so for years to come!


Great coverage of an important issue, Danny. The value of these specialty tags to protect and manage the A.T. can not be overstated.


I'm glad the nature design came back -- white rectangle is OK for visibility of lettering, but to lose the beautiful bear and mountain theme would have been pointless and stupid.


Add comment

CAPTCHA

This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.

The Essential RVing Guide

The Essential RVing Guide to the National Parks

The National Parks RVing Guide, aka the Essential RVing Guide To The National Parks, is the definitive guide for RVers seeking information on campgrounds in the National Park System where they can park their rigs. It's available for free for both iPhones and Android models.

This app is packed with RVing specific details on more than 250 campgrounds in more than 70 parks.

You'll also find stories about RVing in the parks, some tips if you've just recently turned into an RVer, and some planning suggestions. A bonus that wasn't in the previous eBook or PDF versions of this guide are feeds of Traveler content: you'll find our latest stories as well as our most recent podcasts just a click away.

So whether you have an iPhone or an Android, download this app and start exploring the campgrounds in the National Park System where you can park your rig.