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Purple Mountain Magic
The Great Smoky Mountain National Park, established in 1934, is an amazing world of diverse plant and animal life. Most National Parks have fewer than 20 native trees; here there are over 100 kinds. The mountains are over 200 million years old, making it one of the oldest on planet earth. It’s also the most popular of all the National Parks; 10 million people visit annually. That’s more than the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Yellowstone combined! And what they want to see is the magical purple haze.
The Cherokee called this home, “Shaconge” (Sha-kon-o-hay) which means Land of Blue Smoke. In the 1800s European settlers named their new land Great Smoky Mountains, and Blue Ridge Mountains. This blue smoke is not smog, not man-made. This beautiful consequence is God-created.
The fog lifts from the amazing vegetation. Plants take in carbon dioxide (making clean mountain air) and give off oxygen. But, they also exhale VOCs, volatile organic compounds. When trees breathe they give off scent with the oxygen, like the smell of pine. Any forest that has a lot of pine trees will have a blue haze, as does Acadia National Park in Maine. But the Smokies have millions of trees, bushes, and plant life with many of the common and native trees being those that give off lots of VOCs. The natural conditions of the Smokies – lots of sunlight, lots of rainfall, high humidity, and lots of stagnant air – create the perfect condition for VOC release, creating the purple mountain haze, making The Great Smoky Mountains the most beautiful vistas in the world.
With as many visitors as the park has, it could be assumed the haze is emission smog. More than 85% of this blue fog is natural. Pollution is the lowest it has been in years, down by 50%. Emissions from TVA are down by over 90%. The EPA has worked diligently on this and their goal is to return to natural haze in all the National Parks, and they are on target with their timeline. The beautiful blue haze has been there from the beginning of time, mysterious, enchanting, inviting.