Grant Helps Great Smoky Mountains National Park Add to Its Fleet of Hybrid Vehicles

Four of the park's seven donated Ford Escapes await installation of radios and National Park Service insignia prior to being picked up by rangers or facility maintenance staffs. NPS photo.

A handful of shiny, new hybrid Ford Escapes will soon be tooling about the North Carolina side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, thanks to a grant from the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

The park purchased the seven rigs with nearly $200,000 from the transportation department's Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program. The CMAQ funding is U.S. Department of Transportation money that was allocated by the Rural Planning Organizations of the Land-of-Sky Regional Council and Southwestern Commission.

The goal of the CMAQ Program is to reduce air emissions in counties where air quality is in non-attainment of EPA Clean Air Act standards. The portions of Swain and Haywood counties that lie within Great Smoky are both in non-attainment due to elevated levels of ground level ozone, according to park officials.

The new vehicles are replacing seven "much more polluting vehicles, including two full-size pickups, three station wagons, and a sedan, some of which are over 20 years old, so emissions reduction are projected to be substantial," a park release said.

The new vehicles will be used in North Carolina park operations ranging from ranger patrols in the campgrounds to trail maintenance.

“One of the most serious threats that the Smokies faces is the impact of air pollution on the Park’s plants, soils and aquatic life," said Deputy Superintendent Kevin FitzGerald. “We strive, through education and through our own example, to inform the public of ways that they can work towards cleaner air. One way we do this is by gradually transitioning our vehicles and equipment towards cleaner technology.”

Four years ago park officials used a $33,600 state grant to convert all of its heavy equipment and large trucks to run on B-50 bio-diesel, according to the release. They later received a second grant of $31,900 to purchase two emission-free electric vehicles. Those grants required at least a 20 percent match from the Friends of the Smokies, but this latest one funded purchase of the hybrids 100 percent.

The new Ford Escapes give the park a total of 16 hybrid vehicles in service.