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The Friends of Fall Creek Falls are a non-profit (501(c)3) organization established in 1994 to support the Park through various efforts that incorporate the CARE program which has been established to assist in preserving the natural & cultural riches of Fall Creek Falls State Park.
Purpose
Our purpose is to foster conservation and educational efforts in support
of Fall Creek Falls State Park, and to assist the Park in its efforts
to better preserve and protect its existing land resources. This includes
but is not limited to the many natural, cultural and scenic features
and to assist in providing quality recreational and interpretive experiences.
CONSERVATION - AWARENESS - RECREATION - EDUCATION
Daily Activities of the Friends
At the Nature Center
- Part-time staffing & Volunteers
- Building maintenance
- Management & daily operations of our non-profit retail sales & bookstore
- Provide accurate/friendly information to the parks visitors & guests via phone, in person and online. Trail maps & other free handouts printed. Weather conditions posted. Emergency situations aided as directed
- Keep brochures of addition relevant activities in stock for promoting Tennessee Tourism effors to visitors
- Eradication of non-native plants throughout the park and volunteer efforts at the Nature Center
- Assist park staff in monitoring water/air quality
- Advocate & promote State Parks System in different online & print mediums/venues for greater activity - volunteer participation & turnout
- Newsletter; We use this medium to keep our members and the general public who read it, updated on issues relating to the park directly or indirectly; your input is valued and appreciated
Board Information
2011 Accomplishments
- Printed & promoted limited mailing of Corporate Sponsorship packages
- Created New Friends Membership Application
- Established Volunteer Work Days and hosted several successful initiatives
- Negotiated and closed on the Helen Medley 4.6 acre tract
- Successfully managed the Craft Portion of the Mountaineer Folk Festival 2011.
This was one of the most successful festivals yet.
- Provided the avenue and helped with the grant from the the Arts Commission which is
used to partially fund the Folk Festival
- Ran the Gift Sales/Book Store area at the Betty Dunn Nature Center, and helped to keep the building open during certain days of the week.
- Supported financially the Fall Creek Residential Environmental Education Center,
the State Park's only true residential Environmental Education. The Friends buy both equipment and uniforms for the naturalists that work at the Environmental Education Center.
- Assisted in obtaining and managing a Recreational Trails Project (RTP)grant for the
sum of $85,000. The Friends might possibly have to bring some $ to the table
for match of the main grant. However, most of the match will be provided by park
materials and labor.
- The Friends web site is great, and Shawn Romano is doing a great job of keeping it
organized and up-to-date.
- Published 2 Newsletters in 2011 (actually organized by Matt Pereira, and intern from
William and Mary University).
- Maintain 501 c(3) status
- Co-sponsored 33rd Annual Mountaineer Folk Festival
- Co-sponsored Christmas on the Mountain 2011
2012 Goals
- Strengthen the infrastructure of the actual Friends organization. This would consist of things such as increasing membership, greeting new members with membership cards, etc., insuring the newsletter gets put together and organized quarterly, strengthen and clarify all of the Friends bookkeeping procedures, but especially as relates to the book store area. Make sure the contract with the State is up-to-date. Set achievable goals for 2012.
- Get more proprietary material together for sale at the book sale area, such as getting the Friends cookbook reprinted, and getting some more maps and brochures together. MX2 corporation is ready to print the new Park map. They are expecting an input from Friends of perhaps $2,000 to help with the initial setup of the map.
- In terms of the crafts at both the Mountaineer Folk Festival and Christmas on Mountain, standardize and clarify the procedure for obtaining a craft booth. That is, both festivals should have a process in place by the which the crafts are juried and hand made by the person selling the crafts. 3rd party crafts, items made in China, and/or items mass produced should not be allowed in either event. This process should be conveyed clearly to the crafters themselves. When applying for either festival, the crafter should be notified with plenty of time as to their acceptance or not, when they can set up, and other procedures. Communication is key.
- Help the Park to improvise a method to save some of its 90,000 Eastern Hemlock trees. Without any aid, the Eastern Hemlock is going to be wiped out by the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid.
- Look for ways to make money. For instance, do more tye dyed t-shirt workshops. Or perhaps get the pontoon boat repaired and do some pontoon boats tours by the Friends. However, the skippers must be trained in both safety and in the “story of the park.”
- Help to raise money, labor, and/or materials to strenghthen the Park itself. For instance, the Park has seven land in-holdings, that should these land in-holdings ever come up for sale, the Friends should be ready to help secure these in-holdings.
- The Nature Center needs and Automatic External Defibrillator (AED). Also, a four wheeler that can be used in emergency evacuations would be great. Instead of looking at these as direct purchases, perhaps we should see if we can get someone to donate these items.
- Display Boards
- Volunteer Coordinator
- Increase Mailing of Corporate Sponsorship packages
- Maintain 501 c(3) status
- Publish Quarterly Newsletter
- Assist with purhcase of new detailed maps of FCF for the Nature Center
- Increase awareness of the Friends and their involvement in the community
- Submit and learn more about Volunteer hours
- Grant for Nature Center Renovations
- Grant for Bile Trail through Campground
- Awarenes Flyer for Land Acquisition Donations
- Co-sponsor 34th Annual Mountaineer Folk Festival
- Co-sponsor Christmas on the Mountain 2012
- More goals TBD!
Future Goals
- Increase the membership of the Friends of Fall Creek Falls to a 1000 members
- Get the infrastructure to such a point that the Friends can recruit and hire an executive director.
- Help the Park to extinguish all seven in-holdings in the park.
- Help the Park to get the 37 miles of boundary that park personnel can’t find resurveyed and then maintained.
- Assist the park in maintenance of its trails and other aspects of its resource inventory.
- Assist park personnel in obtaining and maintaining equipment to be used for boundary and trail maintenance, and search and rescue.
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