• About
    • About Us
    • What We Cover
  • Advertise
    • Advertise
    • Our Advertisers
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Send News
  • Subscribe

Oak Ridge Today

  • Home
  • Sign in
  • News
    • Business
    • Community
    • Education
    • Government
    • Health
    • Police and Fire
    • U.S. Department of Energy
    • Weather
  • Sports
    • High School
    • Middle School
    • Recreation
    • Rowing
    • Youth
  • Entertainment
    • Arts
    • Dancing
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Television
    • Theater
  • Premium Content
  • Obituaries
  • Classifieds

Y-12 employee-led Help to the Smokies team still going strong

Posted at 12:18 am November 26, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Y-12 Employees Help the Smokies

Y-12’s Help to the Smokies employee-led team volunteered at a Great Smoky Mountains National Park cleanup event on Nov. 8. The team contributed 154 hours in restoration and enhancement activities during the event. (Submitted photo)

 

Note: This story was updated at 10:40 a.m. Nov. 26.

Y-12’s employee-led Help to the Smokies team tacked another 154 hours onto their already massive volunteer service record at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park during their annual volunteer work day on November 8. Since its start, the volunteer team has contributed about 14,000 hours in the Park.

Some 22 volunteers assisted park staff in maintenance and refurbishment of Loop B campsites at the Cosby Campground. The volunteer team performed general restoration activities for 31 individual campsites. These activities included elevating, leveling, and resetting 31 picnic tables, distributing and applying 85 tons of gravel covering to 26 campsites, and leveling selected camp fire rings.

Advertisement

The group performed similar restoration duties last year on Loop A. The volunteers also removed and replaced 10 existing picnic tables from the Cosby Picnic Area Pavilion with new environmentally friendly tables.

Since 1996, hundreds of employees from the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, along with their friends and family, have lent a hand to Y-12’s Help the Smokies team to improve picnic areas and campsites, including making sites more accessible to those with disabilities. The group also constructed the Cades Cove Loop orientation shelter and a 26-by-90-foot greenhouse at the Twin Creek Experiment Station.

Al Roberson of Y-12’s Uranium Processing Facility project has led the team for eight years and says he still feels as strongly about helping maintain the park as when he joined the volunteer project 18 years ago.

“This park has given me and my family hours of enjoyment,” he said. “I want to see my children and future generations experience that same beauty and majesty of our national park.”

Y-12 Volunteer Group at Cosby

The volunteer group from the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above at Cosby. (Last two photos courtesy Great Smoky Mountains National Park)

 

Here is a press release and more photos from Great Smoky Mountains National Park:

Volunteers Continue 18-year Tradition of Service in Cosby

Y-12’s Help the Smokies team continued their 18-year tradition of stewardship in Great Smoky Mountains National Park by renovating 26 campsites at Cosby Campground. Volunteers from the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have donated over 14,000 hours of service to the park including over 300 hours in 2014.

Volunteers elevated, leveled, and reset 31 picnic tables using over 85 tons of gravel in 26 different campsites. The team also repaired campfire rings at the campsites. In addition to their work in the campground, the team replaced several picnic tables in the Cosby Picnic Pavilion.

Advertisement

“Through this unique partnership, we have been able to accomplish a variety of complex projects pairing their highly skilled volunteers with our park staff,” said Acting Superintendent Clayton Jordan. “We appreciate their ongoing support, which allows us to better care for facilities serving thousands of visitors annually.”

Over the last 18 years, the volunteer group has completed similar campground and picnic area renovations at Elkmont, Cades Cove, Chimneys, and Metcalf Bottoms. They also aided in the construction of the Cades Cove Loop Road orientation shelter, reassembled of a 26’x90’ greenhouse at the Twin Creeks Natural Resources Center, and coordinated temporary storage for the park’s cultural resource collection at facilities in Oak Ridge.

“The park has given me and my family hours of enjoyment,” said Al Roberson, Help the Smokies Team Leader. “I want to see my children and future generations experience the same beauty and majesty of our national park.”

For more information about how groups can volunteer in the park, visit the park website at http://www.nps.gov/grsm/supportyourpark/volunteer.htm.

Y-12 Volunteers at Cosby

Y-12 volunteers work at Cosby.

 

 

Filed Under: Federal, Government, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: Cades Cove Loop, Clayton Jordan, Cosby Campground, Cosby Picnic Area, Cosby Picnic Pavilion, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Help to the Smokies, Loop A, Loop B campsites, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Twin Creek Experiment Station, uranium processing facility, volunteer work day, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex

Advertisements


 

Join the club!

If you appreciate our work, please consider subscribing. Besides helping us, your subscription will give you access to our premium content.

Most of our stories are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our members—advertisers, subscribers, and sponsors.

But some are premium content, available only to members. Those are in-depth, investigative, or exclusive stories that are available only on Oak Ridge Today. They generally require at least four hours to report, write, and publish.

You can subscribe for as little as $5 per month.

You can read more about your options here.

We currently offer five primary subscription options to readers, and they include benefits.

Basic

  • Basic monthly subscription ($5 per month)—access premium content
  • Basic annual subscription ($60 per year)—access premium content

Pro

  • Pro monthly subscription ($10 per month)—access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month
  • Pro annual subscription ($100 per year)—save $20 per year, access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month

Temporary

  • Temporary access ($3 per week for two weeks)

We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here.

We also accept donations. You can donate here.

If you prefer to send a check for a subscription or donation, you may do so by mailing one to:

Oak Ridge Today
P.O. Box 6064
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

Thank you for your consideration and for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support.

Commenting Guidelines

We welcome comments, but we ask you to follow a few guidelines:

1) Please use your real name, including last name. Please also use a valid e-mail address.
2) Be civil. Don't insult others, attack their character, or get personal.
3) Stick to the issues.
4) No profanity.
5) Keep your comments to a reasonable length and to a reasonable number per article.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these guidelines. Comments held for review, usually from those posting for the first time, may not post if they violate these guidelines. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Thank you also for reading Oak Ridge Today and for participating in the discussion.

More information is available here.

More Government News

Luminarias to feature peace messages

Luminarias with peace messages will be lit this year to remember and acknowledge the atomic bombings of Japan in August 1945, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park said. A luminaria is a lantern with a candle … [Read More...]

Repairs set for S. Illinois Ave. this week

The City of Oak Ridge Public Works Department will be making asphalt repairs to South Illinois Avenue this week, weather permitting, a press release said. The work will be in the northbound lanes across from Badger … [Read More...]

City of Oak Ridge Seal

Horizon Center power, airport update, mercury storage on Council agenda

An airport update, potential comments about mercury storage, and an overview of a proposed 69-kilovolt electrical line for the TRISO-X project at Horizon Center are on the agenda for an Oak Ridge City Council work … [Read More...]

Planning Commission to consider rezoning for nuclear fuel fabrication

The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission on Thursday will consider rezoning 110 acres at Horizon Center for a nuclear fuel fabrication company. The property (Lot 6a) has been purchased from the Oak Ridge Industrial … [Read More...]

Repairs planned for gravel section of Tuskegee Road

The Oak Ridge Public Works Department will conduct road repairs to the gravel section of Tuskegee Road from Tuesday, July 19 to Friday, July 22, weather permitting, a press release said. The work will require sections … [Read More...]

More Government

More U.S. Department of Energy News

Disposing of uranium waste could cost at least $7.2 billion

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates it could cost at least $7.2 billion to convert and dispose of tens of thousands of cylinders of depleted uranium hexafluoride, a dangerous, corrosive waste byproduct of the uranium … [Read More...]

Y-12 now getting power from Pine Ridge substation

Submitted The Y-12 National Security Complex flipped the switch on a new era as crews finalized the process of moving the entire site’s electrical supply to the new Pine Ridge substation. In June, the Building … [Read More...]

DOE picks Idaho for nuclear test reactor

The U.S. Department of Energy has decided to build a nuclear test reactor at Idaho National Laboratory to study fuels and materials. Besides INL, Oak Ridge National Laboratory had been considered as a potential site … [Read More...]

DOE bus tours restart in Oak Ridge

U.S. Department of Energy public bus tours have resumed in Oak Ridge after a two-year pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tours began running again on July 11, and they are scheduled to continue through … [Read More...]

Crews prepare former ORNL reactors for demolition

The U.S. Department of Energy and cleanup contractor UCOR are preparing to demolish research reactor facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Crews are nearing the final stages of deactivation inside two former … [Read More...]

More DOE

Recent Posts

  • ORAU launches new app with a variety of resources available, including hundreds of STEM internships, fellowships and research opportunities
  • Disposing of uranium waste could cost at least $7.2 billion
  • Y-12 now getting power from Pine Ridge substation
  • Man sentenced to 8 years after fleeing, crashing, attempting carjackings
  • Three Ohio residents die in two-vehicle crash
  • DOE picks Idaho for nuclear test reactor
  • TBI investigating man’s death
  • Luminarias to feature peace messages
  • Oak Ridge tennis court dance is Thursday
  • DOE bus tours restart in Oak Ridge

Search Oak Ridge Today

About Us

About Oak Ridge Today
What We Cover

How To

Advertise
Subscribe

Contact Us

Contact Oak Ridge Today

Copyright © 2022 Oak Ridge Today