TOWNSEND, TN — While spring school and field programs at Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont have been canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Tremont Institute is still connecting people and nature through its website and social media channels.

“We are educators at heart, and we are working on creative ways to bring you into experiences in nature—despite not being able to do that in person,” Tremont’s President and CEO Catey Terry said.

Faculty and staff at Tremont Institute are sharing a variety of resources that bring the Tremont experience into people’s homes. Teacher naturalists share the historical and cultural roots of Southern Appalachian music through recorded songs. Some posts focus on nature mysteries, encouraging visitors to the page to closely observe the mysteries and ask questions about what they notice. A series of nature journal prompts on social media and Tremont’s website help people create a journal documenting nature they can observe in their own backyards and homes.

One video starts with a black screen, but as it progresses, viewers witness dawn from Walker Valley in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Accompanying the visual is a sound known as the dawn chorus, a concert of birds singing as the day starts.

Tremont is also sharing educational resources from local partners in the Smokies and other environmental organizations across the country. Recently staff from Tremont Institute collaborated with staff members at the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio on a video exchange to help share the histories of each national park with a broader audience.

The public is invited to connect with Tremont on the organization’s website at www.gsmit.org and through the following social media channels: Facebook (www.facebook.com/GSMITremont), Instagram (www.instagram.com/TremontInstitute), and Twitter (www.twitter.com/GSMITremont).

Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont provides in-depth experiences through educational programs that celebrate ecological and cultural diversity, foster stewardship, and nurture appreciation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Connecting People and Nature since 1969.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 15, 2020