Cassius Cash

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Cassius Cash
Cassius Cash.jpg
Born (1968-12-10) December 10, 1968 (age 55)
Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
Notable workSmokies Hikes for Healing
TitleSuperintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Cassius Cash (born December 10, 1968) is a federal career official who serves as the 16th superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, encompassing the eponymous mountain range in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. He started his career in the Forest Service, in wildlife management, and nearly two decades later transferred to the National Park Service.

Contents

He is the former superintendent of Boston National Historical Park and Boston African American National Historic Site. In 2015 he was selected as the first African American superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited national park in the United States welcoming 12.5 million visitors in 2019. [1]

Early life and education

Cash was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968, to a father who worked as a police officer in the Memphis Police Department, and a mother who worked as a cosmetologist. [2]

Cash attributes some of his earliest interest in the natural world to watching Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom documentary television series in his family home. [3] His interest was further solidified through participating in outdoor excursions with Memphis Boy Scouts Troop 511. [3]

After graduating from high school in Memphis, Cash earned a bachelor of science degree in biology from the historically black college, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, and later studied wildlife management at Oregon State University. [4] Cash is a member of Phi Beta Sigma [5] and Sigma Pi Phi, Beta Theta Chapter.

Career

Cash began his federal career in 1991 with the United States Forest Service as a wildlife biologist at the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington State. He went on to work with the US Forest Service for 18 years in various leadership positions. [4] He served as an administrative officer at Nebraska National Forest, district ranger at the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest, a civil rights officer at the National Forests in Mississippi, and was the deputy forest supervisor at the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in southern Oregon before leaving the Forest Service to join the National Park Service in 2010. [4]

Cash served as superintendent at Boston National Historical Park and Boston African American National Historical Park from 2010 to early 2015. While there, he worked with the City of Boston to open a new visitor center in historic Faneuil Hall, which now welcomes more than 5 million visitors a year. Cash also worked with several park partners to secure $4 million to reopen the African Meeting House, the oldest Black church still in its original location in the country. [4] He and his team worked to rebrand Boston's Freedom Trail and the Black Heritage Trail as the Boston Trail to Freedom in order to merge the histories of the American Revolution and history of abolition and to “highlight Boston’s ‘total’ contribution” to US history. [6] In 2014, Cash served as the deputy regional director and chief of staff in the National Park Service Northeast Regional Office. [7] By the end of his five years of service in Boston, Cash was noted as having made “a significant impact” during his term as superintendent there. [8]

In late 2014, National Park Service Regional Director Stan Austin named Cash as the superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. [4] Cash stepped into the Smokies superintendent position in February 2015, taking over after a series of acting superintendents and the earlier departure of the park's previous permanent superintendent, Dale Ditmanson, who retired in January 2014. [7]  In 2017, Cash also served a temporary assignment as acting superintendent of National Mall and Memorial parks in Washington, DC, for 120 days. [9]

Since arriving in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Superintendent Cash has managed the park through a number of notable events including the disastrous Chimney Tops 2 Fire, the 2016 National Park Service Centennial, and Smokies Centennial Hike 100 challenge, the 2018 completion of the ‘Missing Link’ of the Foothills Parkway, and the 2020 arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. [10]

In 2022, Superintendent Cash introduced a ground-breaking proposal that would address the financial needs of the park as its visitation has consistently increased by 57% over a ten-year period, [11] while working with a flat budget and a declining workforce.

The initiative, called “Park it Forward,” proposed having visitors purchase a parking tag when recreating within the park. [12] The proposal has been very controversial with those in surrounding communities stating "Cash has violated the spirit of the park which was intended to be forever free. His doubling of the backcountry fee from $4 to $8 per night makes this park, which was donated by locals largely, cost prohibitive. He has refused to meet with local interest groups, arrogantly snubbed the desires of Blount County, Sevier County, Cocke County and Swain County elected officials and caused the North Carolina state legislature to act in condemnation of this user tax. We are asking that he be replaced with a superintendent who is responsive to those he should be serving instead of his staff and directors. We are asking for new leadership that will follow the law which requires local elected officials and public voices be incorporated into decisions regarding the people's park. We are calling for a repeal of the widely unpopular backcountry fee and a moratorium on all future fees." Despite objections from locals and park visitors nationwide, The ‘Park it Forward’ parking tag program was narrowly approved on April 4, 2022.  

The parking tag requirement went into effect March 1, 2023. [13] It is predicted that the program will generate between $6-8 million in its first year of implementation, with 100% of the revenue staying in the park. Former Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee wrote an opinion column in support of the measure. [14]

Awards

On May 24, 2021, Cash received the Agency Leadership Award from the Public Lands Alliance. [15]

On October 21, 2021, Cash received the National Park Conservation Association's 2021 Stephen Tyng Mather Award. Cash received the award for his creation of the Smokies Hikes for Healing program in 2020. [16]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tennessee</span> U.S. state

Tennessee, officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, Arkansas to the southwest, and Missouri to the northwest. Tennessee is geographically, culturally, and legally divided into three Grand Divisions of East, Middle, and West Tennessee. Nashville is the state's capital and largest city, and anchors its largest metropolitan area. Other major cities include Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Clarksville. Tennessee's population as of the 2020 United States census is approximately 6.9 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blount County, Tennessee</span> County in Tennessee, United States

Blount County is a county located in the East Tennessee Grand Division of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, its population was 135,280. The county seat is Maryville, which is also the county's largest city. Blount County is included in the Knoxville metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Townsend, Tennessee</span> City in Tennessee, United States

Townsend is a city in Blount County, Tennessee. The city was chartered in 1921 by persons who were involved with the Little River Railroad and Lumber Company. The population was 550 at the 2020 census. For thousands of years a site of Native American occupation by varying cultures, Townsend is one of three "gateways" to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It has several museums and attractions relating to the natural and human history of the Great Smokies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gatlinburg, Tennessee</span> City in Tennessee, United States

Gatlinburg is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee. It is located 39 miles (63 km) southeast of Knoxville and had a population of 3,944 at the 2010 Census and a U.S. Census population of 3,577 in 2020. It is a popular vacation resort, as it rests on the border of Great Smoky Mountains National Park along U.S. Route 441, which connects to Cherokee, North Carolina, on the southeast side of the national park. Prior to incorporation, the town was known as White Oak Flats, or just simply White Oak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Smoky Mountains National Park</span> National park in Tennessee and North Carolina

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is an American national park in the southeastern United States, with parts in North Carolina and Tennessee. The park straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are a division of the larger Appalachian Mountain chain. The park contains some of the highest mountains in eastern North America, including Clingmans Dome, Mount Guyot, and Mount Le Conte. The border between the two states runs northeast to southwest through the center of the park. The Appalachian Trail passes through the center of the park on its route from Georgia to Maine. With 14.1 million visitors in 2021, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Smoky Mountains</span> American mountain range along North Carolina/Tennessee border

The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains and the name is commonly shortened to the Smokies. The Great Smokies are best known as the home of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which protects most of the range. The park was established in 1934, and, with over 11 million visits per year, it is the most visited national park in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clingmans Dome</span> Mountain, highest peak in Tennessee, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foothills Parkway</span> National parkway in Tennessee

The Foothills Parkway is a national parkway which traverses the foothills of the northern Great Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee, located in the southeastern United States. The 72.1-mile (114 km) parkway will connect U.S. Route 129 along the Little Tennessee River in the west with Interstate 40 (I-40) along the Pigeon River in the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gatlinburg Bypass</span> Bypass route in Sevier County, Tennessee, United States

The Gatlinburg Bypass is a 3.6-mile-long (5.8 km) bypass road around the resort city of Gatlinburg in Sevier County, Tennessee, at the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It runs between the Great Smoky Mountains Parkway north of the city to Newfound Gap Road (US 441), the main route through the national park. It is owned and maintained by the National Park Service (NPS) and serves as a bypass around the business district of Gatlinburg for easier access to the national park. It is also considered part of the longer Foothills Parkway, a National Parkway that traverses the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. The road provides overlooks with views of the city of Gatlinburg and the mountains beyond. The Gatlinburg Bypass opened to traffic in 1968.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory Bald</span>

Gregory Bald is a mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains. It has an elevation of 4,949 feet above sea level. The mountain's majestic summit makes it a popular hiking destination. Another feature that attracts many visitors are the flame azaleas that bloom over the bald every summer. The azaleas reach peak bloom around mid-to-late June.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Cammerer</span>

Mount Cammerer is a mountain on the northeastern fringe of the Great Smoky Mountains, in the Southeastern United States. The mountain is situated on the state line between Cocke County, Tennessee and Haywood County, North Carolina. The Appalachian Trail traverses Cammerer's south slope and a restored fire lookout at the summit offers panoramic views of the eastern Smokies, Cocke County, and the Blue Ridge Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silers Bald</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrews Bald</span>

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Sugarlands</span> Valley in the north-central Great Smoky Mountains

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References

  1. ↑ "Park Sets Visitation Record with 12.5 Million Visitors - Great Smoky Mountains National Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  2. ↑ Duda, Clay (April 13, 2016). "Cassius Cash, the Smokies' First African-American Superintendent, Aims to Help the Park Evolve". The Knoxville Mercury. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  3. 1 2 "National Park Superintendent got his start in Scouting". Scouting magazine. April 4, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Cassius Cash Named Superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Great Smoky Mountains National Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved July 10, 2020.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  5. ↑ "Crescent FALL/WINTER 2014". Issuu. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Introducing the New Smokies Superintendent". Smoky Mountain Living. April 1, 2015. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  7. 1 2 "Meet the new Smokies superintendent". Citizen Times. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Cash leaving Boston National Historical Park for Tennessee". The Boston Globe. December 14, 2014. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  9. ↑ Ahillen, Steve. "Great Smoky Mountains National Park superintendent to take over National Mall post temporarily". Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Meet the man in charge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park". CBS News. October 28, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  11. ↑ "Multiple visitation records broken in 2021 at Great Smoky Mountains National Park". WATE 6 On Your Side. January 20, 2022. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  12. ↑ Gatlinburg, Mailing Address: 107 Park Headquarters Road; Us, TN 37738 Phone:436-1200 Contact. "Park invites public to comment on fee program changes for 2023 - Great Smoky Mountains National Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved February 20, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ Gatlinburg, Mailing Address: 107 Park Headquarters Road; Us, TN 37738 Phone:436-1200 Contact. "Fees & Passes - Great Smoky Mountains National Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved February 20, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. ↑ Alexander, Lamar. "Small parking fee is obvious solution to two big problems in the Smokies | Opinion". Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  15. ↑ "Superintendent Cash Recognized for Leadership by Public Lands Alliance". www.smokiesinformation.org. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
  16. ↑ "Great Smokies Superintendent Receives Award for Hikes for Healing Program". National Parks Conservation Association. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
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