Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge Begins This Weekend

Wilderness Wildlife Week, which begins Saturday, is Pigeon Forge's annual tribute to its neighbor, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the 2009 event is the first major program marking the park's 75th anniversary.

The Pigeon Forge event, in its 19th year, includes seminars, workshops, photography classes, hikes and excursions that relate to the park and other outdoors topics.

Historic re-enactors portraying President Theodore Roosevelt, naturalist John Muir and others important to the creation of America's national parks will be part of the celebration.

Admission is free. Seminar topics include bears in the Smokies, the elk reintroduction project, the Smokies' logging history, fire towers in the Smokies, close-up photography, trout fishing and birding by ear. Several programs are designed especially for children. Daily hikes and excursions into the national park complement the indoor seminars, lectures and photography shows.

Information courtesy of Lexington Herald-Leader