By the Numbers: Lyme Disease, Conservation Funding, Smoky Mountains and more

Ranking the Great Smoky Mountains National Park received from the National Parks Conservation Association of the most polluted national parks, an improvement over its #1 ranking in 2004.
$1.2 million

Amount estimated to restore the Blue Ridge Tunnel as a pedestrian and biking path in Nelson County, Va.
50

Trees in Knoxville parks with scannable QR codes that link to informational videos about the trees with cameos by 27 popular musicians.
100

Galaxies that the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, and the other most powerful telescope in the world, the Parkes Telescope in Australia, will gather data from in a partnership proposed by Stephen Hawking.
4

New West Virginia counties declared endemic for tick-borne Lyme disease, bringing the current total up to 11.

Dollars from outdoor recreation, preservation, and conservation revenues that are funneled into the American economy annually
$42 Million

Funding to states to promote outdoor recreation and conservation through Land and Water Conservation Fund announced by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell in August
1965

Year the Land and Water Conservation Fund was established by Congress to aid in the protection of national land.
59

Senators who voted at the beginning of the year to permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund. As of September 30, Congress failed to pass the fund’s reauthorization, leaving its fate up to future budget negotiations.
7,000,000

Acres the fund has helped state and local agencies acquire