The Great Smoky Mountains are a magnificent jewel here in East Tennessee. The view can look like a postcard now, though they were once pretty hazy.
Air quality is a priority in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
"The Cherokee called this place, they still call this place Shakonohey, land of blue mist like smoke," Jim Renfro said. "That's why the Smokies are called the Smokies not this uniform haze, this whitish shroud that we used to have almost every day in the summer. Now blue sky, green forest. That's the norm now."
GSMNP Air Quality Specialist Jim Renfro has witnessed the transformation himself.
"I started here back in the 1980s. Air quality was not good. It was poor. And over the years with reductions and cleaning up power plants and cleaner cars and trucks and fuels the air has gotten tremendously cleaner to breathe. It is much healthier than it used to be," he said.
That's not his opinion, it's fact.
GSMNP has a long-term record of scientific measurements taken since the 1970s.
The park partners with Tennessee and North Carolina, TVA and the EPA. They share a common goal: "Making sure that the park's health is in good shape."
Look Rock is one of seven air quality stations. The Park has about 40 climate sites.
Equipment collects samples to document air quality conditions.
It monitors climate, particles, gasses and pollutants every second. The park partners with other organizations to analyze the data.
"Do we meet public health standards? Are we getting better or worse? How do we compare to other places?" Renfro said.
The answers to those questions are mostly positive.
"This year is the first time in about 20 years that the Knoxville area and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is in compliance with all air quality standards," he said.
And it shows. Visitors have some of the best views in decades.
"They expect clear air. They want to see this great scenery up here. And they want to breathe clean air, too. So it's an important resource to protect," he said.