The Friends of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park raises money and raises awareness. The organization also provides volunteers.
It's all about preserving and protecting the Smokies and that includes streams and the fish in the park.
"It's a whole 'nother world down there that people don't get to see a lot of times," Matt Kulp said.
It's a world Matt Kulp sees a lot as a Supervisory Fishery Biologist with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
"We work on both restoring and protecting and preserving the native fish in the Park as well as making the sure the water quality across the park is clean," he said.
More than 2,000 miles of streams flow through the park. Fishing is permitted all year.
Fisherman and visitors can appreciate more than 70 species of native fish.
"We also have some non-native fish that are kind of invasive like Rainbow Trout that move in and take over areas occupied by our native fishes. So there are places we go in and try to remove those where we can and put back the native Brook Trout which is part of our local heritage and part of the history of this park," he said.
The Fisheries division is responsible for restoring the native Brook Trout to certain areas that meet strict criteria.
Different fish thrive in different environments.
Brook Trout like the higher elevations because they need cold water under 65-degrees. Not a lot of other species of fish like those temperatures.
Abrams Creek is at a lower elevation with warmer water so dozens of fish species live there.
"We don't have a silver bullet to take out just one type of fish. So if there is more than one species of fish in a segment we typically try to remove the native fish with electro-fishing and then we come in with a tool to take the non-natives out that are left," he said.
That requires people to do hands on work. Friends of the Smokies provides funding to hire extra workers.
"We use a lot of seasonal staff to do that type of work, usually people who are in college or finishing up college, and we need money to support those folks while they work up here through the summer and fall. Those funds go to help with that, sometimes a little bit of equipment, electro-fishing, nets, those sorts of things," he said.
They are working together to protect and preserve fish populations.
And if you have a chance to visit, Matt Kulp said you should look for a particular gem in the water: piles of rocks called river chub mounds that attract a lot of varieties of fish.
"They are feeding, they're spawning, and it's a pretty incredible thing to see. Lots of vivid colors, reds and blues and greens."
Beautiful just like the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
About 40 miles of streams are identified for Brook Trout restoration. About 30 miles and 13 streams are done.