This Land, Your Land

National Parks Traveler reported this week about a state grant that will go toward rehabilitating a popular trail on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The $75,000 grant from the North Carolina Recreation Trails Program will go to the Watauga County Tourism Development Authority to fix a two-mile, badly eroded portion of the Boone Fork Trail at Julian Price Memorial Park, the report says. Boone Fork is also part of the Section 13 of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail between the Grandfather Mountain area and Blowing Rock.

With the state money and $18,750 of its own, the tourism group plans to rebuild part of the Boone Fork Trail and construct a dedicated MST trailhead parking area, an information kiosk, and 700 feet of new trail adjacent to the Tanawha Trail, another portion of MST Section 13.

A report released by the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association today says that, for the second year in a row, the likely erosion of necessary funding for America’s national parks will harm the parks, visitors, and surrounding communities and businesses.

If Congress' Super Committee fails to craft a debt-reduction deal that passes Congress, mandatory across-the-board budget cuts will have a drastic impact on national parks, which the report says are "at the tipping point."

"In the past two years, park visitation has been higher than it has been in a decade — yet national parks suffer from an annual operations shortfall of $500-$600 million, and receive $325 million less per year than necessary to keep an $11 billion maintenance backlog from getting worse," the NCPA says in a news release about “Made in America: Investing in National Parks for Our Heritage and Our Economy” (large .pdf file).

"Further cuts could mean fewer rangers to greet visitors, reduced visitor center hours, shortened campground seasons, closure of entrance stations and backcountry trails, fewer educational programs, and reduced law enforcement patrols to safeguard America’s heritage."

Across-the-board discretionary cuts of 9 percent that are to go into effect if the Super Committee fails would take about $231 million from the national parks budget, the NCPA says. "This would unquestionably be devastating for many national parks, visitors, and the communities and businesses that depend on them," the group adds.

A recent NPCA study found that every federal dollar invested in national parks generates at least four dollars of economic value to the public.

Among 10 case studies of parks, the 54-page report says a 10 percent cut to the Blue Ridge Parkway budget would "almost certainly mean the layoff of some permanent employees and the elimination of seasonal hires altogether, resulting in the closure of some of the Parkway’s facilities." With even a 5 percent cut, "the Parkway would likely have to shorten hours at its visitor centers and possibly close some."

One way park managers make ends meet is by turning to volunteers for help. At Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited national park in the system, the park has generated $2.48 million worth of work from volunteers for "a hefty return on the investment in salaries for two volunteer coordinators. Yet volunteer coordination activities are often among the first functions to be sacrificed when a park hits tight budget times — those staffers are often reassigned to more pressing duties."

Parks also have depended on entrance and recreational fees, and private philanthropy and partnerships with businesses to stretch their budgets.

"But not all parks charge fees, and smaller parks often are unable to collect significant sums even when they do charge fees," the report concludes. "While the vast majority of Americans are happy to contribute to the upkeep of their parks, there is a question as to whether taxpayers should have to pay twice to visit the lands they own — once with their taxes and once at the gate."

Update: The National Parks Conservation Association says "the Parkway can preserve its integrity as a self-contained, scenic motorway separate from the regional highway system, rather than allow piecemeal road developments to transform the historic parkway into a commuter traffic route," by adopting the proposed general management plan, and calls for folks to speak out at the public hearings.

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The Blue Ridge Parkway is presenting options to the public for a new general management plan, the preferred alternative to which "emphasizes the original Parkway design and traditional driving experience, while enhancing outdoor recreational opportunities and regional natural resource connectivity, and providing modest improvements to visitor services."

Public hearings are set for November 2 at the Folk Art Center on the Parkway near Asheville, November 3 at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, November 9 at the Nelson Memorial Library in Lovingston, Va., and November 10 at the Brambleton Center in Roanoke, Va. Each meeting is from 3 to 7 p.m. and will feature exhibits that explain the plan.

The Blue Ridge Parkway Draft General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement, available here, provides comprehensive guidance for perpetuating natural systems, preserving cultural resources, and providing opportunities for quality visitor experiences along the Parkway for the next 20-plus years, the news release says.

In the approach preferred by the National Park Service, Alternative B, "the parkway would be actively managed as a traditional, self-contained, scenic recreational driving experience and designed landscape," the plan's introduction says. "To support that experience, many of the parkway’s recreation areas would provide enhanced opportunities for dispersed outdoor recreation activities."

Under Alternative C, the Parkway would be managed in a manner "more integrated with the larger region’s resources and economy," the plan says. "More emphasis would be placed on reaching out to communities and linking to regional natural, recreational, and cultural heritage resources and experiences. The parkway would continue to be managed to retain the fundamental character of the traditional designed landscape and scenic driving experience. However, a variety of more modern recreational and visitor service amenities would be provided, primarily concentrated in visitor services areas. As a result, portions of some recreation areas would be redesigned."

Alternative A describes the Parkway as is, and is a "non-action alternative" for comparison purposes. As it is currently being managed, "there is not a comprehensive Parkway-wide resource and visitor use management direction for setting priorities. Resource and visitor use issues and conflicts [are] resolved on a case-by-case basis without the guidance of an agreed upon Parkway-wide management strategy."

Under the preferred alternative, about 9.4 percent of Parkway land would become part of "recreation zones" and accommodate "a wider range of trail-based recreational activities such as allowing mountain biking and horseback riding in some locations, or more hiking trails or trail improvements to accommodate more hikers. Recreational opportunities would focus on the outdoors and include organized group programs, self-guiding interpretation, nature observation, picnicking, hiking, backpacking, viewing natural and cultural resources, photography, exploring, and backcountry camping."

The proposal also suggests additional campsites, picnic areas, restrooms, and interpretive media, and "expanding visitor services from a six-month to a nine-month visitor season."

Increased recreational opportunities and development outside the Parkway in the Roanoke, Highlands and Asheville areas will increase visitation and congestion, the report says, but mitigation efforts described in the report would make them minor and localized in the long-term.

Comments on the plan can be submitted at any of the meetings listed above, or until December 16 online or by mail to: Superintendent Philip A. Francis, Jr., Blue Ridge Parkway, 199 Hemphill Knob Road, Asheville, NC 28803.

An "excellent" fall color show should begin to roll down the mountainsides of western North Carolina in the next couple of weeks and continue through October.

Kathy Matthews, associate professor of biology specializing in plant systematics at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, said in her annual prediction that “2011 should prove to be an excellent year for fall color.”

Depending upon the timing of the first frost, fall colors should peak during the second week of October in the higher elevations, and during the third week of October in the mid-elevations, Matthews told WCU's The Reporter.

Howie Neufeld, Ph.D., professor of Plant Physiology at Appalachian State University in Boone, predicted this week on his The Fall Color Guy blog that the color would peak in the Boone/Grandfather Mountain area the weekend of October 7-9 and "maybe the next weekend farther south around Asheville."

Neufeld said colors in the Highlands/Cashiers area of the Nantahala National Forest peak about the same time as in Boone or just slightly afterward. In the Great Smoky Mountains, he said, "colors will peak in early October at the higher elevations, and then work their way downslope, with a delay of about five days for every 1,000-foot drop in elevation."

In his weekly report for this week, Neufeld said he drove to Linville Falls and Grandfather Mountain State Park over the weekend and found a significant increase in color on the hills compared to last week, though they are still about 80 percent green.

"On Grandfather Mountain, color is very pronounced on the heath balds and rock outcrops," Neufeld writes. "Above 4,500 feet, color is quite advanced, and on the eastern and lower flanks of Grandfather (the side facing the Blue Ridge Parkway) there are one or two ridges with excellent color already. You can get a great view of this from the Beacon Heights parking lot, and also on the rock outcrops at Beacon Heights (take the short trail to the top for spectacular views)."

Beacon Heights, at MP 305.3 on the Parkway, is a trailhead for Section 13 the Mountains-to-Sea Trail and the Tanawha Trail, which goes under the Linn Cove Viaduct.

The Conservation Trust for North Carolina announced Monday that it has bought 12 acres along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Cumberland Knob that will be donated to the National Park Service.

The 12.7 acres near Milepost 220.6 is known as the Roaring Fork Headwaters II and contains headwater streams of Roaring Fork, a tributary of the Fisher River, and of the Yadkin River, which provides drinking water for a million people in the Piedmont, the CTNC said in a news release.

The newly acquired land abuts the 49-acre Roaring Fork Headwaters I, which was given to the NPS in 2010, and Saddle Mountain Vista, a 201-acre property donated to the NPS in 2007.

The three parcels are in Alleghany and Surry counties, north of the 3,400-acre Saddle Mountain wilderness area and south of the 2,000-acre Cumberland Knob recreation area.

"Each time we add to the Blue Ridge Parkway’s protected landscape, we assure that millions of visitors will continue to enjoy a spectacular, unspoiled landscape," Parkway Superintendent Phil Francis said in the news release. "This acquisition is essential to expanding wildlife habitat, protecting drinking water and maintaining the beautiful views so many people come here to see."

The U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service on Friday marked the purchase of 8,100 acres of timberland near Marion a century ago to begin the movement to create national forests.

That tract became part of the Pisgah National Forest and the first of 1.2 million acres of national forests in North Carolina.

The initial purchase followed approval by Congress of the Weeks Act, which allowed federal money to be used to buy forests for watershed protection.

The Weeks Act eventually led to the creation of 52 national forests in 26 Eastern states and the addition of 19.7 million acres on national forests and grasslands across 41 states and Puerto Rico, the U.S. Forest Service says in a news release.

An exhibit commemorating the Weeks Act was unveiled Friday at Laurel Knob Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway (Mile Post 349.2), which overlooks the initial Pisgah tract about an hour north of Asheville.

The Conservation Trust for North Carolina today announced the gift of 534 acres of land along the Blue Ridge Parkway to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

The transfer of the Rose Creek property near Spruce Pine in Mitchell County will eventually allow public access to over a mile of frontage on the Blue Ridge Parkway between mileposts 326 and 328, and about 1.3 miles of the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail (pictured below), the CTNC says.

The Rose Creek property provides a forested backdrop from the Parkway's Loops Overlook next to The Orchard at Altapass. The land contains nearly six miles of streams, including Rose and Little Rose creeks and their tributaries. Rose and Little Rose creeks are major headwater tributaries of the North Toe River, which supplies drinking water to the town of Spruce Pine.

“This property was definitely worth protecting. It has beautiful views of the Parkway, miles of pristine headwater streams, a key segment of the Overmountain Victory Trail, and abundant habitat for wildlife,” said Reid Wilson, CTNC’s executive director.

The National Park Service has published a full opening and closing schedule for the Blue Ridge Parkway's 2011 season.

Seasons on the 469-mile scenic roadway generally run from late-April through October.

Most Parkway campground seasons run May 13 – October 31. In North Carolina, Linville Falls opens April 1 and, because of ongoing construction, the season at Doughton Park is delayed until mid-May.

The full schedule includes picnic grounds, visitor centers, restaurants and other concessions, such as the Pisgah Inn Lodge and Restaurant opening March 29, and the Parkway Craft Center at Moses Cone opening March 15.

Bluffs Lodge and the coffee shop at the Blue Ridge Parkway's Doughton Park may not reopen after closing for the season, according to the Blue Ridge Parkway Journeys blog.

"Economic conditions and planned road closures due to guidewall restoration will likely keep the favorite-destination lodge and coffee shop closed for the foreseeable future," the blog says. "The operating concessioner (lessee), Forever Resorts (Scottsdale, Arizona) has indicated that they will not be renewing their lease arrangement with the park service next year."

The 24-room Bluffs Lodge closes for the season November 1, the blog says. Construction work on stone walls in the Doughton Park area is expected to be completed in the spring of 2012.

Blue Ridge Country magazine, in its December issue, explains how Parkway concessionaires find it hard to make money. The National Park Service's contract requirements make the concessions unattractive, so the NPS hasn't even sought new bidders in recent years.

Because of Forever Resorts' withdrawal, the NPS is in fact seeking "expressions of interest" through November 8 in operating Bluffs Lodge and the coffee shop, plus concessions at Julian Price Lake, the Crabtree Falls gift shop, the Mabry Mill restaurant and gift shop, Rocky Knob cabins, the Peaks of Otter lodge, restaurant and country store, and the Otter Creek restaurant and gift shop.

As Blue Ridge Parkway Journeys and Blue Ridge Country both say, the withdrawal of a concessionaire leaves the future of the affected Parkway facilities totally up in the air.

Do you know the Blue Ridge Parkway? Do you know the Conservation Trust for North Carolina's contributions to the Parkway?

If so, you might try the CTNC's Blue Ridge Parkway trivia contest, which their running in part to mark the Parkway's 75th anniversary.

Answer all 10 questions correctly and you'll be entered in a drawing to win a weekend at a forest cabin in the mountains of Ashe County. Ten others will receive prizes from Great Outdoor Provision Co.

Here's a hint: you can look up the answers through our Carolina Outdoors Guide links above and by searching at the bottom of the home page.