This Land, Your Land

Congressmen from North Carolina and Virginia are joining to sponsor legislation that would authorize $75 million over five years to buy up to 50,000 acres along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The Blue Ridge Parkway Protection Act would mark the 75th anniversary of completion of the 469-mile scenic drive between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Virginia's Shenandoah National Park.

Companion bills were introduced and referred to the respective committees in the House and Senate on January 26.

The Conservation Trust for North Carolina, a nonprofit group that has worked to protect the parkway's corridor, proposed the legislation.

"The Parkway generates $20 billion per year to the economy of the region through which it passes," says the CTNC. "But its spectacular scenery, streams, forests and farms are under constant threat."