This Land, Your Land

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.

***

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.