High Vistas Fall & Winter 2009 Newsletter

H i g h V i stas Newsletter of FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Inc. /

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Sherando Lake, Pat and Chuck Blackley, Photographers

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dedicated to increased environmental education and awareness of the Blue Ridge Parkway and corridor

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Is The Blue Ridge Parkway Worth Your Investment?

e all experience the Blue Ridge Parkway in different ways, whether we are hikers, bikers, photographers or simply visiting with our families. No matter how we travel the Blue Ridge Parkway - our experiences connect us with the blue mountain vistas, rolling landscape, beautiful rhododendron and tree-lined forests.

What if we all enjoyed this incredible 469-mile linear park but none of us gave back - none of us did anything to ensure the Blue Ridge Parkway’s future?

FRIENDS is a membership organization, with membership dues remaining at

www.BlueRidgeFRIENDS.org

$25 since our conception by former Park Superintendent Gary Everhart in 1988.

FRIENDS has provided the public with the opportunity to give back to the Blue Ridge Parkway for over 21 years. Over 8,400 FRIENDS members and hundreds of Blue Ridge Parkway volunteers know what it means to give back to their park annually.

Did you know that for every $1 FRIENDS members provide to our organization - through volunteerism and program implementation - FRIENDS invests $3 back into the Blue Ridge Parkway? In addition, FRIENDS has

consistently invested 90 per cent of every donation dollar back to Parkway programs and services.

FRIENDS has repaired the roof of a historical building, constructed trails, provided a trail kiosk and maps, engaged children and youth in their park, provided Junior Ranger materials and programs, provided an abundance of interpretive programs to millions of visitors over the years – and the list goes on - thanks to your loyalty and support.

What would have happened over the last 21 years if FRIENDS had not been continued on page 2

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Learning About Nature

ave you heard about WebRangers?

Today we hear lots about things like Facebook and Twitter but have you been to www.nps.gov/webrangers to experience the National Park Service’s online Junior Ranger Program for kids of all ages? There are over 50 games that help you learn about different national parks. Kids can share stories and pictures - with over 85,059 kids registered and over 3,600 earning WebRanger Patches - this is the place to be to explore, learn and protect our national parks!

FRIENDS and the Blue Ridge Parkway are no strangers to engaging kids in nature and in our park!

For years FRIENDS and the Parkway have been partnering, creating ventures, providing our children and youth with diverse opportunities to have fun and experience the Blue Ridge Parkway - from a Scavenger Hunt along the Parkway in Asheville, North Carolina - to the Kid’s Fishing program at the Peaks of Otter near Roanoke, Virginia. Together, we have sought to engage and educate kids about their park while having fun!

What could be better than to “unplug” our kids today from the computers? Youth and children’s outdoor experiences have changed dramatically over the past 50

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years. Today kids are more likely to play indoors than outdoors. When children do play outside, they participate in different activities, for example, more organized sports.

This summer was a great opportunity for kids to connect with the Blue Ridge Parkway. In every district along the 469mile linear park, kids were being engaged in Blue Ridge Parkway activities! (See article, “Youth Engagement on the Blue Ridge Parkway”, pages 10 and 11.)

“Our kids have been provided an unparalleled opportunity to have fun while they learn from fishing lessons to a multitude of Junior Ranger activities that energize kids physically and intellectually”, cites Dr. Susan Mills, FRIENDS Executive Director. “The National Park Service has a number of youth initiatives which we are making a contribution to through our programs, such as the Children in Nature Initiatives, the Blue Ridge Parkway’s Junior Ranger and Youth Volunteers in Parks programs.”

Support these programs to ensure that FRIENDS continues to engage the Next

Generation on the Blue Ridge Parkway by contributing today by calling 800.228.PARK (7275) or online at www.

BlueRidgeFRIENDS.org.

FRIENDS thanks its corporate sponsors, The Cliffs Communities and The Dominion Foundation, for their support of the National Park Service Blue Ridge Parkway’s new Junior Ranger materials.

Continued from front cover. there to plant the trees to restore views and accomplish results for the Blue Ridge Parkway?

Take a moment and contemplate your Parkway experience and how you have made a difference for the Blue Ridge Parkway. Think about ways you can give back, ways you can make a difference as we celebrate the Blue Ridge Parkway’s 75th Anniversary. Act today and renew your support and investment in the Blue Ridge Parkway through the enclosed envelope.

Thank you for YOUR continued support and loyalty to FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway!

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Heritage Apples On The Parkway

By Frank Elliott Reprint by permission of Blue Ridge Country Magazine

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all means two things in the Blue Ridge region: breathtaking displays of blazing leaves and the sweet-tart crispness of freshly picked apples. Thanks to the efforts of one big-hearted family, you can enjoy both during a day on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Near the town of Spruce Pine, N.C. at Milepost 328.3 of the Parkway lies The Orchard at Altapass, a reclaimed historic orchard that dates back to 1908 and was almost lost to a developer’s bulldozer.

But the orchard was saved by Kit Trubey, a real estate agent in Cary, N.C., who bought the orchard and the surrounding property in January 1995 and recruited her brother Bill Carson to restore it.

At the time, Kit and Bill didn’t know anything about the apple business. But they did know that they loved the Blue Ridge Parkway, which they had been visiting since the early 1960s to stay in

www.BlueRidgeFRIENDS.org

an aunt’s cottage in Little Switzerland.

And they couldn’t bear the thought of seeing the orchard turned into a subdivision of vacation houses that would have dominated the view from The Loops and the North Cove overlooks, which bracket the orchard.

So when Kit noticed an ad in the paper for the property, she immediately – literally – called up and arranged to buy the property: 275 acres in all, straddling both sides of the Parkway. At the time, the orchard - on 80 acres clinging along the inside curve of the Parkway’s southern exposure - had fallen into disrepair. The apple trees were overgrown. The packing house was peeling and boarded up. The absentee owners in Florida had given up on making the orchard a going concern.

The land, having been neatly terraced for orderly rows of apple trees, could have been regraded for a subdivision with a minimum of effort.

“We really did get it just in time,” she says.

Three years later, the orchard is again providing residents and visitors alike with a steady supply of luscious red and gold fruit, including several heirloom varieties such as Virginia Beauty, York Imperial and Grimes Golden.

In the fall, visitors to the spruced-up packing house can watch the packing line in operation as 20-bushel crates of Red and Golden Delicious, Staymans and King Luscious are fed into a motorized conveyor and sorted, graded and packed.

But under Kit and Bill, the packing house has become much more. It has become a center for local mountain crafts and culture.

From Memorial Day through the first week in November, the orchard welcomes visitors with displays of the handsome works turned out by local craftspeople in clay, wood and cloth. Last year, Bill started displaying directions to their studios, which is part of his campaign to use the orchard to boost the area’s economy.

The packing house also features delicious (personal experience here), locally canned preserves, jellies and pickles. For visitors with sweet teeth, Bill offers ice cream and fudge made fresh on the premises - 17 varieties in all, including such exotics as creamsicle (vanilla and orange), pumpkin and amaretto.

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Early Construction Of The Blue Ridge Parkway Karen J. Hall Author of Building the Blue Ridge Parkway and Blue Ridge Parkway - Postcard History Series Photos courtesy of the Blue Ridge Parkway archives.

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onstruction of the Blue Ridge Parkway began almost 75 years ago in September of 1935.

The planning of a scenic highway began in 1909 when Mr. Joseph Hyde Pratt, the North Carolina state geologist, proposed a scenic toll road down the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains from Marion, Virginia

In September of 1935, construction began at Cumberland Knob. A 12.5 mile segment between Highway 21, near Cumberland Knob, and the Virginia state line began as the first section of the road to be built, with Nello Teer Construction from North Carolina as the contractor.

A few days later more than one hundred men were hired from the unemployed of Alleghany County. Heavy equipment was shipped by train to Galax for dirt removal.

The early CCC camp at “The Bluff’s” also known as Doughton Park near Sparta, North Carolina.

to Tallulah, Georgia. In 1914 construction began between Altapass and Pineola, North Carolina. At the onset of World War I construction halted. Today the one mile stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway between mileposts 317.6 and 318.7 follows Pratt’s original route.

As part of the public works programs during the depression, Skyline Drive through the Shenandoah National Park was begun. Harry F. Byrd recommended to President Franklin D. Roosevelt that this road be extended in 1933 southwest to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

President Roosevelt eagerly endorsed this project. Landscape Architect, Stanley W. Abbott, of Westchester County, New York was hired to design and oversee the planning of this project. Abbott is remembered as the “Father of the Blue Ridge Parkway.”

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The National Park Service provided general guidance for construction per the standards that were developed especially

for the New Deal-era construction of the Parkway. They were issued in 1935 by Interior Secretary, Harold Ickes, and the Director of the National Park Service.

The width of the Parkway right-of-way was intended to be about one thousand feet. This varied along the route. In some locations land was set aside as a green space and for agricultural purposes, preserved through scenic easements, leaving land in the hands of the original owners. For this reason, the Parkway required more land than most highways of the time.

The Blue Ridge Parkway, referred to as “The Scenic” by locals, was formally authorized by Congress on June 30, 1936, as the “Blue Ridge Parkway” and fell under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service.

Under President Roosevelt’s public works programs, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps were erected at four different locations along the planned Parkway. The CCC boys were charged with landscaping, roadside clean up, grading slopes, building fences, and improving roadside fields and forests.

Men were assigned to the CCC camps from all across America.

Some of the construction was carried out by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The main goal of WPA was to put as many men to work as possible. They

The U.S. Department of the Interior was a contractor in part of the construction of the actual road. The CCC did not build the road. The project was divided into 45 different projects.

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Early scaffolding included using trucks and boards shown here in this photo of one the 26 tunnels. Only one tunnel was built in Virginia while all the others are in North Carolina.

Contracting from Salem, Virginia. They had to bid for each section. The Blue Ridge Parkway was not a This is a large shovel removing blasted rock near Sparta, continuous construction North Carolina. project but rather as 45 cleared brush, built picnic areas, buildseparate construction projects. ings, and did landscaping.

At the onset of WWII, construction was halted with $20 million having been The actual highway was built by conspent on construction. Approximately 170 tractors like Nello Teer Construction miles were complete with 160 miles in from North Carolina and Albert Brothers

some stage of construction. Men from the public works programs and the contractors joined the war effort.

The last section of the Blue Ridge Parkway to be constructed was completed in 1987. It contains a 1,243 foot segmented concrete bridge that floats around Grandfather Mountain, known as the Linn Cove Viaduct. The last segment was just over 7 miles in length including the Linn Cove Viaduct.

High vista balconies were created for wonderful scenic views. This is a perfect example of why the Blue Ridge Parkway was created.

www.BlueRidgeFRIENDS.org

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Mark Your Calendar For These Blue Ridge Parkway 75th Anniversary Events

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he Blue Ridge Parkway, a 469-mile scenic byway connecting Shenandoah National Park in Virginia with Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina, will celebrate its 75th Anniversary with a year of exciting events along its route throughout 2010.

A series of opening events will be held November 12-14, 2009, in Cherokee and Asheville, North Carolina. The weekendlong celebration will highlight specific areas of Parkway history related to Western North Carolina and introduce a new generation of stewards to caring for public lands, such as the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Thursday, November 12, 2009 An afternoon school program and an evening public program will highlight tribal legacies in national parks. Both events will take place at the new “green” school campus in Cherokee, North Carolina.

Friday, November 13, 2009 A ceremonial torch passing from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2009, to the Blue Ridge Parkway will occur at 10 a.m. on Friday, also in Cherokee, and will be highlighted by a performance of the Warriors of AniKituwah dancers and remarks from both park superintendents and Eastern Band of the Cherokees Chief Michell Hicks.

Saturday, November 14, 2009 A panel discussion on the history of the landmark campaign to route the Blue Ridge Parkway in Western North Carolina will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, November 14 at the Folk Art Center at milepost 382 on the Parkway in Asheville. The event will also feature craft demonstrations, traditional music, and book signings. A second panel on the routing issue will convene at 1 p.m., also at the Folk Art Center.

The celebration weekend will wrap up with a benefit concert at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville, NC, at 7 p.m. on Saturday, November 14. The performance, a musical tribute to the Parkway and its presence in Western North Carolina, will include award-winning singer/songwriter Nanci Griffith as well as a one-time only collaboration of bluegrass all-stars showing their support for the Parkway - renowned musicians Doyle Lawson, Sammy Shelor, Bryan Sutton, Tim Surrett, and Jim VanCleve. The dramatic and colorful Warriors of AniKituhwa will also perform, and the entire evening will be hosted by Asheville’s own Grammy award-winning musician David Holt.

Concert tickets are expected to be available by mid-August at the Asheville Civic Center Box Office or at Ticketmaster.

For more information about the Blue Ridge Parkway 75th celebration, visit the Blue Ridge Parkway 75th Anniversary’s website, blueridgeparkway75.org.

Tye River , Pat and Chuck Blackley, Photographers

Make A Difference

Join The FRIENDS Members’ Stimulus Plan!

As FRIENDS’ members, you are committed to the Blue Ridge Parkway by renewing annually! To protect Parkway views and provide Parkway activities to millions, we can make your contribution easier.

Consider a $5 or $10 gift to FRIENDS as an automatic monthly gift. It’s a simple, convenient and manageable way to protect and enhance our park. Email Staff@FriendsBRP.org or call 800.228.PARK (7275) today and sign up!

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FRIENDS President

Blue Ridge Parkway Superintendent

Dear Members of FRIENDS, It is my privilege to have another letter in this issue of the newsletter. Since the Blue Ridge Parkway will be celebrating its 75th anniversary during 2010 with many events planned, it reminds me of future anniversaries. What will the Parkway be like in another 25, 50 or 75 years? Will our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren be able to observe and enjoy the beauty and history of the Parkway as we have been able to do?

Many of you probably have read “Last Child in the Woods” by Richard Louv. He emphasized that the electronic age has kept children indoors and away from nature. He further cites numerous studies which have found that an absence of exposure to nature (Nature-Deficit Disorder) has a high correlation with Attention Deficit Disorder, ADHD, depression, lack of creativity, and possibly even autism. His book explains these studies and the correlations. There are many other citations in recent literature and news indicating similar findings. We now have recognized the problem, which always is the first step to addressing and solving a problem.

FRIENDS is responding to this call for help. The Parkway provides a great workshop for exposure of children to nature.

We have been providing tree planting on viewsheds for several years, involving numerous youth groups. We now are partnering with the Blue Ridge Parkway staff and other Parkway partner groups in sponsoring events directed to exposing children to nature. Programs related to watersheds, wildflowers, herbs and other nature studies have been provided, with many future events planned.

This is a small step, but it is the beginning of a great opportunity to expose children to nature via the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Hopefully future generations will be able to enjoy the Parkway as we have, and will learn to learn from nature.

Thank you for your loyalty and support of FRIENDS!

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the Board meeting for the FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway. For the first time, representatives of the various FRIENDS Chapters provided reports of their activities to the Board and me. I was very impressed by the enthusiasm and commitment of the Chapters and by the amount of work you do! Thank you and thanks to the FRIENDS Staff and Board for making the Parkway a better place.

As we begin our celebration of the Parkway’s 75th Anniversary, it is important for us to remember all of the reasons why the Parkway is important. It is important to the many visitors who come here from all over the country. It is important to members of the tourism industry, who greatly benefit from the 16 million people who visit each year. It is a reservoir of special natural and cultural resources that we must protect for future generations. It is a place where memories are made as families come here to recreate and enjoy the beauty of this special place.

During the upcoming year, we will be discussing the importance of the Parkway and how we might protect it for the next 75 years. Long-term protection of the Parkway is a process that will involve more and more people as time passes. Viewshed protection, invasive species management, boundary encroachments, long-term planning, and sustainable funding/operations are issues that need your attention and your participation in finding workable solutions.

We have an opportunity to bring attention to the Parkway, to focus on its current condition, and to develop a strategy for the path forward. It is an important time in the Parkway’s history.

We need for you to be involved.

Mark your calendars now for the many events that will occur during the upcoming year. Look frequently at the 75th Anniversary website, www.brp75.org, for the latest schedule of events. We hope that you will be able to join us in the celebration and help protect the Parkway for future generations.

Greg Brown

Phil Francis

www.BlueRidgeFRIENDS.org

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Rough Ridge , Pat and Chuck Blackley, Photographers

Message From…

THANKS TO OUR IN-KIND CONTRIBUTORS We wish to thank the following for their important in-kind contributions:

jatdigitalsolutions@hotmail.com 540.257.0885 224.588.1428

BOARD

If your name did not appear on the list and you made a contribution between February 1, 2009 and August 1, 2009, please contact us.

FRIENDS needs your in-kind contributions. Please call us at 540.772.2992 or 800.228.PARK (7275).

FRIENDS OF THE BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

Gregory Neal Brown, Ph. D., President Gretchen Weinnig, VP of Administration Broaddus Fitzpatrick, Secretary J. Richard Wells, Treasurer George J. Blanar, Ph.D. William Brenton, Jr. CFP Lynn Davis Elmer Hodge Betty R. Huskins Ben Geer Keys Denise Koff Fredrick Kubik

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Marketing & Advertising Graphic Design Web Design Photography Printing Services Large Format Prints/Posters

Best Printing, Inc. Blue Ridge Country Magazine Bruisin’ Ales Chetola Resort at Blowing Rock County of Roanoke Lona Cox, Galax Artist Jill Darlington-Smith, JAT digital solutions Fisher Peak Chapter Frito-Lay The Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center Kroger Company Leisure Publishing Company Timothy Seaman, Pine Wind Music, Inc. Frank R. and Mary E. (Liz) Radford Nye Simmons, Author of Best of the Blue Ridge Parkway Sourwood Inn Western Virginia Water Authority Jurgen Zerbock

BOARD EMERITUS Mary Guynn Dick Patterson, MD J. Richard Wells

ADVISORY BOARD Marcia and Dave Barstow Pat and Chuck Blackley M. Rupert Cutler, Ph.D. George Humphries Gary R. Jensen Dr. Harley Jolley Cara Ellen Modisett

STAFF

Susan Jackson Mills, Ph.D. Executive Director Peggy Desper* Assistant to the Director/Bookkeeper Virginia Ehrich* Director of Membership Services Shane Hawk* Coordinator of Technological Communications Kristen Gillespie* Coordinator of Programs John Schoenbaum* Director of Development

VOLUNTEER STAFF Eva Gray** Volunteer Coordinator Pauline O’Dell** Special Projects Clerk

HIGH VISTAS STAFF Newsletter Chief: Susan J. Mills, Ph.D. Editor: David Barstow** Production: Peggy Desper* Graphic Designer: Jill Darlington-Smith** *Part-time Staff / **Volunteers

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Thank You Letter From Virginia Tech Act today and fund FRIENDS’ Preserve the Hemlocks project by returning the enclosed donation envelope, call 800.228.PARK (7275)

Dr. Scot t M. Salom Department of Entomoloty 216A Price Hall, MS 0319 Black sburg, Virginia 2406 0 Phone: 540-231-2794 Fax: 540-231-9131 E-mail: salom @vt.edu Website: www.ento.vt.edu

or donate online at

Quote From FRIENDS’ Member In the early 1990’s, The Park Service awarded me a 2500 volunteer hours citation. Having been involved with the Blue Ridge Parkway through trail construction and maintenance since the mid 1980’s - years before I joined FRIENDS, I was pleased when FRIENDS spearheaded the Trails Forever Program! FRIENDS has the same goal as I do; therefore, it made total sense to join FRIENDS! What FRIENDS does such as recruiting groups to adopt trails, construct trails, build trail kiosks and supplying trail maps - all for the Parkway is incredible! I enjoy the Parkway and FRIENDS! At 90 I experience the Parkway as much as I can today.

August 11, 2009 Dr. Susan J. Mills Executive Director FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway P. O. Box 20986 Roanoke, Virginia 24018 Dear Susan, I wanted to write to thank you and all the members of FRIENDS for thei r donation of time and money to FRIENDS’ Protect the Hem without the financial support of your lock Program. We could not achieve our results FRIENDS members! I wish to prov ide you with a brief summar y of our activities for the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid at Virginia Tech .

We had our most successful year rearing the beetle predator, Laricobiu s nigrinus for the hemlock woolly adelgid biologica l control! the highest yield we have ever seen resulted in over 20,0 00 beetles being rear ed which is 44% of all the larvae that dropped into the soil. Unfortunately, 4,50 0 beetles emerged early and most of these early emergers did not survive. Nevertheless,12,480 L. nigr inus were shipped to cooperators leading to a total of 24 releases, several of which were in Virginia. These results compare well with the 12,300 beetles released previously at 25 locations.

From previous releases we are stud ying the dispersal and impact of L. nigrinus on HWA .

We have determined that the beet les will disperse to the top of the tree crowns within the year of release. And while beetles tend to remain where their prey are, they can disperse hundreds of meters to new trees within 3 or 4 years after their relea se. Impact assessment is still ongoing and we are finding it to be a difficult task. For instance, this past year we were constrained by high HWA mor talit y from harsh winter tempera tures. This is good for the trees but difficult for us, sinc e pest populations were down ever ywhere this year.

A new project on the horizon will involve evaluating the combined use of systemic insecticides with predator releases.

We think this approach has a chan ce of saving both older and younger trees in a stan d. Up until now, the predators appe ar to do a better job on younger trees. Treating some olde r trees would give us time to allow beetle populations to build up and then attack HWA that begin to colonize the treated trees in years down the road. Research is needed to prove such an effort can work.

Virginia Tech continues to play a lead role in biological control effo rts for HWA .

Thank you, again, for all the gene rous donations from FRIENDS mem bers who care about the Blue Ridge Parkway, one of our most beautiful parkways and trea sured park s in the nation. Without your funding supp ort we could not make the progress we are making.

My very best regards, Scott Salom Professor

Pat and Chuck Blackley, Photographers

www.BlueRidgeFRIENDS.org.

Dwight G. Allen Member since 1993

www.BlueRidgeFRIENDS.org

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Youth Engagement On The Blue Ridge Parkway Exerpts included in this article are from the Blue Ridge Parkway Long-Range Interpretive Plan.

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oday more than ever the Blue Ridge Parkway is focusing on Parkway visitors, neighbors and the general public of all ages to provide an understanding of the unique and diverse resources of the Blue Ridge Parkway. This summer, youth and children have been a major focus along the 469-mile linear Parkway through the central and southern Appalachian Mountains.

Ridge District Humpback Rocks is the first major developed area on the Parkway for visitors traveling south from Rockfish Gap at milepost 0. The visitor center and adjacent mountain farm museum provide an incredible stop for families as the farm is an interpretive program in itself.

Junior Ranger camps were abundantly available at Humpback Rocks and Peaks of Otter this summer with kids activities offered on every Saturday and Sunday.

Both areas also had Youth Volunteers in Parks (YVIP) on duty every weekend to demonstrate traditional crafts and provide children’s games. Kids and their families really enjoy the youth programs!

Youth provide not only leadership to interpret programs to the Parkway visitors BUT many kids of all ages took part

in these programs - experiencing and learning about the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The Peaks of Otter has been an intriguing interpretive and recreational complex that rests within the triangle formed by Sharp Top Mountain, Flat Top Mountain and Harkening Hill. Youth activities at the Peaks such as the Kids Fishing Program are focused around Abbott Lake.

Created by Parkway designers, the lake provides the esthetic focal point. The high mountains, cool summer temperatures and diversity of natural resources made the Peaks of Otter a hunting destination for American Indians and a destination for travelers for centuries.

Plateau District This district provides a rural countryside experience emphasizing “people on the land.” Rocky Knob and Rockcastle Gorge are among the Parkway’s original developed areas. Moving further south, the Mabry Mill complex is arguably the most picturesque cultural site on the Parkway. The focal point is a mill built around 1908 by Ed Mabry, a jack of all trades. Mabry subsequently added a wheelwright shop, sawmill and blacksmith shop to his enterprise and built a two-story frame house. The mill operated until the mid-1930s Mindy DeCeasar, Plateau District Interpretive Specialist, believes that

TRAIN

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“formal” Junior Ranger Programs draw a limited response in this area of the Parkway despite trying a wide variety of topics/venues over the past nine years. As the Roanoke area has no summer National Park Service staff and the city offers a wide variety of children’s activities, the rest of the District is extremely rural with no large population centers nearby.

However, informal programs such as craft demonstrations are highly successful.”

FRIENDS has been busy at work in the Roanoke area. The Roanoke Mountain Campground music program draws families every summer reaching full capacity. Feet of all ages move across the “dance board” constructed by FRIENDS Roanoke Valley Chapter. Roanoke’s Family Service youth worked hard on Global Youth Day to clean up the Roanoke Mountain Campground in anticipation of the season last spring.

Demonstrations at Mabry Mill and Brinegar Cabin include activities that involve children, such as carding wool, using a drop spindle, sewing a quilt square, sewing a bean bag doll, pumping the bellows, processing flax, stirring apple butter and playing with old-time toys. At music programs at Roanoke Mountain, Mabry Mill, and the Blue Ridge Music Center, children are always dancing to the music.

INTERPRET

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The most successful youth programs for the Plateau District are the curriculumbased on-site school programs that are offered at Mabry Mill, the Blue Ridge Music Center and Doughton Park. Last year over 25 programs served about 2,000 students. Students and teachers have repeatedly commented that these are the “best field trips” they have ever been on.

Teachers have returned year after year with their classes. These programs are offered with regular seasonal National Park Service staff and are not considered the winter Parks as Classrooms program.

Highlands District At the state line between Virginia and North Carolina, landform shifts from flat plateau to mountain ridge.

Experiences through the Highlands District are greatly varied. Sometimes visitors are on flat agricultural land, sometimes they are climbing up the mountain and sometimes they ride the ridge. Just south of the state line the Parkway climbs onto the edge of the escarpment. [The “escarpment” is the drop-off from the plateau into the eastern piedmont and the Parkway rides along the edge of the escarpment through Rocky Knob, Meadows of Dan, Fancy Gap, etc. not beginning south of the state line.]

From there it continues to wind around high mountain pastures before it drops in elevation to a forested experience with views to the piedmont and high mountain valleys to the west. Much of the motor

road passes through private lands in this area.

Blue Ridge Parkway Rangers around Moses Cone and Julian Price parks are providing a variety of regular programming for kids. The big addition this year was Price Pals Week. During July the Parkway rangers presented a special Junior Ranger Program each morning. One week in July was devoted to Wilderness Survival activities.

Parkway rangers at Linville Falls and Minerals Museum areas presented Junior Ranger Programs each week. The new Junior Ranger topics include: map and compass, fishing, fly-tying, snakes and birds. This October, the Youth Volunteers In Parks (YVIP) will be active in the Linville Falls and Minerals Museum areas with education days for the kids to learn about different park duties and provide presentations to the public. YVIP are youth trained to present programs to the Blue Ridge Parkway visitors. This program was developed cooperatively between FRIENDS and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Scout groups and homeschoolers seem to be keyed into the YVIP program this summer. The Blue Ridge Parkway is getting a great response!

Pisgah District Interpretation in this district emphasizes the natural environment of the southern part of the Parkway. Stories told here will illustrate how the mountains provide refuge for relict populations, many descended from tropical and boreal plant species, and how the Parkway

PRESENT

provides a representative transect of Blue Ridge habitats. Remote natural areas and dramatic views of high mountains less affected by human presence dominate visitor experience opportunities. Here visitors can see sites and facilities that highlight the story of biological diversity as a product of the area’s varied geology and topography. Visitors are encouraged to experience this area through scenic overlooks and hiking and camping in primitive backcountry areas.

The Asheville FRIENDS chapter has helped the Parkway to engage kids in nature activities. One Saturday per month

Act today and fund FRIENDS Children In Nature activities, Junior Ranger programs, Youth Volunteers in Parks Programs and FRIENDS’ Next Generation Fund by returning the enclosed donation envelope, call 800.228.PARK (7275) or donate online at www.

BlueRidgeFRIENDS.org. a special event program at the new Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center was held and hundreds of youth and families turned out for the summer events. Also at the Asheville Visitor Center, FRIENDS’ support of the Family Night continued to be a hit with the programs “maxing out”! All activities were free. Families learn about and hunt down exotic, alien species that threaten the Blue Ridge Parkway and enjoyed a kid-friendly “Campfire Cooking” class. They learned how to cook on a stick, in a can and in a foil pouch - collecting recipes for their next family camping adventure.

The program “Parkway CSI” was offered on consecutive Wednesdays in July with children from Asheville Learning Centers, Community Centers and YWCA attending. This is typically the first visit to a national park area for these kids. They solve mysteries related to the Parkway’s natural resources. The same group of children came one day a week for a halfday program for three weeks. In addition, those involved in the ‘CSI’ program become Junior Rangers. continued on page 15

www.BlueRidgeFRIENDS.org

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A Priceless String Of FRIENDS Chapters

Connecting Local Communities with the Blue Ridge Parkway

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he man most responsible for the 469-mile roadway known as the BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY, the late landscape visionary Stanley Abbott, envisioned a series of lodges and recreational areas located along the roadway.

He referred to these facilities - like those at the Peaks of Otter and Pisgah Inn - as a “string of pearls.”

Today, FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway has its own “string of pearls” - a priceless collection of FRIENDS chapters that have sprung up in the last five years up and down America’s favorite scenic highway.

“They are the heart and soul of our organization,” says long-time executive director Susan Mills, who has been instrumental in seeding these local FRIENDS chapters in Asheville, Boone, Galax, Rocky Knob and Roanoke.

“Volunteers are the backbone of our organization,” Mills says, “and most of our volunteer work today is being performed through these local chapters.

“For every dollar we receive in dues and donations, we’re able to generate $3 in volunteer work for the Parkway. Last year, these volunteers donated 52,081 hours, resulting in $1,016,000 in value to the Parkway. They plant trees, maintain hiking trails, paint milepost signs, replace split-rail fencing and perform a host of other needs requested by the Park Service.

Speaking at a recent FRIENDS board meeting in Roanoke, Park Superintendent

is a chapter initiative that services the Phil Francis praised the work of these Parkway, local community and immerses chapters, emphasizing that 37 percent the students in the local culture. of his maintenance staff has been lost to At Rocky Knob, volunteer Gloria budget cuts in the last 10-15 years. Recent Hilton has organized a group of 140 local stimulus money, he said, provides needed members into that chapter and made funds for one-time capital projects but it her personal mission to restore the does nothing to address on-going mainmileposts up and down the Parkway. She tenance needs.

Two of the most energetic, active, successful chapters are the FRIENDS Fisher Peak Chapter in Galax, Virginia, and the FRIENDS Rocky Knob Chapter near Floyd, Virginia. When the Fisher Peak Music Center was preparing to open several Chapter members meet with staff at FRIENDS board meeting. worked south from the Bent Mountain years ago, the Park Service came to area of Roanoke County (Milepost 135) all FRIENDS to request help building trails the way to Cherokee, NC (Milepost 469) adjacent to the facility. Civic leader Mary repainting the mileposts. This chapter Guynn and a core of dedicated Parkway spearheaded the fence restoration project lovers including Dottie and Pete Bramley for the Parkway. Ensuring that this and Lew and Ruth Shropshire organized project was collaborative, the Rocky Knob the first FRIENDS chapter and went Chapter invited both the Roanoke Valley to work. During the next three years, and the Fisher Peak chapters to the Park these chapter volunteers constructed a Service’s training session.

4.5 mile loop trail, with brook crossings, If there is a chapter near you, please elevated walkways across wetlands and consider getting involved. If not, start one. bridges. Materials were provided through For a complete list, go to our website at donations and local in-kind donations www.blueridgefriends.org/index.cfm/fa/ and the chapter supplied all the volcontent.view/menuID/863.htm. unteer manpower. Engaging the Notre Dame University students bi-annually

Get Involved! MAKE A DIFFERENCE! For Information on FRIENDS Chapters, contact:

FRIENDS ASU/Boone Chapter Heather Paige Preston Telephone: 828.262.2449 Email: prestonhp@appstate.edu FRIENDS Asheville Chapter Hugh Stephens Telephone: 828.274.9048 Email: hwstephens@bellsouth.net

FRIENDS Fisher Peak Chapter Dottie Bramley Telephone: 276.236.7658 Email: pdbramley@valink.com FRIENDS Peaks of Otter Chapter Gregory Eaton, Ph.D. Telephone: 434.525.3221 Email: eaton.g@lynchburg.edu

FRIENDS Roanoke Valley Chapter Sam Golston Telephone: 800.228.PARK (7275) Email: Sam_Golston@hotmail.com FRIENDS Rocky Knob Chapter Gloria Hilton Telephone: 540.593.3081 Email: gjhilton1@yahoo.com

Please consider making a special donation to help us seed new chapters and grow our army of volunteers so that we can preserve and protect the Parkway for the next generation. To make a donation or establish a new FRIENDS Chapter in your area contact 800.228.PARK (7275) or Staff@FriendsBRP.org

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Column By Sarah Jane Hall

Acting Volunteer Coordinator Youth Volunteers in Parks in Western North Carolina

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hroughout the last three years, I have had the honor of being the Volunteer Coordinator for a program on the Blue Ridge Parkway called Youth Volunteers in Parks (YVIP).

FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway provided the funds to spearhead this program. Together the National Park Service and FRIENDS have grown a program whereby youth can provide interpretive programs back to the Blue Ridge Parkway visitors! Great partnership!

I began working on this program as a project for my Girl Scout Gold Award and have continued it this year as a National Park Service employee. The focus this year with the Youth VIP program has been “table presentations” provided at area visitor centers (something which is usually only done by rangers) for the Parkway visitors.

Our Youth VIPs have given many unique and interesting approaches to the YVIP presentations. Two boys put on an animated puppet show to explain the mammals kit; a brother/sister team visited the area in which they would be giving a presentation about trees ahead of time to scout out exactly which trees grew there; many of the participants sought out additional materials besides what was already in their kits to study and use in presentations. Each participant has brought his or her own personal flair to his or her presentation which is what has made them so interesting. The youth

www.BlueRidgeFRIENDS.org

interpretive volunteers provide an invaluable service to both the Parkway visitor and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

New ideas were abundant from the YVIP program this summer!! The new activities make a diverse and unusual line-up of presentations to the park visitor which included a Linville Falls picnic area clean-up after the busy July 4th weekend and a day in the field with a National Park Service resident biologist.

These activities gave the youth participants the opportunity to understand more fully the work that goes into Parkway up-keep and preservation. The YVIPs will be involved in the Overmountain Victory Celebration in September, and then they will give their customary presentations at Linville Falls in the busy fall color season of mid-October. I hope you will keep an eye on FRIENDS’ website and come out to see us at www.BlueRidgeFRIENDS.org.

I am very proud of each one of the volunteers who have participated and look forward to the group we will have next year for the Blue Ridge Parkway’s 75th Anniversary. They have all shown themselves to be mature, responsible and capable young people who will be strong leaders along our Parkway and in the world for years to come.

7 Ways You Can Make a Difference!

1. Return the enclosed envelope.

2. Encourage one person to join FRIENDS. 3. Pass this newsletter on to at least one friend.

4. Remember someone in a special way - give an honorarium or memorial.

5. Include your company’s matching gift form when you give to FRIENDS. 6. Provide a quote or story to FRIENDS about why you value our organization.

7. Give FRIENDS memberships as gifts for the holidays and special occasions for a 1-year special of $15 - we can help make your gift special.

We can even personalize your request!

Call 800.228.PARK (7275) or email Staff@FriendsBRP.org.

My fondest memories, and perhaps the most compelling reason I’ve been involved with FRIENDS since 1994, is the treeplantings alongside the Parkway.

When my children were young, we would go to these viewshed plantings as a family and dig and plant together. As the years have passed we can now go back and see the fruits of our early efforts.

The Park Service can’t do it all and non-profit Friends organizations are more important than ever to our park system.

J. Richard Wells, Publisher, Leisure Publishing 13

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Blue Ridge MARATHON On The Parkway

he inaugural Blue Ridge Marathon on the Parkway will be held on April 24, 2010, beginning and ending in downtown Roanoke, with a tour of the region’s highest peaks in between.

The event is being held in conjunction with the Parkway’s 75th anniversary.

FRIENDS is proud of its partnership with the Roanoke Regional Partnership.

They have designated FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway to receive proceeds.

Congressman Bob Goodlatte of Roanoke, Virginia, helped organizers achieve their goal of holding part of the race on the Blue Ridge Parkway. “I am so proud that Roanoke has found yet another way to

In addition to the mountains, runners will also pass numerous other Roanoke attractions. The course begins in front of the Taubman Museum of Art and ends at the Hotel Roanoke directly in front of the O. Winston Link Museum. The course also travels through South Roanoke, passes in front of the Virginia Museum of Transportation, and crosses the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge.

A half marathon will be held simultaneously with the marathon. Those covering the 13.1-mile distance will see many of the same attractions, but will not face the climb up Roanoke Mountain. To learn more visit www.BlueRidgeMarathon.com.

FRIENDS has changed the landscape of the Blue Ridge Parkway over their phenomenal 21 years of service, both literally and figuratively.

Literally, the viewshed planting and protection program benefits millions of visitors and continues to paint the Parkway landscape with the proverbial “brush of the comet’s tail.” Figuratively, FRIENDS has opened arms to partners whose advocacy and love for the park have made a real difference in its future protection. Thank you FRIENDS for all you have done for our treasured Blue Ridge Parkway. You are a great model for all of the National Parks!

Patty Wissinger Regional Partnership Coordinator NPS Southeast Region

Upper Linville Falls - Ben G. Keys, Photographer

Youth Engagement On The Blue Ridge Parkway continued from page 11.

Families traveling the Parkway have a personal experience - each in a unique way.

Whether families hike a trail experiencing a sense of intimacy and solitude or as a family experience many of the activities above - they are engaging with their park!

The Blue Ridge Parkway and FRIENDS both are not only inviting kids to the Blue Ridge Parkway, but these kids are “unplugging from their computers” and are engaging in the Blue Ridge Parkway experience!

This summer our kids lived the Blue Ridge Parkway experience!

show the world that we are truly a jewel in the mountains,” said Goodlatte. “This race course will be like running through a post card.”

The Blue Ridge Marathon on the Parkway is mapped out to connect the Roanoke Valley with the popular roadway and the tourists that travel it. “It will be beautiful, it will be difficult – even for experienced marathoners — and it will give people a chance to use the Blue Ridge Parkway differently than they’ve historically been able to do,” said event co-chair Pete Eshelman, director of outdoor branding for the Roanoke Regional Partnership.

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A Special Thank You

aley Desper provides FRIENDS’ Director, Susan Mills, with a “special thank you” note for her Kids in Nature cap and the great kids Parkway experience she participated in. The note reads, “Thank you Susan for the bug hat. I really like it. Plus, I’ll wear it to the next tree planting. P.S. Trees Rule.”

FRIENDS not only protects and preserves the Parkway for the next generation, but engages the next generation.

Looking Glass River, Ben G. Keys, Photographer

As a nature photographer, I love the Blue Ridge Parkway because of its many natural wonders - waterfalls, flora, fauna and vistas! I joined FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway to give back and serve through giving of my time and donations in an attempt to express, in some small way, my appreciation for this natural wonder.

Ben Geer Keys Photographer FRIENDS Board Member since October 1999 www.BlueRidgeFRIENDS.org

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ew You r Membership n e R Now a se e l !

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NON-PROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID ROANOKE, VA PERMIT #78

P.O. Box 20986 Roanoke, VA 24018 800.228.PARK (7275) 540.772.2992 www.BlueRidgeFRIENDS.org

he future of FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway depends upon YOU, our members. The degree of foresight and generosity of our members will affect the future of the Blue Ridge Parkway for generations to come. There are many ways you can give to FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway: • Give gift memberships to family and friends for holidays, birthdays, anniversaries and honorariums • Give gifts of cash or marketable securities • Give a gift of real estate • Remember FRIENDS in your Will It’s simple. Add only one of the following sentences to your Will, or do so by using a codicil to your existing Will: 1. I hereby give ___% of my residuary estate to FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, whose current principle business address for identification purposes is P.O. Box 20986, Roanoke, Virginia 24018, to be used at its sole discretion for its charitable purposes.

3. I hereby devise the following property to FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, whose current principle business address for identification purposes is P. O. Box 20986, Roanoke, Virginia 24018, to be used at its sole discretion for its charitable purposes [legal description of property, whether real property or personal property].

Please note that FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway does not give legal advice nor does it in any way practice law.

FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, organized and existing under the laws of the State of North Carolina and the Commonwealth of Virginia, whose current principle business address for identification purposes is P.O. Box 20986, Roanoke, Virginia 24018. Tax ID#:58-1854404. FRIENDS would like to keep a record of your foresight and generosity on file. Please contact us at 800228-PARK (7275), by mail to FRIENDS, P.O. Box 20986, Roanoke, VA 24018 or by email, staff@FriendsBRP.org.

Pat and Chuck Blackley, Photographers

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Ways Of Giving

2. I hereby bequeath $___cash, to FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, whose current principle business address for identification purposes is P. O. Box 20986, Roanoke, Virginia 24018, to be used at its sole discretion for its charitable purposes.

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