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Tag Archives: Blue Ridge Parkway

Two properties conserved along Blue Ridge Parkway

English: Black Balsam Knob as seen at sunrise ...

Raleigh, N.C. – The Conservation Trust for North Carolina (CTNC) purchased a 123-acre property that adjoins the Blue Ridge Parkway between mileposts 446 and 450 in Jackson County. The land, made up of three smaller tracts, contains a significant section of Woodfin Creek upstream of the Woodfin Cascades. It also borders the Mountains-to-Sea Trail which hikers can access directly off the Parkway near Woodfin Cascades Overlook. It adjoins a 31-acre property on Bear Creek which CTNC conserved in May 2013.

The property rises to 6,000-feet elevation, hosts a healthy population of native spruce, and lies completely within the Mount Lyn Lowry/Campbell Creek Significant Natural Heritage Area as designated by the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The property is part of a growing area of contiguous, protected land that is intended to become the Waterrock Knob/Plott-Balsams Park along the Parkway.

CTNC also purchased a 54-acre property at milepost 440 on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Waynesville in

Article source: http://www.mountainx.com/article/56464/Two-properties-conserved-along-Blue-Ridge-Parkway If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

Blue Ridge Parkway open through Asheville today

After last week’s snowstorm of epic proportions inthe Asheville area, tThe Blue Ridge Parkway was closed for much of its stretch through North Carolina. But with the rapidly warming weather, a short stretch through the Asheville corridor is open today, Tuesday, Feb. 18.

Most of the Blue Ridge Parkway is closed today.

Most of the Blue Ridge Parkway is closed today.

The rest of the parkway, though, in North Carolina is closed for snow, ice, and dangerous road conditions.

The parkway is open at Mileposts 389 at Hendersonville Road/U.S. 25 in South Asheville, through U.S. 74 near the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center, up to MP 382 at U.S. 70/Tunnel Road at the Folk Art Center, which are both open today. This is where the parkway is closed, though.

In places where the parkway is gated, you can park off to the side, and access the parkway in most places by foot to walk, hike, snowshoe, cross-country ski, walk the dog or bicycle.

For more up to date road information on the parkway, visit www.nps.gov/blri or call the parkway visitor center at 828-298-5330.

Article source: http://blogs2.citizen-times.com/outdoors/2014/02/18/blue-ridge-parkway-open-through-asheville-today/ If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

Smokies, Blue Ridge tourism loss over funding-related closures expected to hurt Western Carolina

ASHEVILLE — The usually much-anticipated spring and summer seasons in Western North Carolina’s national parks will come with fewer places to camp on the Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains National Park; a disappearance of rangers and their familiar Stetson hats; and longer waits for restrooms, picnic areas and visitor centers to open.

The full effect of the so-called sequestration budget cuts on the National Park Service hit full force this week, when park administrators devised plans to meet the budget slashing.

All parks must cut their budgets by 5 percent, including the parkway, the most visited of all national park units, for the rest of the year. Parkway superintendent Phil Francis said the immediate effects will mean the loss of some 40 jobs and all seasonal interpretive programs for the remainder of the year to accommodate the $784,000 budget cut.

“We’re going to cut 21 seasonal interpretive jobs. There are four districts between North Carolina and Virginia — the cuts will be equally distributed,” Francis said. “We’ve got four maintenance seasonals we won’t be able to hire, a handful of seasonal rangers in the campgrounds we can’t hire.”

Continue reading at the Asheville Citizen-Times

http://www.newsfeedmaker.com/article/141717250/7b2910f9 If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

Sequester Smacks Great Smokey Mountains, Blue Ridge Parkway

PHOTO: April will bring the blooms of Redbuds in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Due to federal budget cuts under the sequester, 3 campgrounds, 2 picnic areas and 1 horse camp will not open this summer. Photo credit: Public Domain
PHOTO: April will bring the blooms of Redbuds in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Due to federal budget cuts under the sequester, 3 campgrounds, 2 picnic areas and 1 horse camp will not open this summer. Photo credit: Public Domain

March 15, 2013

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Federal budget cuts mean you may have to revise those summer vacation plans.

The sequester is leading to closures and cutbacks on services offered at places such as the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains.

That’s because the National Park Service is among the areas that got hit with the automatic spending cuts that began to take effect this month.

Don Barger, Southeast regional director of the National Parks Conservation Association, says the impact will be felt since there was little-to-no wiggle room before.

“When paying for staff and fixed costs take up about 90 percent of your budget and you get a cut of 9 percent in your spending authority for

Article source: http://www.newsfeedmaker.com/article/141651732/7b2910f9 If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

Tellabration!

Folk Art Center exterior

Image via Wikipedia

Asheville Storytelling Circle hosts Tellabration! on Sunday, November 21, from 3 pm to 5 pm at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Started in 1988, Tellabration! is an international phenomenon, where people from all over the globe gather the week before Thanksgiving to share the art of storytelling. Started in Connecticut and 6 other states, it quickly spread, and by 1997, was on every continent except Antarctica.

Asheville is participating for the 13th year in this global event, sponsored by the Southern Highland Craft Guild and the National Storytelling Network.

Visitors will be entertained by

Blue Ridge Parkway Awarded $13.3 Million Stimulus

Blue Ridge ParkwayGreat news for the Blue Ridge Parkway, and all of us who enjoy scenic cruises around Asheville and throughout WNC. This 13.3 million dollar stimulus is part of the larger American Recovery & Investment Act of 2009, these funds are slated to help with repairs and needed maintenance.

Explore Asheville has more details:

The Blue Ridge Parkway, portions of which run through Asheville, was awarded $13.3 million in federal stimulus money. The Blue Ridge Parkway will use the funds for repairs including reconstructing historic stone guard walls, removing vegetation and hazardous trees and repairing trails.

The money is part of the $750 million allocated to more than 750 projects at national parks across the United States as part of the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009.

Ken Salazar, secretary of the interior, said in a statement that the investment in the national park system would create “a new legacy of stewardship for our national park system while helping our economy stand up again.”

Although our economy sure seems to be shrinking, these funds are certainly going to help the Blue Ridge Parkway continue being a beautifully maintained stretch of gorgeous roadway for the adventurous. Its another happy day for WNC, get out there and enjoy it

Local Parks & Green Ways Near Asheville

OtterWow, check out this great directory of local parks and green ways around Asheville. You