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Microcosm: a National Park in Our Backyard

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Microcosm: a National Park in Our Backyard Microcosm: A National Park in our Backyard LLI F16B10, Meeting 1, October 20, 2017 ~200,000 acres (300 sq. miles) 40% designated ‘Wilderness’ 500 miles of trails 101 miles of AT 105 miles of Skyline Drive 1440 species of vascular plants 23 species of amphibians 192 species of birds 51 species of mammals 470 human families displaced July 1936: FDR Dedicates Shenandoah National Park “All across the Nation at this time of the year, people are starting out for their vacations. Those people will put up at roadside camps or pitch their tents under the stars, with an open fire to cook by, with the smell of the woods, and the wind in the trees. They will forget the rush and the strain of all the other long weeks of the year. Once more they will lay hold of the perspective that comes to men and women who every morning and every night can lift up their eyes to Mother Nature.” “The national parks embody a radical idea, as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence, born in the United States nearly a century after its creation. It is a truly democratic idea, that the magnificent natural wonders of the land should be available not to a privileged few, but to everyone.” Ken Burns Happy 100th! The National Parks and the American People 413 Authorized National Park Service Units (August 2016); 84 million acres National Park SYSTEM N PRES: National Preserve HIS: International Historic Site NR: National River NB: National Battlefield NRA: National Recreation Area NBP: National Battlefield Park NRR: National Recreational NBS: National Battlefield Site River NHP & PRES: National Historical NRRA: National River and Park and Preserve Recreation Area NH RES: National Historical Reserve N RES: National Reserve NHS: National Historic Site NS: National Seashore NL: National Lakeshore NSR: National Scenic NM: National Monument River/Riverway NM & PRES: National Monument NST: National Scenic Trail and Preserve PKWY: Parkway NMP: National Military Park SRR: Scenic and Recreational N MEM: National Memorial River NP: National Park WR: Wild River NP & PRES: National Park and WSR: Wild and Scenic River Preserve Shenandoah’s Backstory: *Back-to-Nature Movement *Good Roads Movement and Automobile *The Great Depression *Eugenics *The Chestnut Blight *Political Maneuvering Marble Lodge, Skyland, 1895 “Solid Comfort at Stony Man Camp, 1898” Shenandoah Valley Tourism and George Freeman Pollack, Booster Good Roads Movement and the Automobile Rapidan Camp and the origins of Skyline Drive During the era of eugenics, the State of Virginia supported the removal of Blue Ridge families to create the Park. Chestnut Blight, 1904-1940 4 billion trees lost 1927 plat map of property taken to create SNP, Overall Run area, Warren County 10,000 years of Indigenous occupation in SNP – sites everywhere 44RM203, Mount Vernon Furnace (South District) Base of Collier’s Pit, Mt. Vernon South, 2009 Madison Run Fire Road = Browns Gap Turnpike (1805) BELMONT (North District) What is the Appalachian Trail? *2,185 mile-long trail connecting Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mt. Katahdin, Maine *550 miles within Virginia (most of any state) *AKA “Appalachian National Scenic Trail,” “Footpath of the People”, “Green Tunnel” *Averages 1,000’ In width *Includes 25,000 acres of land *Goes through 14 states *Used by ~2,000,000 people/year (some portion of it) *Overseen by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the National Park Service; other partners include the National Forest Service and 31 Trail Clubs History of the Trail October 1921: “An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning,” Journal of the American Institute of Architects -- the moment of birth for the Appalachian Trail. Benton MacKaye—former forester, government analyst, newspaper editor, regional planner—proposed, as a refuge from work life in industrialized metropolis, a series of work, study, and farming camps along the ridges of the Appalachian Mountains, with a trail connecting them, from the highest point in the North (Mt. Washington in New Hampshire) to the highest in the South (Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina). 1925: Appalachian Trail Conference established By 1937, Milton Avery, federal admiralty lawyer, had organized hiking groups (‘clubs’) from Georgia to Maine to create a ‘wilderness footpath’ called the “Appalachian Trail.” One of those clubs was the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC), which had been established in 1927. By the time Shenandoah National Park was created in 1936, the PATC had already constructed major sections of the AT, some of which were subsumed by Skyline Drive. Within SNP, many sections of the AT have been realigned over the years. Today, the PATC maintains the 101 miles of the Appalachian Trail, many miles of side trails, shelters, and six cabins within SNP. Corbin Cabin Pass Mountain Hut The AT as Historic District – a cultural resource in itself in Shenandoah National Park (2007) Where the Boys Are: The Archaeology of the CCC in Shenandoah National Park Camp Robert Fechner (NP-2), Big Meadows CCC and Skyline Drive Construction SNP recently its 75th Anniversary: what can we learn from its history? A Key Theme Today in Park’s Interpretive Program: Human- Environment Interaction Big Meadows, Prior to Burning and Mowing, November 1999 Today, the management decision to burn and mow – keep the Meadow open Key Theme: The Resilience of Nature SNP has 74 endangered species and community types. “The core of the park's development was completed by the beginning of WWII and, to a great extent, the mountains were released to nature.” https://www.nps.gov/shen/learn/historyculture/index.htm Is it a biodiverse place? YES, and it is a cultural place. Key Theme: Past Actions Have Lasting Implications Shenandoah NP Northeast and National Capitol Regions Midwest Intermountain Pacific West Pacific West Region For me, a personal relationship with the Park that began in 1966…. Get to know your neighbor: what is your favorite National Park System place? .
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