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MORE FROM THE PARK SUPERINTENDENT
This is true in the broadest sense. Children
who value the natural world and who appreciate the human past are not
only enriched, but they are far more likely to be thoughtful stewards
as adults. This is important to the future of all National Parks
and is essential to the preservation of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
For most of its 469-miles, the Parkway
is a narrow corridor, 800 to 1,000-feet wide. Yet many of our views
extend far beyond that boundary. As a result, we must depend on
our neighbors and on adjacent communities to help us preserve the scenery
and those related resources and qualities that define the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Many of the children who today go to school in our 29 neighboring counties
will soon be the neighbors and leaders who will have a profound influence
on the Parkway of tomorrow. I want them to appreciate and
to care deeply about this special place.
That is why I consider the
on-going work of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation to support and promote
our Parks as Classrooms initiative so vital. It is truly an investment.
Thanks to the Foundation, our interpretation and resource education Rangers
are able to reach out to all 42 school systems along the scenic corridor,
offering curriculum-based learning that instills an appreciation for the
parkway and the values that it represents. Last year, our program
recorded some 37,000 student contacts both in classrooms and with hands-on
activities in the Parkway's streams and forests, and its many historic
settings.
Thanks to the caring-sprit
of the General Federation of Women's Clubs of North Carolina, the Foundation
is committed to enhancing that program by building shelters that will
be used by visiting school groups. The Foundation is also working
to provide an endowment that will put its support for Parks as Classrooms
Ranger staff on a permanent footing. I am delighted by the prospect
of the shelters and extend my heartfelt thanks to the Women's Clubs of
North Carolina. And I am thrilled by the prospect for an endowment
that will sustain the program.
The cost of operating the Parkway
increases each year and our ability to carry out these programs depends
heavily on Foundation support. I sincerely appreciate the
Foundation's generosity and the public-spirited donors who make this work
possible. By investing in our children, you are making the Parkway
of tomorrow better. I hope you find a profound sense of satisfaction
in that.
-- Phil Francis
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