Haywood looks to start Friends of the Parkway chapter, clear overlooks
With park funding falling and visitation increasing, keeping those iconic views open along the 46 miles of Blue Ridge Parkway in Haywood County — without breaking the bank — is a challenge. Fast-growing trees and shrubs grow up around the overlooks irrespective of budgets, so when Parkway Superintendent Mark Woods visited the Haywood Tourism Development Authority’s board meeting last week, it was with a view to talk about how to make those dollars stretch.
“That’s a challenge as we continue to manage and maintain all of the areas that we do, and as I said earlier, we couldn’t do it without our partners,” Woods told the TDA board.
The TDA is one of those partners, allocating money each year — this year it’s $20,000 — to clear the views at overlooks along the Parkway in Haywood County.
So is the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, which raises money for Parkway projects the government can’t fund, and Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which supplies people and funds for volunteer projects.
But as of now, there’s no Friends chapter that tends to Parkway miles south of Mount Pisgah. That leaves 57 miles of Parkway without a Friends chapter to cover it. The TDA would like to see that change.
“Asheville’s the most southern chapter there is, and we’re trying to get that established. Smoky Mountain Host has agreed to work with us on getting that going and established,” Lynn Collins, executive director of the TDA, told Woods. “We are going to move forward with that.”
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Friends volunteers pick up litter, build and maintain trails and repaint mileposts. They empty ashes from fire rings at campsites and install fences. The Asheville chapter spends a lot of time at Pisgah Campground, and recently they’ve renovated the amphitheater there, repairing the screen and repainting the area. The core group of 14-ish volunteers meets once a month, figuring out how to plan and fund projects.
“It’s becoming a social group,” said Dan Wells, chairman of the chapter. “The group needs to do that because it needs to be more than just work. We all are just volunteers.”
Volunteers that, last year alone, put in 2,100 hours of labor and raised $3,200. Friends of the Parkway has the Cherokee through Waynesville stretch listed as a place in need of a chapter to contribute that service.
Such contributions are important. The Parkway meanders along its 469-mile route, only a few hundred feet wide in places, and that spread can make it challenging to keep up with. The value of its assets — building, tunnels, campgrounds, roads — is the second most of the entire National Park System, including 77 cemeteries, nine campgrounds, more than 600 buildings and 20 percent of all National Park Service tunnels.
Meanwhile, visitation has been on the uptick while funding has gone down. So far this year, visitation is up about 8.5 percent over 2013, with fluctuation varying by month. August saw a surge, with 2014 visitation up 20 percent over 2013.
But 2014 also saw $600,00 less in operations funding than in the 2009 budget. In that year, the Parkway employed 300 people, but in 2013 it had only 240 employees.
The TDA board told Woods that they’re committed to ensuring that the Haywood County portion of the park doesn’t suffer as a result of budget cuts. Tourism is an economic driver in Haywood County, and the Parkway is an important asset.
“I hear every day that Haywood County has the prettiest Blue Ridge Parkway there is, and we feel good about giving you money to do things with it,” said board member James Carver.
The Park Service clears up overlooks along the road on a three-year rotation. The Parkway is divided into three sections, and every year one of them gets trimmed. But for Haywood County, it’s important to keep those views open even in the off years, so the TDA pays to keep the maintenance annual. The work is done by seasonal Park Service employees, and the TDA money pays their salary to begin the season early or stay late.
At last week’s meeting, the board discussed those cuttings with Woods, noting that it had been about a year and a half since the overlooks were last cleared. The work didn’t happen last year.
“It had to do with several things. It has to do with weather, it has to do with getting the paperwork done,” Collins said, clarifying that the TDA didn’t release any funds the year the maintenance was skipped.
The trimming is scheduled to get back on track this spring. And before too long, Collins hopes to have a Friends chapter founded to provide the labor force to get some more Parkway maintenance done.
“When you look at all it [the Parkway] has to offer, it’s just incredible to have here in our backyards,” Woods said.
Pitch in
In order to have a successful Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway chapter, there will have to be some enthusiastic Friends behind it. The Haywood Tourism Development Authority is looking for people interested in leading the charge. To volunteer to head up the chapter, contact Lynn Collins, TDA executive director, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
