Development in the Name of Conservation

Shenandoah NP  A couple years ago I spent a few days backpacking in Shenandoah National Park. I came away with rather mixed emotions on the park and the national park system in general. First let’s talk about the good. I was fortunate enough to visit Shenandoah in the fall and the colors of the foliage were simply amazing. Shenandoah has a nice feature on their website that lists backpacking trips by experience level and nights spent on trail (found here: http://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/campbc_trip_plans.htm). However, make sure you find a trip and print out the PDF to take along with you. The ranger I dealt with at the visitors center wasn’t as much help as I would have preferred but none the less I managed to find a trip that seemed interesting and walked out of the ranger station with a back-country permit.  I also applaud Shenandoah for allowing dogs on most of their trails. Other parks should take notice.

Skyline Drive, Shenandoah NP Skyline Drive, Shenandoah NP
So what’s not to like? There are over 500 miles of trails in a park that, although is about 70 miles north to south only measures about 7.5 miles wide. That leads to a network of trails where the word back-country becomes a bit of a misnomer. If you are looking for true solitude Shenandoah may not be the best place. In fact looking outside of the National Park system altogether may be the best bet. I prefer to use my miles to put distance between myself and others. In Shenandoah, however doing loops just for the sake of making miles seems to be the name of the game. Now comes the real kicker. Apparently Shenandoah has received a sizable chunk of money through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (stimulus bill passed during the recession) and is putting that money into Skyline Drive (the road that runs the 70 miles from end to end) and refurbishing their overlooks. While that sounds all well and good it of course comes at a price, in addition to the money. Traffic, delays, and the noise can be heard even after being on trail for days. But those are just inconveniences. The real question is that of the sustainability of what I have taken to calling the ‘development in the name of conservation’ policy. Does it make sense to find a place you want to protect and build a road right down the middle of it sprinkled with tourist shops where you can buy silly t-shirts, hamburgers and refuel your RV? If we really care about conserving the wilderness areas for future generations than we should put effort into saving them from development, not going out of our way to develop them. There are plenty of beautiful miles you can drive your RV and stop for a hot dog on your whirlwind tour of postcard worthy photos, the National Parks shouldn’t be one of them. If you are planning on heading to Shenandoah check out The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (http://www.patc.net) publishes great topographical maps of the area that you may find very useful planning and during your trip.