Richard Louv, author of the widely acclaimed “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder,” will be the keynote speaker for the symposium, “Imagining the Blue Ridge Parkway for the 21st Century,” hosted by Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment in cooperation with the Blue Ridge Parkway 75th Anniversary planners.
The conference celebrates the Blue Ridge Parkway’s anniversary and is designed to bring national and regional experts together with citizens, tourism and government officials, business and economic development leaders and those who love the outdoors to consider how to sustain the national treasure for future generations to enjoy. The event is open to everyone and will take place at The Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center, October 14-16.
The conference’s goal is to help citizens learn how to better partner with the parkway to keep their communities’ scenic views scenic, foster economic development and tourism initiatives, and be a good steward of this important bio-diverse natural resource. Scientists believe the continuous ribbon of greenway flowing from Rock Fish Gap near Waynesboro to the Cherokee Indian Reservation 429 miles south, has more flora and fauna than any other area in the world.
The conference has a dynamic list of national and regional speakers on topics critical to sustaining communities, environments, and economies in the Blue Ridge Region. In addition to Richard Louv, other keynoters include Peter Jenkins, who wrote the popular “A Walk Across America,” and Gerald Baker, former assistant director for American Indian Relations with the National Park Service who was featured in Ken Burns’ film series, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.”
Jenkins, one of the nation’s most popular and celebrated explorers and authors, will kick off the symposium Thursday afternoon, October 14. When not wandering the earth, this father of six lives on a farm in Tennessee. Baker will give the Friday luncheon address. He grew up on his father’s cattle ranch on the Mandan-Hidatsa Tribe’s reservation in North Dakota and served as superintendent of Mount Rushmore National Memorial during his park service career.
Local landscape architect David Hill and conservation leader Rupert Cutler will also speak, along with State Parks Director Joe Elton and Carlton Abbott, whose landscape architect father designed the parkway on his kitchen table in Salem. The parkway’s chief of planning, Gary Johnson, will highlight the community’s role in conserving the corridor with other discussions on viewshed protection, tourism, cultural assets and economic concerns as well as challenges and success stories of parkway businesses, new technologies that will leverage parkway resources, visitor needs, green infrastructure planning, parks and neighbors, and shared responsibilities of government with partner organizations and citizens.
Other presenters on how the social, environmental, and economic implications affect parkway sustainability include Ricky Cox, an associate of the Appalachian Regional Studies Center at Radford University, and David Gantt, chairman of the Buncombe County (N.C.) Board of Commissioners. Congressmen Bob Goodlatte and Rick Boucher will also speak at the conference honoring the nation’s most visited park in the National Park Service with the goal of ensuring a lasting legacy for this treasured resource.
Financial support to make this conference possible has come from the Norfolk Southern Foundation, Roanoke County, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, and the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area. For more program details, or to register online go to: www.cpe.vt.edu/reg/brp2. Meals are included in the registration fee, and registration is open until the event. For more information, call (540) 231-5182 or 231-7679.