With its 16 million visitors annually, the Blue Ridge Parkway stood in the spotlight Monday as state leaders visited Western North Carolina to celebrate Earth Day.
Gov. Roy Cooper and North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary Reid Wilson visited the Craggy Gardens picnic area in the Blue Ridge Parkway.
They were joined by state conservation leaders, representatives from the National Park Service, and Mike Parker, chairman of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Council.
Secretary Wilson praised Cooper’s dedication to help protect the air, water, land and health of North Carolinians since taking office in 2017.
“The state has purchased 120,000 acres for natural and working lands preservation,” Wilson said. “The land and water fund has awarded more than $300 million in grants to preserve natural areas, protect and enhance rivers, streams and wetlands, and reduce the risk of flooding across the state.”
Wilson explained why the Blue Ridge Parkway is such a special place.
“Vistas, challenging and beautiful trails, wildlife habitat, clear running streams where I know some of the people out here like to go fishing,” he said. “People create lifelong connections to the outdoors here.”
The secretary called the nearly 500-mile parkway, which traverses two states and 29 counties, a “massive economic engine in the mountains.”
“But it's also historic. In fact, the entire route has been nominated to be a National Historic Landmark,” Wilson said.
Last week, U.S. Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) called on the National Parks Service to designate the Blue Ridge Parkway as a national historic landmark. Construction on the parkway began in the 1930s. The vast majority of the road and adjacent land sit in North Carolina.
Cooper highlighted clean energy generation while visiting Western North Carolina on Monday.
“We know with the significant challenges of climate change we must act,” he said. “Not only must we preserve more land, but we also must make sure that we reduce greenhouse gas emissions … We're on the leading edge of becoming a clean energy epicenter. We have to keep moving forward on it.”
Earth Day in the United States began in the 1970s amid a push for stronger legislation to protect the environment and endangered species as well as establish the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
