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Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation Funding Temporary Reopening Of Parkway Visitor Center

The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation is paying for National Park Service staff members to reopen the Visitor Center in Asheville, North Carolina, at milepost 384 on the Parkway for three weekends. The center will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. this weekend and then Friday through Sunday, February 1-3, and again February 8-10.

Blockbuster Buildings: Architecture In The National Park System

Ask people to name the most iconic buildings in the United States, and they will probably rattle off some usual suspects—structures like the Chrysler Building in New York City, Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, or the Capitol Records Building in Los Angeles. Ask them to describe the national parks, however, and chances are architecture won’t be the first thing that leaps to mind. Yet the national parks also contain many notable works of architecture, ranging from rustic and rough-hewn to modern and sleek.

Op-Ed | The Trust For Public Land: Crisis In Our National Parks

On average in January, nearly half a million people visit our national parks every day. This year, as a result of the federal government shutdown, now the longest in our nation’s history, park-goers have been greeted not just by nature’s majesty, but by mounting piles of garbage and human excrement—fruited plains indeed. During previous government shutdowns, national parks have been closed to visitors, reducing the risk of temporary and permanent damage incurred without full staffing and services. This time, however, the parks remained open—and American citizens and policymakers alike must now take swift and decisive action to combat the potentially disastrous results.

Letter From Acadia

As we enter...the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, all of us at Friends of Acadia share concern – for the furloughed professionals not able to do the job they love; for the handful of rangers working long hours without pay to safeguard the park and public safety; for the park itself and the impacts it will suffer from prolonged gaps in funding and staffing; and for the visiting public, who will feel the repercussions of this shutdown for months and even years to come.