Values placed on views in N.C. Parkway study

Travelers on the Blue Ridge Parkway can see most of Alleghany from scenic overlooks as the National Park Service's most heavily visited area passes through the county.

As a basis for trying to protect forest and meadow scenes along the 469-mile Parkway, the National Park Service is working with researchers from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Warren Wilson College in Asheville and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville to place values on these views.

Results from the study on the 252-mile North Carolina portion of the Parkway are expected in December. The results will be based on interviews with Parkway visitors last summer and fall. The project is intended to spur discussion about different costs of development and not stifle it, said Laura Rotegard, Parkway management assistant and on-site coordinator of the surveys.

Parkway funding is needed

Years of eroding budgets have undermined the ability of the National Park Service to take care of its most visited area, the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway, and according to a new study released today, it would take a funding increase of 40 percent to operate the park at necessary standard.

Superintendent Daniel W. Brown said that the Parkway's business plan was prepared by graduate school consultants who used private sector business principles to analyze operating needs and to develop recommendations to increase revenues and efficiency.

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