About Us
What We Do…
2 - VOLUNTEERS IN P
Who we are he mission of FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway is to help preserve, promote and enhance the outstanding natural beauty, ecological vitality and cultural distinctiveness of the Blue Ridge
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Parkway and its corridor, including surrounding scenic landscape, thereby preserving this national treasure for future generations.
To accomplish our mission We champion Parkway interests: Working with the National Park Service, we champion the Blue Ridge Parkway to the general public, Congress and other government entities. We coordinate efforts as we forge alliances with agencies, foundations and nonprofits to preserve and protect the Blue Ridge Parkway. We provide services to the Blue Ridge Parkway visitor: We assist the National Park Service in providing information, programs and services to aid visitors to America’s most visited national park. We enhance communities: We promote conservation and environmental education. We promote an ownership, support and appreciation of park mission and resource values. We work toward the integration of economic development with environmental protection at the local, state and national levels. We educate: Our programs and services foster an understanding of the importance of protecting
and preserving the Blue Ridge Parkway. We, as a membership organization, promote volunteerism: We recruit and help supply a corps of volunteers for designated parkway and friends projects. We practice responsible stewardship: By using member dues and other gifts effectively, we bring quality programs and services to conserve the natural and cultural heritage of the Blue Ridge parkway. We raise funds and execute projects: We organize projects and raise funds to protect, preserve and enhance the Blue Ridge Parkway and its scenic corridor. We are a nonprofit organization 501(c)(3): We support and work with the national park service as stewards of park resources. We support the National Park Service as an independent organization.
What We Do? 1 - SAVING PARKWAY VIEWS Clear overlooks & vistas and plant trees
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rom the beginning, the Blue Ridge Parkway was intended as a visual feast. National Park Service landscape architect Stanley W. Abbott and his design team created a route with a carefully planned landscape that highlighted glorious mountain vistas at nearly every turn.
As the years passed, those curated vistas and overlooks became less spectacular, threatened by brush and overgrowth of trees -- some sites hadn’t been cleared in 70 years. Many of the original views all but disappeared. That’s when FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway stepped in. FRIENDS’ support has fueled the National Park Service’s Overlook Restoration Project, which began in the fall of 2014 with NPS arborists clearing vistas along the parkway corridor in Virginia. The program resumed in spring 2015 with work at Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. FRIENDS is funding this effort to make the project a
reality in both North Carolina and Virginia. Preserving vistas involves not only cutting trees down, but planting them. In locations identified by the park service where the Parkway’s beauty is marred by encroaching residential and commercial development, FRIENDS’ plants trees engaging children, families and community supporters to volunteer and plant trees. Today FRIENDS has planted more than 7,000 trees and engages close to a thousand community volunteers. Saving the Blue Ridge Parkway is an on-going process, and FRIENDS is committed to it.
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Very Important Volun
he National Park Service’s Volun 1969. The program grew steadily parks every year. On the Blue Ridge Par resources of the Parkway region through activities. The VIP program helps Parkwa involved in virtually every aspect of park
All volunteers are also members of the V An important function of FRIENDS chapt recruit more volunteers. To FRIENDS – an – volunteers are very important people!
FRIENDS is also charged with keeping re service volunteers contribute. Beginning this effort will make a great technologica with the introduction of FRIENDS’ online Created in partnership with Better Impa database will greatly simplify FRIENDS’ re keeping and prove an invaluable resou National Park Service.
Blue Ridge Music
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The Parkway is the most visited national park in the United States, with more than 15 million visitors reported in 2015. Tourists eager for a window into Appalachian culture are rewarded with FRIENDSfunded programs that help bring the Blue Ridge experience to life.
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Blue Ridge traditional mountain music is a justly celebrated part of life in the Blue Ridge. FRIENDS provides support for warm-weather concert series park-wide including Roanoke Mountain, Humpback Rocks and Mabry Mill as well as some youth performances at the Blue Ridge Music Center. These programs are always free and open to the public.
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What We Do…
PARKS & INTERPRETIVE PROGRAMS
3 - PARKWAY FOREVER
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nteers In Parks (VIP) program was created by an act of Congress in y, and today, well over 200,000 Americans volunteer for their national rkway, VIPs work to preserve the cultural heritage, history, and natural h the support of education, interpretation, and resource protection ay staff accomplish more than it could on its own. Volunteers are k operations.
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ecords of the g in 2016, al leap database. act, this ecordurce for the
Interpretive services make for a richer and deeper park experience. Guides at Parkway sites offer demonstrations such as apple-butter making, blacksmithing, fishing, spinning and basketmaking, among other traditional chores of pioneer life. Unfortunately, these interpretive experiences are compromised as the park service is forced to cut costs. FRIENDS steps in to help with funding and more, the parkway interpreter is a part of the volunteer in the parks program!
lue Ridge Gardens FRIENDS volunteers work to maintain the historic gardens at Humpback Rocks, Mabry Mill and Brinegar Cabin. These Blue Ridge Heritage Gardens are stocked with historically accurate plants, such as heirloom fruit trees, typical of early farm life in the mountains.
lue Ridge Festivals & Events
FRIENDS supports a number of festivals on the Parkway corridor, including Family Fun Weekend, the James River Transportation Festival, Johnson Farmfest, Naturefest, the Overmountain Victory event and music nd art in the mountains. Volunteers assist with various special events, such as oncerts, at Roanoke Mountain, Mabry Mill and Brinegar Cabin.
arkway Interns
FRIENDS undertakes a big commitment every year in funding internships for college students. Interns at the Blue Ridge Music Center, Mabry Mill and Doughton Park are have the opportunity to explore careers in conservation while helping create digital content and rving as guides and interpreters at their locations.
olunteer Events Volunteers with FRIENDS know they’re appreciated. Volunteer thankyou events take place regularly all along the Parkway. Volunteers are honored for their service with special annual dinners and volunteer-ofthe-year awards and prizes..
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Preserving Parkway Resources
RIENDS is ensuring that the Parkway’s trails, overlooks, cemeteries and other assets are top quality for Parkway visitors. That job is accomplished through volunteers who invest thousands of hours to preserve these assets --restoring split-rail fences, painting mile-marker posts, maintaining campgrounds, clearing litter, and a host of other duties. PARKWAY FOREVER is a multifaceted program that builds on the existing strengths of the Blue Ridge Parkway/ FRIENDS Adopt-A-Trail and Adopt-An-Overlook programs utilizing volunteers. FRIENDS’ Chapters are the front line of these programs. The chapters encourage community engagement focusing on maintenance and enhancement of these natural resources. Chapter leaders are experienced workers who encourage volunteerism, raise the necessary funds for the projects and plan and implement the projects and programs requested by the Park Service. FRIENDS is entrusted with the care and maintenance of all 350+ miles
of trails on Parkway land in Virginia and North Carolina. Through the Adopt-A-Trail Program, Blue Ridge Parkway volunteers repair, maintain and construct Parkway trails. This program focuses not only on rebuilding trails, but also making them accessible to impaired visitors. In addition there are nearly 300 overlooks and more than 60 cemeteries – all which need attention so the Parkway visitor can have a positive and enriched experience during their visit.
4 - CHILDREN AND YOUTH ENGAGEMENT Alternative Break and Junior Rangers critical part of FRIENDS’ mission is to ensure that a new generation continues the legacy of stewardship of the Parkway. FRIENDS reaches out to children and youth with programs that offer a healthy dose of fun along with learning and volunteer service.4
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FRIENDS’ Alternative Break Program, which engages college students in environmental service, is expanded every year. During the fall and spring, students spend a week on the Parkway repairing fences, clearing trails and learning about Appalachian culture and the local Parkway communities. They benefit from the expert guidance of FRIENDS Chapters who help them get oriented and make their visits comfortable. Student volunteers also provide service projects in local communities such as packing food
boxes and delivering the boxes to families. In the NPS Junior Ranger program, younger children find themselves invested in protecting national parks while learning about conservation. FRIENDS funds this Blue Ridge Parkway program and provides materials – handbooks, maps, activity sheets – as downloads on the FRIENDS website. More than 3,000 children were involved in the Junior Ranger program – a record number and a 73% jump over the year before!
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