Round Two: Plan to build parking lot for Old Rag hikers stirs opposition from Rappahannock neighbors
Report and Commentary
By Linda Heimstra
A group of concerned neighbors in Nethers, Virginia has formed a citizens group called The Friends of Old Rag Mountain, and is challenging Shenandoah National Park’s plan to build a large parking lot for hikers climbing Old Rag Mountain.
In the spring of 2003, Park officials made public their intention to construct a new parking lot at the end of Nethers Road, creating a new access point for hikers. They invited the public to comment, and scheduled a community meeting where neighbors could meet with Park officials to discuss possible alternatives to the situation.
An Environmental Assessment (EA) was published outlining several alternatives and mailed to local residents. The primary option was to construct a new lot for 220 cars, while maintaining the present overflow lot of 250 cars, almost doubling the number of parking spaces.
Local residents were outraged by the Park’s proposal, and attorney Peter Hornbostel convinced a prominent Washington DC law firm to take on the Park (pro bono), holding that the evaluations of the wetlands provided in the EA had been executed during a drought year, and were thus invalid.
The Park was then required to produce a new EA and the project was put on hold. That was the end of Round One.
On April 8 of this year, the park offered up a new EA, with three options to consider: two versions of the proposed parking lot and a third alternative to take no action. The new assessment focuses much more on what is thought to be best for the visitors and hikers, than on the effects on the community in which we live, its history, its residents, its beauty and spirit. Close scrutiny of the publication reveals that environmental guidelines are stretched to the limit and certain key information is absent entirely.
Presently, there are two parking areas for hikers–the original lot situated within the Park boundaries that holds approximately 12 vehicles, and the overflow lot that has been in use since 1974, located 0.8 mile from the trail head and accommodating 250 cars within a fenced pasture.
The Park asserts that having to walk the additional .8 mile to the trail head is an inconvenience for hikers, and that a danger exists with hikers and cars sharing the roadway, even though there have been no accidents of any kind ever reported.
There are only five houses between the lower parking lot and the trail head, some of which are weekend homes and another that is uninhabited. Traffic is minimal. Two of the houses are quaint old log cabins, and another boasts a large flower garden.
We have never heard any hikers complaining about this part of the trail. The hikers come to hike, and this part of the road is just another delightful part of the journey.
If the Park is allowed to go ahead with its plans, several homes located in the dense wooded land adjacent to the proposed lot will suddenly have a parking lot next to them, with the accompanying noise and pollution, tourists wandering on to their property, and drops in property value as the pristine essence of the land is diminished by such a corruption of the environment.
The Park has a 10-year lease on the overflow parking lot and statistics show that the number of visitors to Old Rag is steadily declining. There is no way to predict what the need for parking will be in the future, especially with the price of gasoline skyrocketing.
Other solutions include running a shuttle bus service, implementing a reservation system, and educating the public that Old Rag Mountain is in danger of being overused as a recreation area and access is limited. But the Park’s preferred choice is the parking lot, and there is little or no mention of these alternate possibilities.
“…the National Park Service is bound by a conservation mandate, and that mandate trumps all other considerations. Congress has provided that when there is a conflict between conserving resources and providing for enjoyment of them, conservation is of the primary concern.” The Fund for Animals v. Norton 294 F Supp.92,105 (D.B. 2003).
We cannot understand why a parking lot and trail should be built through a congressionally designated Wilderness Area when the existing parking lots serve precisely the same purpose with no deleterious effects whatsoever to the surrounding wilderness area.
Anyone interested in learning more can read the EA and make comments by logging onto http://parkplanning.nps.gov/SHEN or you may send your comments via regular mail to:Old Rag Parking Lot- Environmental Assessment 3655 U.S. Highway 211 East Luray, VA
Without the watchdog efforts of The Friends of Old Rag Mountain, there would already be a new parking lot in place. We challenge the outmoded belief that it is the citizen’s right to have access to the Park, as many of our wilderness areas are in danger of overuse and extinction and we must conserve them now before it’s too late.
We believe that restricting access to Old Rag Mountain is more in keeping with current approaches to wilderness preservation and we insist on further analysis of the problem. The Park seems no more interested in our concerns than it was about the fate of the mountaineers who were forced out of the Park in the 1930’s.
Granted, we are grateful that this Appalachian wilderness was saved before it disappeared entirely, but we feel that this parking lot is entirely premature and unnecessary, and though we agree a solution must be found, we do not believe this is it. We believe the Park has not fully explored all options available.
The comment period ends on Friday, May 28. Please write to the Park and let them know that we demand that they proceed with care and continue to explore all possible options thoroughly.
Linda Heimstra has lived in Nethers for 14 years and is the Vice President of The Friends of Old Rag Mountain.
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