With several entrances in the Asheville area, the Blue Ridge Parkway is our community’s most accessible national park.  It runs between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.

Begun in 1935 during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, the Parkway covers 469 miles and took more than half a century to build.  Since 1946, except for four years, it has been the most-visited unit of the National Park Service. 

The new superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway is Tracy Swartout, a Carolina native and a 23-year veteran of the National Park Service. She will be the featured speaker at LAF’s October 26th Critical Issues luncheon.

Tracy holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Geography from the University of South Carolina and a master’s degree in Natural Resources Management from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.  She also has done postgraduate work at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment, and she looks forward to sharing with you the unique challenges of managing the Blue Ridge Parkway.

WHAT: LAF's October 26th Critical Issues Luncheon

WHERE: The Country Club of Asheville, 170 Windsor Road

TIME: Food Service begins at 11:45am, the program at 12:15pm

COST: $25 for LAF members, $35 for nonmembers

RSVP to Nancy Williams at nwilliam@unca.edu