The News from Shenandoah

Funk Search Taking Toll on Family

Although it has been 10 days and counting, family members of 49-year-old Earl Funk, missing in Shenandoah National Park since Sept. 29, are still hoping the lifelong woodsman will be found alive.

Shenandoah Park Making Personal Connections

A new project at Shenandoah National Park involves creating podcasts that will range from virtual hikes to features on flora, fauna and history.

Another is the offering of hand-held "GPS Ranger" view screens that will not only guide visitors along park hikes, but display video clips as they reach spots along the way.

Staunton Man Missing in Shenandoah National Park

Park rangers in the Shenandoah National Park are searching for a Staunton man missing since Monday.

Earl Funk, 50, was last seen near the Cedar Mountain area early Monday afternoon, park officials said.

Shenandoah National Park to Host National Parks America Tour

Shenandoah National Park will host the National Parks America Tour on
Saturday, September 27 in celebration of National Public Lands Day.

Almost 200 volunteers are expected to assist park staff in restoring Big Meadows and removing invasive vegetation. Activities will include an informative talk about exotic plants followed by a hands-on activity in Big Meadows.

Moth damage severe at Shenandoah Park

Gypsy moths affected more than 11,000 acres of Shenandoah National Park this year, according to a state agency.

The gypsy moth is an insect that eats the leaves off of trees. Stripping a tree of its leaves is known as defoliation. Shenandoah National Park has been battling the gypsy moth, but the species has affected 11,570 acres of the park this year, according to the Virginia Department of Forestry.

Climb led to hankering for hiking

It all began with a hike up Mount Wachusett when he was 16.

Since then, Philip J. Carcia, 24, has managed to hike all 92 miles of the Mid-State Trail in Massachusetts, the 275 miles of the Long Trail in Vermont, and is now more than two-thirds of the way through the Appalachian Trail.

“I heard about the AT (Appalachian Trail) when I was 17 or 18 years old,” Mr. Carcia said. “I was seduced by the idea of going into the mountains for days or weeks without re-entering society, so I put it on my list of things to do.”

469-mile bike ride latest adventure for cancer survivor

Allen Johnson is a real inspiration to those of us who are cancer survivors, and also those who refuse to spend the retirement years in a rocking chair.

At age 73 Johnson has just completed a 469-mile solo bicycle ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway, a scenic highway which connects Shenandoah National Park in Virginia with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina.

Shenandoah National Park Launches Multimedia Tour Inviting Visitors to Experience the Blue Ridge Mountains Like Never Before

Austin, Texas - Greta Miller, Executive Director of the Shenandoah National Park Association announced today the launch of a new interpretive tool, the GPS Ranger™, for visitors at Shenandoah National Park. Visitors to the park can experience the Blue Ridge Mountains and learn more about the park’s unique history, land, plants, and animals with the assistance of the multimedia GPS Ranger™ tour guide system. Informative and educational ranger-narrated videos automatically play as guests hike.

Why national parks, coal-fired power plants may be neighbors

Nature photographer Hullihen Moore specializes in vistas of Virginia's Shenandoah National Park, but worries he'll soon be unable to see his beloved ridgelines through a yellowish haze of industrial emissions.

On some days, thick air already obscures mountains just a few miles distant, he says. So adding six new coal-fired power plants nearby, as is proposed, might make view-gazing impossible.

Shenandoah isn't the only national treasure whose scenic values are up in the air, however. From Virginia to Utah, the air quality of at least 10 national parks, including many with crystalline views, is threatened by plans to build at least two dozen new coal-fired power plants, parks advocates and air-quality experts say.

The little-known reason places with names like Badlands, Wind Cave, and Great Basin could soon see sullied air is a federal proposal that would lower the bar for developers seeking permits to build upwind of the parks, these critics say.