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Title The Pisgah National Forest and the Parkway
Title Note An article taken from the Blue Ridge Parkway Guide
Date 1947
Description The title and byline of an article that appears in the 1947 edition of the Blue Ridge Parkway guide. The article is titled "The Pisgah National Forest and the Parkway", written by Karl G. Krueger, Forest Supervisor at the Pisgah National Forest.
Commentary In the 1947 Blue Ridge Parkway Guide by Channing Trafford, an interesting article appears entitled "The Pisgah National Forest and The Parkway" written by Karl G. Krueger, Forest Supervisor. Written twenty years after the original debates between national parks and national forests started, Krueger provided some interesting insight into the way the two Agencies were interacting in the late 1940s, around the time that section 2-V of the Blue Ridge Parkway was being completed. Krueger began his article by mentioning that the U.S. Forest Service owns much of the land that the Blue Ridge Parkway passes through as it makes its way through the Pisgah National Forest. He then goes on to state that the scenic value of the parkway is dependent on the U.S. Forest Service management of the forest land adjacent to it, and claims that “the Forest Service recognizes that Parkway values might be impaired through unwise management of its lands.” To restrict the U.S. Forest Service from disrupting the view from the parkway, National Park officials and Forest Service officials worked out an agreement where certain sections of land had to be managed differently from the rest of the land in the national forest. Specifically, this agreement hinders the traditional Forest Service management of land, which stresses “multiple uses, including use of timber, hunting, fishing, as well as recreation and scenery.” Krueger’s portrayal of the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service agreement was one which showed “integrated land use on the part of two Agencies which have somewhat different policies and objectives, but can work together for the benefit of the public.” He claimed that the agreement was lived up to “conscientiously” by both groups, and explained that the U.S. Forest Service was able to continue logging and other activities, as long as the average Parkway visitor was not aware of the activity. This article attempts to shine a positive light on the harmonious relationship between these two groups, but it seems to place the U.S. Forest Service into the role of a submissive little brother, heeding the wants of the more influential National Park Service almost as if it had no other choice.
Location Location Name: Pisgah National Forest
Parkway Milepost: None
Latitude: 35.75067
Longitude: -82.2504
Creator Individual E. Channing Trafford
Tags Industries
Logging
Logging
Pamphlets
Pisgah National Forest (N.C.)
United States Forest Service
Credit North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill