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Significance of the park:1
Established in 1935, Shenandoah National Park lies astride a scenic section of the Blue Ridge Mountains between Front Royal and Waynesboro, Virginia. One of the world's most diverse broadleaf temperate forests, Shenandoah's nearly 200,000 acres provides habitat for more than 2,000 native species, including black bear, bobcat, and the endangered Shenandoah salamander, which exists only in the park. More than 100 nationally significant archaeological sites in the park provide evidence of 10,000 years of human history.
What you see:
The park was created in large part for its magnificent views of the Massanutten mountain range to the west, and rolling Piedmont to the east. Park peaks reach up to 4,000 feet, with numerous waterfalls in cool valleys. More than 95 percent of the park is forested, sheltering one of America's richest botanical reserves and an abundant diversity of animal life. The National Park Service recently restored Rapidan Camp, President Herbert Hoover's "summer White House." The remains of several Civilian Conservation Corps encampments are located in the park.
What you can do:
Up to 1.5 million visitors travel to Shenandoah each year to hike on the park's 500 miles of trails, enjoy scenic views from approximately 70 overlooks along the more than 100-mile-long Skyline Drive, tent camp or indulge in modest but comfortable accommodations, track migrating warblers, and fish for brook trout in cool mountain streams.
Summer Visibility: Third Haziest Park Improving 1991-2003
Average Summer Views 1999-2003: 24.8 miles
Natural Visibility: 81-119 miles2
In 1924, surveyors noted that the park's "greatest single feature" was the potential for a "skyline drive along the mountaintop…commanding a view of the Piedmont Plain stretching easterly to the Washington Monument, which landmark or our National Capitol may be seen on a clear day. Few scenic drives in the world could surpass it."
Today's visitor looking for clear views from Skyline Drive often finds a grayish haze ruining views. Sooty sulfate particles formed mostly from power plant pollution are responsible for nearly three-quarters of the park's haze.3
Unhealthy Smog: Fourth Smoggiest Park
Getting worse 1991-2003
36 unhealthful air days 1999 - 20034
In April 2004, EPA formally designated parts of Shenandoah as an ozone nonattainment area, with levels of ozone pollution that threaten human health.
Forty species of trees and plants found in the park are sensitive to ozone damage, with ten species exhibiting visible leaf injury, decreased growth, and/or early leaf drop, symptoms of ozone pollution. The park's three major forest types-cove hardwood, chestnut oak, and yellow poplar-are particularly sensitive to ozone.5 Several species of milkweed found in the park are very sensitive to ozone;6 milkweed is the key food for monarch butterfly caterpillars.
Acid Precipitation: Third Most Acidic Park
No significant change 1991-2003
Despite reductions in the pollution that causes acid rain, park streams continue to acidify and are less able to support fish. Intense storms of highly acidic precipitation have the capacity to kill young brook trout, the park's most acid-tolerant fish species.
Solutions:
EPA must deliver an effective and enforceable park haze rule that requires all industrial smokestacks that degrade park air quality to meet modern pollution control standards, as stipulated by the Clean Air Act more than 25 years ago.
The state of Virginia has approved 18 new power plants since deregulation five years ago, with most of the power intended for export to other states. Governor Mark Warner must set a temporary moratorium on new power plants, to include the CPV-Warren power plant proposed on the park's Front Royal doorstep. Power plants proposed upwind in other states, such as the Longview plant near Morgantown, West Virginia, must not add to the pollution burden at Shenandoah. The state must require in-state power plants to meet modern pollution control requirements.
State and federal decision makers considering increasing traffic capacity in the I-81 corridor from Winchester to Bristol, Virginia, must choose a sensible package of improvements including enhancing freight rail, rather than adding multiple new dedicated truck or multipurpose lanes.
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