2020 VISION:
Book Helps Readers Clearly See the Future of the Blue
Ridge
Chapel Hill, N.C.-- As Earth Day (April 22) 1999
approaches, journalist Steve Nash encourages us to look forward into the
next
millenium and not to forget the Blue Ridge. The natural systems of these
mountains, Nash writes in his new book Blue Ridge 2020: An Owner's
Manual, are of critical importance to everyone. "We can afford to
sustain them; Nash writes, "we can't afford not to."
The mountain chain known as the Blue Ridge traces a 550-mile arc through
Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, and
Georgia. Along the way, it encompasses Shenandoah National Park, Great
Smoky Mountains National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway, seven national
forests, numerous federal wilderness areas and state parks, and parts of
the Appalachian Trail.
The Blue Ridge is the largest concentration of public lands east of the
Mississippi and home to an astonishing diversity of plant and animal
life. Blue Ridge 2020: An Owner's Manual, to be published in
March by the University of North Carolina Press ($19.95 paperback),
explains that the most extensive natural area in the increasingly
populous Southeast faces unique challenges in the next decades.
Nash writes that the Blue Ridge holds for many an illusion of
changelessness, which is one reason why so many travel there yearly. He
calls the Blue Ridge a "big natural backyard for the East and Midwest,"
pointing out that it draws at least 30 million tourists each year and is
inhabited by almost three million more.
Nash's message in Blue Ridge 2020 is that, despite the
facade of stillness, the Blue Ridge region is undergoing profound
changes--some natural and slow moving, others brought on by human forces
that are more dangerous and frequent. Nash poses the question, "How will
these mountains be changed then--in, say, the year 2020 and after?"
Drawing on scientific research in a variety of disciplines, Nash provides
a clear and evenhanded introduction to some of the most hotly disputed
environmental issues facing the Blue Ridge, including the invasion of
exotic plants and insects, the explosive growth of suburban-style
communities in natural areas, worsening air and water pollution, and the
erratic management of national forests.
Nash also explains that the changes predicted in the ecosystem of the
Blue Ridge are not "givens." His message is that those interested in
the future of the Blue Ridge can still change the patterns laid out in
the book if action is taken quickly.
Little of the research that has previously documented the accelerating
rate of degradation of the Blue Ridge has been accessible to the general
reading public. Blue Ridge 2020 synthesizes the most current
science on the ecology of the region with an optimistic blueprint for
action. The succinct summary of the perils facing the country's public
lands will also interest environmentalists wherever they live.
In Blue Ridge 2020 Nash invites the reader to take a hard
look at what is at risk in these mountains and what the "owners" of the
public lands must do if we intend to preserve their future.
Steve Nash teaches journalism at the University of Richmond. His
reporting on environmental issues has appeared in many newspapers and
magazines, including The Washington Post, The Christian Science
Monitor, BioScience, The Scientist, and National
Parks.
For more information about the book, the author, and the Blue Ridge,
go to the author's website at http://blueridge2020.com
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