Notice!! This is data about which features this issue contains. Delete this description to rebuild the list.[“2017-issue-2-aprilmay”,”allposts”,”featured”,”voice”,”political-landscape”,”hiking-highlands”,”naturalistsnotebook-voice”,”inside-av”,”the-energy-report”,”across-appalachia”]
Expansion of the natural gas infrastructure through constructions such as the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines carry significant risks to the environment and communities near them. But they also carry significant financial benefits for the companies that build them, which may help explain the rush to build more and more pipelines.
For nearly 70 years, adventurous souls have been thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail. People embark on the challenge for various reasons, but no one who makes the journey is ever the same again.
As more and more pipeline projects are proposed to bring fracked gas out of the Appalachian Basin, residents are rising up to voice their opposition and fight to stop the pipelines from endangering their communities.
The “America First” budget proposed by President Donald Trump in March 2017 would slash funding to many programs that Appalachian residents depend on.
In the shadow of a National Radio Astronomy Observatory telescope, Laurel Fork Trails offers scenic views and a rare chance to escape the buzzes and beeps of the technological age.
Beavers are sometimes called “nature’s engineers,” and for good reason. By building lodges and dams as their homes, they physically alter the landscape to suit their own needs, similar to humans.
Both the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines threaten to damage historic and scenic sites along their paths through West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina. Places such as Bent Mountain and Peters Mountain could be permanently scared, while parts of the Appalachian Trail and the Blue Ridge Parkway could also be impacted.
Building trails involves the science of physical, social and ecological sustainability and the synergy between trailbuilding and conservation. Well-built trails can look accidental but will withstand the ages and the elements.
This map shows a sampling of the types of sites that would be affected by the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline. View the print centerspread here while we transfer it to a web-friendly version.
Virginia residents Susan Tyree and Kent Walton are long-time Appalachian Voices members. They share their passion for nature through Susan’s art, Kent’s work as an arborist, and their activism with the Quaker environmental and social justice community.
