Carolina Trail Network Planned
Imagine a “green interstate system” of trails that links parks, lakes, and rivers. That’s the vision of the Carolina Thread Trail, a comprehensive trail network planned for Charlotte, N.C. People will be able to walk or ride their bikes from Lake Norman to UNC-Charlotte; from South Mountain State Park to the Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge; or from the U.S. National Whitewater Center to Kings Mountain State Park.
The Thread Trail master plan calls for local governments and groups in 15 counties to build the system from the ground up over the next 10 to 20 years, but roughly 23 miles of connective greenway already exist in the area, and key segments will be given a high priority over the next few years.
Downtown ‘Nooga Trails
Chattanooga has begun constructing 10 miles of singletrack at Enterprise South Park, a plot of land outside of downtown Chattanooga that’s also scheduled to house a Volkswagon plant. The trail system is slated to include a skill course and is part of a goal to build 100 miles of singletrack within 10 miles of Chattanooga.
Activists Arrested at Coal River Mountain
14 Coal River Mountain activists were arrested and charged with trespassing after chaining themselves to bulldozers at a Massey Energy mountaintop removal mine site in February. Local citizens fear that mountaintop blasting, which rests beside a six-billion-gallon toxic coal waste sludge dam, could be catastrophic for the communities downstream. Citizens and activists have overwhelmingly supported a wind farm at the mountaintop removal site.
Oh Shenandoah!
- 24 Miles of smog-clogged views within Shenandoah National Park.
- 100 Miles of natural-range views within Shenandoah National Park. Visitors used to be able to see the Washington Monument in D.C., some 70 miles away.
- 50 Number of coal-fired power plants that currently operate within 150 miles of the Shenandoah.
- 8 Number of new coal-fired power plants currently under development within that same range.
- 28,000,000 Tons of additional carbon dioxide the new plants will emit into Shenandoah’s air every year.
—National Parks Conservation Association
