Outdoors

For 50 years, the USDA Forest Service’s Mount Rogers National Recreation Area has been providing recreation experiences for visitors to southwest Virginia.

May 31, 2016, marks the 50th anniversary of the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area and District Ranger Beth Merz is proud to be a part of the celebration. “My staff and many of our partners are hosting activities throughout the year with special celebrations and presentations, from Memorial Day weekend thru the first weekend of June.”

The USDA Forest Service is stepping back from trail realignment efforts in the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area in Grayson, Carroll, Smyth and Wythe counties.

“We realize we must do a better job of engaging our trail users on this project,” said Area Ranger Beth Merz.

WITH VIDEO

Submitted by Scott Jackson-Ricketts, Blue Ridge Discovery Center

You’re out weeding your garden, perhaps hiking the New River Trail, or just driving along a country road when suddenly you spy a raptor overhead, stretched out like a board, a nine-and-a-half-pound bird with a wingspan of 80 inches, its white head and tail sealing the identification, a graceful marriage of bird and sky.

Take another look if you can, and savor the moment.

By DON RICHESON, Staff

WYTHEVILLE — U.S. Forest Service officials and a Grayson County-based horseback riders group still aren’t seeing eye-to-eye following a forum last week about proposed trail closings.

But Grayson County resident Elizabeth Thomas, the president and founder of the group, MRNRA Trail Advocates Coalition, sees at least one promising sign – the plan to close most of the horse trails in Mount Rogers National Recreation Area is moving at less of a gallop than before.