Blue Ridge Parkway

While many people think of the Blue Ridge Parkway just as a motor road, it is also a place of varied and significant natural resources.

The more than 81,000 acres of Parkway lands pass through a highland area of five degrees longitude and approximately 3 degrees latitude, making it the third largest unit of the National Park Service in terms of area covered.

Park resources include 400 streams (150 headwaters), 47 Natural Heritage Areas (areas set aside as national, regional or state examples of exemplary natural communities), a variety of slopes and exposures, and possibly 100 different soil types.

National Park Service/Blue Ridge Parkway website