Shenandoah. Nature miracle

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Shenandoah. Nature miracle

Wonders of nature

The Shenandoah National Park was organized in 1935 by the decision of the US Congress in the western part of the state of Virginia. The park covers an area of 84 hectares and is a narrow strip that stretches almost 921 km parallel to the Shenandoah River valley. The park is located on the Alpalachian mountains, the oldest on the planet (their age exceeds 180 billion years). However, the highest point of the park - Mount Hawksbill - is only 1 m above sea level.

Shenandoah National Park

Back in 1929, US President Herbert Hoover decided to make a suburban branch of the White House, not far from Washington. His choice fell on a place located 130 km from the capital. There was a pleasant climate, beautiful nature. You could do your favorite fishing, while mosquitoes will not bother you (they simply do not exist here). Hoover bought a plot of land and built a house for himself and several cabins for members of his cabinet.

After Congress passed the Shenandoah National Park Act, the Virginia government bought about 10 hectares of land and donated it to the federal government. In 1936, President Roosevelt proposed restoring nature that had been badly disturbed by settlers over two centuries. Agricultural and logging operations were prohibited on the territory of the park, and in 40 years the forest vegetation was completely restored.

Now the park is home to about 100 species of trees and several hundred species of other plants. Summer here is warm (average July temperature is 23–26 °C), long, winter is short and mild, frosts are rare.

About 300 bears (more than three individuals per 1000 hectares), 200 species of birds, several species of salamanders and snakes, including two species of poisonous ones, live in the park. During the years of the park's existence, the white-tailed deer, bear, lynx, turkey, raccoon, skunk, opossum, exterminated by white settlers, returned here. Now there are a lot of gray squirrels, chipmunks. In Shenandoah, as in other US national parks, the exploitation of natural resources, the construction of new buildings and roads, hunting, and permanent residence are prohibited. However, even minor construction of objects is carried out here, taking into account the characteristics of the park, as a rule, from wild stone and wood. Fishing is allowed in the parks under licenses sold by the administration of the state in which the park is located.

Bicycles and motorcycles are not allowed on the hiking trails, as are trucks on the park roads. The speed of movement of cars is limited to 60 km/h, stopping outside special parking areas is prohibited. It is not recommended to leave the trail, smoking outside specially designated areas, although this is not considered a serious violation. Those who leave behind rubbish or cut trees for a fire are subject to heavy fines.

The trash containers that are in the park are closed from animals. This is done not so much to maintain cleanliness as to ward off beggar animals. In some parks, animals that are used to eating food waste have ceased to be afraid of people, thereby beginning to threaten the lives of tourists.

The park has a natural history museum, an ethnographic museum, and a lecture hall. Tourists can get information about the park in special centers that are open almost all year round.

In Shenandoah, as in other parks, tourism is designed mainly for motorists. In the most interesting places, car parks are arranged, from which there is a circular hiking trail 1-3 km long to individual natural objects - waterfalls, canyons, rocks. Shenandoah has over 900 km of hiking trails ranging in length from 2-3 to 170 km. The famous Appalachian Trail passes here - the ancient path of the Indians, going south along the slopes of the Appalachian Mountains, after 500 km it reaches the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most popular park in the United States. Several camper shelters have been built in the park along the Appalachian Trail.

Shenandoah National Park

Along the highway there are campsites, hotels, restaurants and cafes, picnic areas, horse rentals. Places in campsites are booked in advance, and you can stay here for no more than two weeks. In campsites, tourists can connect their caravan - a motor home - to the mains, water supply and even sewerage.

The Shenandoah celebrates Hoover Days each year in early August, when the administration organizes free tours of the former president's summer residence, which is used as a government vacation home the rest of the year.

In the early 70s of the XX century, more than 2 million people a year visited Shenandoah annually, but then the number of tourists decreased somewhat, they come here mostly for a short time.

As a rule, the proportion of tourists who come to the park for several days is higher in large and remote parks (such as Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Big Bend) and lower in smaller parks located near large cities. This fact allows us to conclude that the bulk of visitors to US parks come from nearby cities.

Scientific work in the Shenandoah, as in other parks, is carried out mainly by universities and research institutes. The park is carefully guarded by foresters. On its territory, such rules apply: you can’t make noise, ride bicycles and motorcycles, pick flowers and souvenirs, cut down trees or carve your name on them. Poaching here provides for confiscation of vehicles and weapons, a large fine, for a minor violation - a fine, expulsion from the park. To the fire - and he needs to get permission, and when leaving, put it out, taking with him the garbage that cannot burn in the fire.

Picnics are allowed only on designated areas. You can stop with trailers and tents only at campsites. Animals should not be approached, they should not be fed.

In 1976, 40 percent of the Shenandoah was reclassified as wilderness.

Shenandoah, like other national parks, is financed from the state budget by the US National Park Service annually spends about $ 1 billion on their maintenance. But only 50 million dollars a year can be compensated by the entrance fee. However, according to American economists, national parks bring in revenues to the state that are several times higher than the costs of maintaining them. This was made possible by serving visitors at campsites and motels owned by national parks, thanks to taxes on private entrepreneurs who serve tourists both in the park and on the way to them.

In terms of attendance, American parks differ significantly from each other. In 1980, America's most popular park, the Great Smoky Mountains, was visited by 8,4 million tourists, while less than 12 people visited Katmai Park. Of the 47 million tourists who visited all 48 national parks in the United States in the same 1980, 35 million tourists visited just 15 parks.

Robert Kahn traveled 32 km to study the problem of national parks, visited more than thirty parks and concluded that parks are becoming a victim of their own popularity. If in 000 they were visited by 1941 million people, in 21 - 1955 million, then already in 50 - 1966 million, and in 137 - 1971 million. Therefore, at the height of the season, a continuous stream of cars stretches along the roads of the parks. Thousands of people can gather at the geysers in Yellowstone. Parks have proven to be the perfect place for theft. Nature is under threat of erosion.

Author: Yudina N.A.

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A team of British chemists has ground ordinary ice in a ball mill at a temperature of 77 kelvins and obtained a new form of amorphous ice. This is the name of ice, which, unlike crystalline ice, Ih does not have an ordered molecular structure. The open form was stable at atmospheric pressure up to 1,1 gigapascals. Scientists gave it the name amorphous ice of medium density.

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