The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation is the primary and professional fund raising organization for the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Foundation does not fund the Parkway's operational budget which is the responsibility of the federal government. The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation funds only those projects and programs which add a margin of excellence to the park's mission, enhance the visitor's experience, and have a lasting value.
See funding needs for Blue Ridge Projects in 2010.
The Foundation's authority to request and receive funds on behalf of the Blue Ridge Parkway is vested in a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service and Department of Interior.
 The Foundation's historical program funding areas are:
- View area protection, preservation, and research
- Historic preservation
- Capital project funding
- Wildlife management
- Watershed preservation and water quality enhancement
- Education outreach -- Parks As Classrooms
- Family photograph and story archives
- Endowment and estate planning
For more information, go to the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation Web site.
The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation awarded a $98,000 grant in October 2006 that will make it possible for Parkway rangers to conduct educational outreach programs for students in communities along the entire 469-mile scenic corridor. Dr. Houck Medford, executive director of the Foundation, noted that this year’s grant--the largest his organization has given for “Parks as Classrooms”--will let the Parkway’s educational rangers offer these activities throughout the school year.
Last year Parkway staff gave programs to some 37,000 students, both in the classroom and as part of school field trips in which students explored the ecology of Parkway streams and forests, learned about wildlife, and took part in hands-on demonstrations of regional history and culture. “Funding shortfalls make it very, very difficult for the Parkway to offer these programs without philanthropic support and we’re delighted to step in and meet this need,” Medford said.
Medford said that adjacent development, air pollution, exotic plants and a host of other threats are undermining the scenic and natural qualities of the Parkway. “Instilling in children a reflective and informed appreciation of the Parkway and the values it represents is essential to preservation of this national treasure and, more broadly, to the future of this wonderful mountain region.”
Parkway Superintendent Phil Francis described the gift as “just another example of the Foundation’s on-going support that lets us provide much-needed services and undertake initiatives that are far beyond what we could accomplish on our own.”
Medford said that the grant was made possible by the generosity of private individuals, corporations and other foundations, and by revenues from the sale of Blue Ridge Parkway specialty license tags in North Carolina. Each tag returns $20 to the Foundation. According to Medford, the tag money is used for a number of projects and has helped reprint the official Parkway brochure, underwrite scientific studies and visitor surveys, purchase interpretive exhibits, and support planning for the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park.
Also see: Asheville Land Conservancy
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