An aspirational visitor use management plan has been released for the Virginia Triple Crown segment of the Appalachian Trail/photo by Tim Lewis, Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club

Funding, often a troublesome component of implementing plans for managing the National Park System, likely will slow, and could prohibit, full implementation of an ambitious visitor use management plan crafted for the popular Virginia Triple Crown segment of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.

The Triple Crown includes three iconic areas along Appalachian Trail: Dragon’s Tooth, McAfee Knob, and Tinker Cliffs. Because of heavy visitor use, this trail segment has seen increasing wear and damage to natural areas. As a result, back in 2021 the National Park Service and partners embarked on developing a visitor use management plan for this segment of the A.T.

While the just-released plan outlines improvement of facilities, such as parking and vault toilets, calls for controls over user-created trails, illegal campsites, and waste management, proposes shuttles, and outlines trail improvements to control erosion, allow two-way foot traffic, and harden treads, it also acknowledges that funding currently isn't available to implement all of the strategies.

"...there is no guarantee that the strategies proposed in this plan will be funded," the document notes. "The land managers and management partners will continue to seek creative and diverse funding opportunities. Budget restrictions and competing priorities may prevent implementation of some strategies. If it is determined that the investment would not be sustainable for the agency or partner to operate and maintain with realistic funding and staffing projections, the investment will not be made."

The 93-page document also notes that some strategies would require compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, "as well as other consultation and coordination, such as National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 and tribal consultations and Endangered Species Act compliance."

With those barriers existing, the document said it could take 15-20 years to implement the projects called for in the plan. "As with any long-range plan, certainty decreases over time, and opportunities and challenges may arise with implementation," it notes.

The plan focuses on:

• Safeguarding natural, cultural, and scenic resources
• Improving the visitor experience
• Addressing safety and facility concerns

Among the strategies called for are:

• Active parking lot management.
• Establish parking capacities and roadside parking areas to establish baselines for monitoring.
• Restrict overflow and road-shoulder parking at trailheads.
• Evaluate the feasibility for a day-use shuttle system to deal with roadside parking issues and diversify transportation options.
• Improve bathrooms, trash cans, drainage, fencing, and signage.
• Relocate trail sections that are too steep or follow a fall line to more gently sloped alignments with grade reversals to "shed water and/or harden sections with rock or wooden erosion-controlling structures."
• Where appropriate, construct trail tread widths to accommodate two-way traffic.
• Create a campsite "inventory for the entirety of the Virginia Triple Crown segment, to include all formal and user-created sites to establish baseline conditions via a survey of campsites."
• Establish an appropriate number of campsites, and review the feasibility of restricting camping in sensitive areas of the Jefferson National Forest.

A shuttle already exists for hikers setting out for McAfee Knob.

Read About The McAfee Knob Shuttle Service.

The planning document also addresses visitor capacities for various areas of the Triple Crown.

"More than 50,000 people visit McAfee Knob each year, and over 30,000 people visit Dragon's Tooth each year," the plan said. "Weekend days are generally crowded, especially in spring and fall. Day-hikers constitute about 80 percent of visitors, and backpackers make up the remainder. ...The noise and volumes of people impact other hikers' experiences, especially backpackers. Visitor safety is also a growing conern due to ill-prepared hikers, resulting in injuries and rescues." 

The plan's authors said current visitor use levels in the Tinker Cliffs area are in line with desired resource conditions and visitor experiences, and that there should be a day-use capacity of 80 people at one time, and up to 50 for overnight stays.

McAfee Knob capacities should be set at up to 430 people at one time for day use, and up to 105 for overnight stays. 

Dragon's Tooth capacities should be for up to 200 people at one time. 

The visitor use management plan was developed as a collaborative effort among cooperating management partners (NPS, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club and U.S. National Forest Service) and regional partners (Virginia Department of Transportation, Roanoke County, Botetourt County, Roanoke City and Roanoke-Alleghany Regional Commission). Community members also contributed greatly to the planning process. NPS appreciates the substantial partner participation and support.

“The Visitor Use Management Plan is our roadmap for improving visitor experience in this area as visitation numbers have risen significantly,” Ed Clark, Appalachian National Scenic Trail superintendent, said in a prepared statement. “We look forward to working with partners and the local community on improvements for this iconic section of trail.”

The Appalachian Trail is a 2,190+ mile long public footpath that runs from Maine to Georgia. Conceived in 1921, built by private citizens and completed in 1937, today the A.T. is managed by NPS, U.S. Forest Service, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, numerous state agencies and thousands of volunteers.

Find the plan and a summary of the 2023 public comments at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/appavum.