The Fogs of Change:
Sunset in the Shenandoah Valley
Photo © Buddy Mays

Shenandoah's Skyline Drive offers some of the finest bucolic vistas anywhere on the East Coast. In the past two decades, however, sunset scopers have noticed diminishing visibility and diluted hues, thanks in part to pollution from power plants and the incessant detritus of the region's unchecked urban sprawl. The 199,000-acre park sits along the spine of the Blue Ridge Mountains in southwestern Virginia. Park visitors can hike along 500 miles of trails, including 101 miles of the Appalachian Trail, or drive the 105-mile-long Skyline Drive, which—on good days—offers sweeping views of the Shenandoah River and George Washington National Forest to the west and Washington, D.C., to the east.

Fighting the Good Fight For environmentalists, the past several years have seemed especially depressing: the debate on global warming shelved, critical landscapes and wilderness areas thrown open to mining and logging interests, air pollution and industrial emission standards weakened. It hardly makes encouraging reading. Yet a tireless community of activists and advocacy groups continue to fight for the health of our habitat and to champion sustainable, green solutions to the world's pressing environmental problems. We salute just some of the organizations battling to make the planet a cleaner, greener place—for animals, humans, and all the other critters with whom we share the stage: The Sierra Club Conservation International Environmental Defense National Parks Conservation Association World Wildlife Fund National Wildlife Federation

Good days, however, are becoming less good and less common. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that visibility in the park is about a quarter what it would be if the air were free of pollution. Last year, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality reported that Shenandoah had more unhealthy ozone days than any other recording station, including those near Richmond and Washington, D.C. Acid rain resulting from nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere led the nonprofit environmental group American Rivers to classify Shenandoah's Paine Run as one of America's most endangered streams.

Shenandoah has become the flagship national park in an effort from activists and environmentally minded politicos to clean up the air in America's "crown jewels." In 1999, the EPA issued rules requiring states to curtail air pollution from antiquated power plants and other such sources. A slew of court battles ensued, pitting energy and environmental advocates against each other, with the EPA positioned squarely in the middle. In May 2002, the energy industry scored a win with a court decision that overturned haze regulations on the basis that they were arbitrary and unlawful. An August 2003 agreement between the activist group Environmental Defense and the EPA mandates that the rules be redrafted by 2005, with the goal of restoring near-natural air quality levels within 60 years. "Shenandoah National Park is hard hit by harmful air pollutants that threaten public health, cast a veil over its scenic vistas, and are poisoning its forests and streams," says Vicki Patton, a lawyer for Environmental Defense. "To reverse these problems will require bold, sustained clean air measures—not fleeting actions or rhetoric."

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