Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation expands efforts to enhance tourism economy
An American Conservation Experience crew clears overgrown vegetation from a trail at Moses H. Cone Memorial Park.
Donated photo
The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation has secured a three-year, $750,000 grant from the Dogwood Health Trust to support regional strategies to advance tourism and related economic development. The grant activities will benefit workers and businesses in numerous gateway communities along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.
The Dogwood Health Trust grant will help implement economic development strategies outlined in the Blue Ridge Rising Action Plan, created with the input of hundreds of community leaders in the counties that neighbor the national park.
Blue Ridge Rising marks the first time in the national park’s history that these counties are working together to implement travel, tourism, and related economic development strategies that will have wide-ranging benefits throughout the Parkway corridor. The initiative earned the Public Lands Alliance’s 2025 Outstanding Public Engagement Award.
The Dogwood Health Trust grant will also help provide a portion of the nearly $4.3 million in matching funds required for a related $5.13 million grant to the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation from the Appalachian Regional Commission.
