
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 14, 1994                   TAG: 9405160160
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Lisa Applegate
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

STORM CLEANUP CONTINUES ON PARKWAY AREAS

Blue Ridge Parkway employees, volunteers and contracted workers still are clearing winter storm debris and hope to reopen Peaks of Otter and Roanoke Mountain campgrounds soon.

Rich Foster, chief of facility maintenance for the National Park Service, said ground debris has been cleared but high broken limbs have been difficult to reach.

"Our bucket trucks only reach up to about 40 feet, and we've got broken limbs 50 or 60 feet high." Foster said they had to hire a company to clear the dangerously loose limbs.

He expects a Peaks of Otter hiking loop to open every two or three days. The Roanoke Mountain campground and the Peaks of Otter campground and picnic area also should open soon.

Additional picnic areas and campgrounds near Sparta, N.C., are closed. Doughton Park and Crabtree Meadows were hit severely by the winter storm and clean-up crews still are struggling to clear debris from the ground.

Foster said compared with North Carolina's sections of the parkway, Virginia was lucky.

by CNB