Top Obama official visits MC

One of President Barack Obama’s cabinet members made his way to Madison County earlier this week.

Donning his signature white cowboy hat, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar got down on his hands and knees alongside volunteers and plucked various invasive exotic plant species from the Madison County portion of Shenandoah National Park at Big Meadows Swamp.

The June 22 event helped launch President Barack Obama’s “United We Serve” initiative – a push for citizens to volunteer their time this summer to address growing community needs resulting from the economic downturn, according to the campaign’s Web site.

Salazar’s visit also highlighted the president’s proposed 21st century Youth Conservation Corps, which will be modeled after the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps, the group that built much of Shenandoah National Park as well as other parks across the country.

“In these times, when we are facing the toughest of economic times that we have seen since the Great Depression, it’s important to come back to take a look at what stood the country up the last time that we were in these kinds of circumstances,” Salazar said Monday.

“The roadways that we enjoy today, the rock walls on the roadways of Shenandoah [National Park], the camping sites, many of them were built 80 years ago by young people who were part of this spirit of service,” he said.

Salazar worked with volunteers – both young and old – from service organizations, including Volunteers-in-Parks, Youth Conservation Corps, Student Conservation Association, Shenandoah National Park Association volunteer group, Shenandoah National Park Trust and Potomac Appalachian Trail Club.
One of the park’s neighbors – Madison County resident Peter Rice – was among the event’s participants, volunteering on behalf of the Shenandoah National Park Trust, which Rice – the trust’s chairman – describes as “the primary fund-raising arm for the park.”

Rice – who is also known as the founder of Madison County’s Plow and Hearth – has a special place in his heart for the park as he lives close by near Graves Mill, he said.

“The park’s right in our backyard,” Rice said.

As someone who spends much of his time working to raise money for the park, Rice was happy to hear that the park is set to receive more than $17 million out of the entire $750 million stimulus money from the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009 going to support national parks across the country.

However, despite these new funds and the proposed expansion of park service jobs, the property’s neighbors – including residents of Madison County, which donated the third largest amount of land among the eight neighboring counties – will continue to have a role in the park’s maintenance.

“A hundred years from now, this place will still be a very, very wonderful place. But it’ll only be as wonderful as we as a community maintain it,” he said. “So there is a huge role [for the park’s neighbors] and they are playing it very, very well in terms of being great partners and friends of the park.”
For information about “United We Serve” and volunteer opportunities in Madison County, visit http://www.serve.gov.