Canaan Valley has become a trendy tourist destination. That's good for business but it's also straining the resources of a county with just one stoplight and 7,000 year-round residents.
This week, we explore how tourism impacts local communities and their natural resources like the Canaan Valley in West Virginia. It's become a trendy tourist destination, which is good for business, but it's straining the resources of a county with just 7,000 year-round residents. We take a trip to Appalachia's Ice Mountain, where rare plants have existed since the Ice Age, and cool air seeps out of ice vents deep in the rocks. Plus, a conversation with Pennsylvania's first director of outdoor recreation.
We have a special show about Indigenous people, land, water, and culture. We look at how the pawpaw, a fruit that grows in the eastern US, continues to live in the memories and language of Indigenous people forced to move west. Then, we talk with an Indigenous scientist about her book that contrasts conservation science with Indigenous knowledge about the natural world. Plus, a paddler from the Seneca Nation takes a journey down the Allegheny River to draw attention to protecting waterways.
We talk with three families who are leaving or have left Beaver County because of Shell's ethane cracker, fearing pollution, and looking for better opportunities. Pennsylvania is looking at bringing American martens, a small weasel, back to the state's forests. Plus, we visit a one-of-a-kind prairie habitat in Pennsylvania, home to an endangered rattlesnake and wildflowers.
