Join us for our next montly speaker series — Exploring the Ancient "New" River — on Tuesday, February 8, at 6:00pm! We'll be joined by long-time member of the Sierra Club and retired Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville biology professor Richard Keating! Keating continues work on botanical projects as a research associate at Missouri Botanical Garden.

 

This past October, Richard and his son Phil visited the River Gorge National Park and Preserve, located in southern West Virginia. The New River Gorge has been a protected unit in the National Park Service as a National River since 1978.  Just recently, Congress and the President elevated the area to National Park status. The shape of the park is skinny and winding, following the sinuous flow of the New River itself. About 7,000 acres of the land is actual National Park, which is enveloped in a 65,000-acre section constituting the preserve portion. The river winds its way northward beginning in North Carolina, eventually becoming a tributary of the Gauley River, then joining Kanawha River, which merges with the Ohio River between Huntington and Parkersburg. This National Park is one of a series of state parks and national scenic river preserves along the route. Float trips take place and miles of hiking trails await exploration.