Exurban Development in Selected Areas of the Appalachian Mountains

Excerpts from the report: Publication of "Outdoor Recreation for America," the report of a Presidential commission, is one evidence of the growing popular concern about opportunities for enjoying outdoor recreation. The report emphasizes the need for careful planning for the future. Growing suburbs, industrial parks, and efficient transport facilities radiating out from urban centers--and new centers springing up almost overnight--are well-recognized phenomena of modern America. Less well-known, however, is a corollary change occurring in the mountains, the foothills, and the stream valleys. The effects of expanding urbanism are being felt in the far reaches of the country. The results of the study of the sample area, together with observations made in other counties in the mountain area of the upper Potomac River basin, indicate the importance of coordinated planning, not only on a local and county-wide basis, but on a State and regional basis as well. Counties cannot effectively "go it alone." What one county does or does not do affects what other counties can or cannot do. A review of the planning experience in nearby Virginia and West Virginia is instructive in this regard.