New River Gorge National Park and Preserve

On this West Virginia Morning, the New River Gorge became a national park in 2020. It’s been a boon to Fayette County, but it has also come with heavier traffic. We hear from two student reporters who explore the safety concerns in their community.

The New River Gorge is the nation’s newest national park, receiving that designation in December 2020.

Fire management officials plan to burn 14 acres of the park near the Grandview Visitors Center sometime between Friday and May 15.

Nearly 1.7 million people visited the park last year, an increase of more than 600,000 from 2020.

On this West Virginia Morning, the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve last month experienced a brush fire that took days to contain. But we learn how fires like this play a role in managing a healthy forest ecosystem.

For the better part of a century, it was thought that fires should be put out. In recent decades, fires have been set intentionally, including in the New River Gorge.

On this West Virginia Morning, we learn about one of West Virginia’s legendary musical families, the Kessingers. Also, in this show, a brush fire in the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve has grown, and hospital workers in Huntington have ended their month-long strike.

The fire, near Beauty Mountain, has increased to 150 acres from 110 acres, according to the National Park Service. As of Thursday, it was 50 percent contained.

This week's episode of Inside Appalachia is an encore episode filled with rich storytelling and cross-cultural collaborations. What happens when a musician from Belarus gets together with Appalachian folk musicians? And we’ll talk with Affrilachian writer Crystal Wilkinson, who has been named this year’s Kentucky Poet Laureate. You'll hear these stories and more in this episode.