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Cunard Road construction completed
Construction on the Cunard Road has been completed and the road is now open. Access may be delayed at times while striping is being painted.
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Rend Trail closure
Repairs to the stone retention wall will cause closures from June through September, 2013. More »
Peregrine Falcon 2009
One of this year's falcons in flight over the New River Gorge
Gary Hartley/NPS
This has been an interesting year for the peregrine program at New River Gorge. It began with the identification of a nesting pair near the location of the past year's hack site. Unfortunately in early June the peregrine nest failed, so there are no wild chicks this year. Hopefully, the pair will return next year! This necessitated locating a new site for hacking in 2009. After much hunting around and reconnaissance, the best location was found to be at Grandview.
View of the hack box on the rim of New River Gorge at Grandview
Gary Hartley/NPS
The new hack site location at Grandview has been very successful. This site provides a great opportunity to observe the peregrines as they learn to fly and hunt above the New River Gorge. The best observation is from the North Overlook at Grandview, with morning being the preferred time. There have been three releases this year (June 2, June 13, and June 18), with a total of seventeen falcons being released. As of July 2nd, all seventeen have been observed for over 14 days... which means this season's young peregrines have surpassed the 100% success mark and are still going strong. If you have a chance, come by for a look! |
Did You Know?
The many tributaries of the New River Gorge provide an abundance of cascades and waterfalls on their descent to the New River.