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Shenandoah National Park has the second most-polluted air in the National Park System relative to its air’s impact on visibility, aquatic fauna, soils, vegetation, and human health (The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is first).
Whatever arrives in the air over the Shenandoah National Park from any direction is also likely to be in the air over Rappahannock County and Clevenger’s Corner.
Acid deposition, from rain, snow, and sleet, or dry particles, freighted in by winds passing over old coal-fired power plants in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and our home state of Virginia, fall on this area primarily as sulfuric acid. Emissions from traffic in the ever-increasing development of Virginia descend here primarily as nitric acid. Occurring daily, these acids have a long-term effect.
In the Shenandoah National Park, acid deposition has been improving, due to the 1990 Clean Air Act. In 2000, it was about pH 4.6. This is still ten times more acidic than normal. It has caused damage to vegetation, with trees losing their leaves and tree crowns experiencing dieback. Weakened trees become susceptible to disease and insect infestation.
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