These mountains provide a visual boundary, a sense of insulation, and a community identity with Blacksburg. George Washington - Jefferson National Forest surrounds the Town to the north and west providing recreational facilities primarily geared to hiking, trail riding, mountain biking, and fishing. The Park runs primarily between the ridge lines of Brush Mountain and Sinking Creek Mountain. It is wooded and provides a mountain habitat for plants and wildlife. Within this area is located the Pandapas Pond recreational area off of Route 460 north of Town.
Uses are primarily livestock grazing with some crop production.
The rolling terrain at the foot of mountains provides a peaceful, pastoral, and open quality to the landscape. There are over 6,700 acres of Agricultural and Forestal District in the North Fork Valley area, approximately 2,300 acres of Agricultural and Forestal District in the Mount Tabor area, and 2,100 acres of Agricultural and Forestal District in the Prices Fork area. The North Fork Valley Rural Historic District, a state and federally recognized historic area, extends from approximately one mile south of the community of Luster's Gate along the river valley approximately nine miles to the Roanoke County boundary. This district contains a significant rural landscape, an important collection of domestic and agricultural buildings, an early twentieth century school, two nineteenth century churches, and five nineteenth century industrial sites which include three mills, a tanyard, and a brick kiln. There is a Hospital, nursing home, and medical office center to the south, and intense, largely strip commercial development focused on the Route 460 corridor.