Beckley Outdoors, stakeholders look to future

Dec. 21—BECKLEY — The outdoor recreation segment of the economy continues to expand, but work lies ahead to keep stabilizing — and strengthening — it as a driving force in the future.

At the same time, initiatives are ongoing for outdoor adventures to continue to create positives for southern West Virginia residents, in addition to the visitors streaming to the area.

Various stakeholders participated in the final public interaction for one of those initiatives, Beckley Outdoors, last Thursday at Elevation Sports.

Corey Lilly, chair of Beckley Outdoors, said the organization began about a year ago and has featured multiple public engagements to generate feedback. The aim is to take advantage of the "world-class" outdoor recreational opportunities in the region.

"We wanted to bring outdoor recreation into the City of Beckley, so we partnered with many different people, the City of Beckley, WVU Tech, West Virginia Land Trust (and others)," Lilly said. "We wanted to take advantage of the unprecedented amount of federal dollars available for outdoor recreation because of the national park (New River Gorge National Park and Preserve) designation and some of the Great American Outdoors Act that was recently passed."

In order to do so, a master plan must be created. "Tonight, we're revealing some of those preliminary plans to gather some additional feedback, and some of the local outdoor organizations are all giving presentations about the success they've had recently," Lilly said.

Thursday's open house event was sponsored by Elevation Sports, Weathered Ground Brewery and Papa Johns.

A digital form of the master plan will be finalized in February, Lilly said. The plan will apply the information gleaned from the public to national trends and assign it to potential funding sources, he noted. "We can't tap into federal resources if we don't have a plan," said Lilly.

The initiative had a successful start in recent weeks with the unveiling of the Wildwood Trailhead at Piney Creek Preserve via grant funding from Mountain Resource Conservation and Development, Lilly said.

Tim Johnson is director of outdoor recreation and planning for Destination by Design, a planning/consulting firm in Boone, N.C. which has partnered with the City of Beckley, southern West Virginia stakeholders and a project oversight committee to guide the Beckley Outdoors Economic Action Plan endeavor. He said the aim has been to gather input and make any tweaks that may be necessary ahead of the master plan being finalized, which is expected to occur "in the next couple of months." The plan will then be presented to Beckley City Council.

"All of the natural assets, I think that's the key," Johnson said in describing what the area offers in developing such initiatives. "And the thought here is for folks to come and visit the gorge and the surrounding area, stay in Beckley and have things to do in Beckley.

"So, that's sort of the goal of this effort is to take advantage of local assets and make these assets accessible to folks in Beckley, so they might be going up to the gorge but they're also spending time in town, spending money and staying and eating in the restaurants."

Johnson was accompanied by colleague Caroline Stahlschmidt on Thursday.

----Among the presentations Thursday was one from Joshua Roe, director and teaching assistant professor of Adventure Recreation Management at WVU Tech and head coach of Raleigh County Composite, a youth mountain biking team that competes in the West Virginia Interscholastic Cycling League. The WVICL is an offshoot of the National International Cycling Association.

Roe briefed those gathered on the first year of the Raleigh Composite team, which is open to all students in grades 6-12 (ages 11 to 19 years) in Raleigh County. They ride locally, taking 2-3 rides a week, and compete in a fall race series at various locales, although racing is not required. The team is a no-drop, no-tryout scenario. Raleigh Composite currently has seven athletes.

"Our team meets at the soccer complex and rides the trails within the Piney Creek Preserve area," Roe said after the open house. "I'm director and teaching assistant professor of Adventure Recreation Management, so there's a strong connection to the four-year academic program by way of illustrating the value of an active lifestyle and training students to be industry managers." The team also utilizes other courses in the region for training, Roe said. He added that Leslie Baker, with the City of Beckley's Parks and Recreation, and District 44 Del. Todd Kirby have helped with funding to make nine mountain bikes available, and his program at WVU Tech is making six more bikes available for use by the team.

Roe said the success of the fledgling Raleigh County Composite team will arise from increased participation as well as continued support from the community and beyond. He also said the overall Beckley Outdoors initiative could help him boost his participation numbers and also lead to "a greater awareness of the beautiful amount of potential and current opportunity that this region has."

For more information, visit westvirginiamtb.org or on Facebook and Instagram @westvirginiamtb. Roe can be reached at joshua.roe@mail.wvu.edu or at 304-929-1300.

Representatives from a pair of organizations that have provided a model locally for outdoor recreation community development efforts made presentations Thursday.

Abbie Newell, of the Fayette Trail Coalition, discussed community-driven trail development. Elevation Sports' "beautiful new retail space," Newell said, "is proof that the recreational economy is working and alive and well in the New River Gorge ... and we sincerely appreciate how much each and every one of you have done to make this happen." Guiding the recreational economy to higher levels is "an entirely collaborative effort," she said.

Newell told those in attendance of the various volunteer efforts of the FTC, which includes focusing on organization and creation of a soft-surface trail program that involves Fayetteville Town Park, Needleseye Park in Oak Hill, Fayette County Park and Wolf Creek Park. Ongoing monthly trail work days have been a major boost for the coalition's work, Newell said. Also, she said, funding became available through the Fayette County Urban Renewal Authority to hire a professional trail-building crew. "People felt and I think still really feel ownership of those trails," Newell added, because "they were part of the creation." She said partnerships with several agencies, organizations and businesses were established, and a trail plan contract was hatched and is being executed.

What's happening in Beckley is "super exciting," Newell said, adding that she is anticipating seeing "how everybody is able to connect."

Matt Carpenter, president of the New River Alliance of Climbers, said rock climbing opportunities in the New River Gorge region are myriad, and fabulous. "We see people from everywhere, because our rock is so good; the rock is incredible here," he said.

The NRAC has been active for years in supporting and helping expand climbing in the region, Carpenter said. The mission includes opening up more climbing areas, and managing areas both old and new.

"We help establish access to areas ... and maintain them while we're there," he said. NRAC volunteers work on strengthening the anchor system on local crags, too, in addition to building and maintaining trails that lead to the rocks. Resource conservation is critical, he stressed.

Carpenter said for agencies and others to "recognize that the outdoor recreation industry is one of the most important things that they can partner with, I think, says a lot about ... our whole movement, for all of us. People are starting to recognize that outdoor recreation is what we need to invest in."

To cap off the evening, Winterplace Ski Resort GM Josh Faber delivered some good news, telling people that the resort was targeting Saturday, Dec. 16 as an opening date. He said that, like the other outdoors-centric groups, Winterplace is trying to do its part to complement the overall picture. "We're trying to rediscover Winterplace," Faber said. "We're trying to bring back fun for our locals, for our visitors."

"Make sure you guys shop local," Faber stressed.

The event was presented by the City of Beckley and its project partners Beckley Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce, WVU Tech, New River Gorge Regional Development Authority, WVU Smith Outdoor Economic Development Collaborative, Visit Southern WV, Destination By Design and the West Virginia Land Trust.

For more, visit beckleyoutdoors.com.

Email: skeenan@register-herald.com; follow on Facebook