Take a hike — for tourism
Officials want

to extend Boone

Greenway to Todd
By Scott Nicholson
nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

The Watauga County Tourism Development Authority is exploring a regional trail-mapping project that’s designed to capitalize on the tourism value of scenery and outdoor recreation.

The TDA received a proposal from Frontline Conservation, LLC for a master plan that would provide a “comprehensive direction for the physical development of a greenway and trail system that is both strategic and action based,” a way to explore grants, create a promotional tool that will inspire land donors and hikers, and involve the public in trails planning.

Frontline Conservation’s proposal includes an inventory of current trails, a review of plans and ordinances, collection of global information system maps and development of a five-year plan.

The proposal has a price tag of nearly $76,000, which would likely come from TDA funds raised through a county occupancy tax on short-term rentals.

“We’ve already identified a lot of the trails and this will take it to the next level,” TDA chairman Rob Holton said.

“We’re looking at resources like Elk Knob and other conservation easements and how to connect them, along with other areas like the Watauga River.”

Recently, the High Country Council of Governments had a couple of meetings on trails in a seven-county region and how trails and waterways connect between counties, and the Watauga County TDA had a presence at both.

Regional trail networks were also augmented with waterway connections to show kayak, tubing, swimming and other resources that are often tied in with trails.

“Our concern is that we’re fast losing access that people traditionally had to a lot of these areas,” Holton said.
“We also want to figure out how to get the town of Boone greenway to Brookshire Park and all the way down the New River to Todd.”

The proposal is for a broad plan that will tie in with comprehensive planning already underway by the county and its recreation commission.

It would identify areas that might be ripe for trails or serve as connectors, but the selection of specific routes would be determined in a later phase.

The plan would show recreation assets and conserved land that are currently isolated but could become part of a larger trail network.

During their annual retreat, the county commissioners received an update on the Middle Fork greenway, a long-standing and slowly moving project to connect Boone and Blowing Rock through riverside trails.

The Middle Fork Greenway Association is exploring ways to cross U.S. 321 under five culverts, which will require cooperation with the N.C Department of Transportation.

The Middle Fork Greenway Association launched the effort in the 1990s and has secured several easements and established a 3.5-acre park on Payne Branch.

The association has also received a couple of deeded properties and hopes to place at least two more public parks along the route.

The trail is designed to intersect with the statewide Mountains-To-Sea Trail.

It could also pass under the Blue Ridge Parkway via a culvert and connect with parkway hiking trails.

The commissioners have discussed linking the town of Boone’s greenway trail with the walking trail at Brookshire Park and the planned extension of the loop along the South Fork of the New River on the adjoining soccer complex.

However, high cost estimates and environmental difficulties of routing the path under the U.S. 321 bridge have chilled the project for the time being.

Cove Creek, Beech Mountain and other communities have already expressed interest and taken initiative on local trails, and Holton said formalizing a master plan was a way to help people see the opportunities and possibilities for a more organized approach.

The plan will take up to 900 hours of labor, and the TDA hopes it will be adopted and in place before the end of the year.

Holton said the trails mapping was the type of expenditure that the Toursim Development Authority was created to tackle.

“We put in place the things that we need to increase tourism in the county, and we feel outdoor recreation is one of the things we have in the county that is unique and that people enjoy coming here to do,” Holton said.

“We want to make it better not just for the people who visit here, but the people who live here, as well.”