FEBRUARY 18, 2010 ISSUE
Watauga TDA Moves Forward on Outdoor Recreation Projects
Eric Woolridge, Watauga County Tourism Development Authority (TDA) senior outdoor recreation planner, has been working hard to meet the deadlines of “grant season”—that fast-paced time of year when grant proposals for projects are sent out in hopes that the proposals will be awarded funds to help turn the outdoor recreational pursuits of the Watauga County TDA into a reality for the Town of Boone’s many outdoor enthusiasts.
“Up to this point it has all been about conceptualizing and trying to understand what our assets are and where the gaps are and trying to get projects drummed up for this grant season,” Woolridge said in a recent interview at his office in downtown Boone. “Now, it’s about getting all of these concepts and ideas on paper and into a document and using that document to demonstrate to other grant funding agencies our long-term vision so that they’ll help us fund pieces of our vision, recognizing that although they’re just funding one piece, that piece is part of a larger puzzle that we’re working on.”
This year, Woolridge and the Watauga County TDA hope to move beyond the phase of brainstorming and into the phase of actually turning these projects into real, tangible parks and recreation areas that the people of Boone, and the many tourists who come here to pursue outdoor recreation, will be able to use.
The main agenda for the upcoming year is to move forward on the creation of the Rocky Knob Recreation Area. The planned community park will incorporate nature trails for both biking and hiking, a playground area, a picnic and pavilion area and a bike skills course where young cyclists can develop their skills before heading off on one of the proposed bike trails.
The TDA and Boone Bike and Touring have already received a grant from Specialized, a bicycle manufacturing company, which will go toward creating the first trail at Rocky Knob. “We’re looking to build a 1.5- to 2.5-mile loop that can be accessible to anybody at any skill level and any age,” Woolridge said. “I envision a nice, in the woods mountain biking experience.” The TDA plans to add to that loop with successive, more advanced mountain biking trails that will cater to a wide-range of user groups.
The speed at which the Rock Knob Park is completed hinges largely on whether or not Watauga County receives a grant from the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund (PARTF) that will allow the TDA to free up a large portion of the money that has already been invested into land acquisition and use those funds to begin construction of various aspects of the park.
“Initially, the TDA provided the county with the funds to make the Rocky Knob purchase happen,” Woolridge said. “We’re now trying to leverage those dollars and have the state come in and match those funds. If they match those funds, then that will free us up to begin development of the facilities much more quickly than we would be able to otherwise.”
The $500,000 PARTF grant will be awarded in May 2010. Along with the PARTF grant, the Watauga County TDA applied for several other grants that are all going to be dedicated to the pursuit of outdoor recreation opportunities in the area. Among the opportunities that the Watauga County TDA hopes to explore are the acquisition of various waterfront areas along the Watauga and New rivers that would allow for increased access for paddlers, fishermen and other recreation users in the area.
“We’re working with a number of paddlers in the area to develop access points on local rivers and to develop recognized Paddle Trails on the Watauga and New rivers,” Woolridge said. “We hope to initiate the South Fork New River Paddle Trail by opening access points along the river at Pine Run, Roby Greene, Green Valley and other spots along the river by working with the Department of Transportation.”
Woolridge has setup a blog where updated information about developments within the TDA will be released. “We’re going to be releasing more information on the Boone Area Outdoors blog (www.booneareaoutdoors.com). The blog is updated weekly and will give updates on our developments on these projects as they happen,” Woolridge said.
Woolridge and the TDA are also gearing up for the Boone Area Outdoor Recreation Summit, a meeting that Woolridge hopes will be a way for the outdoor sports community of Boone to get together and discuss what they hope to see happen in Boone in the next 10 years.
“The Boone Area Outdoor Recreation Summit is going to be a public forum where we will be sharing some of our developments and show a framework of what our long-term recreation plan will be for the area,” Woolridge explained. “We’ll share what we’ve learned from talking to users over the last year about what the people want, show some of our maps that we’re developing and discuss our recent proposals.” Basically, Woolridge summarized, the TDA wants to share the framework for their outdoor recreation plan for area, get the community involved and provide a forum for discussion about where we are and where we want to go.
“Essentially, before we go into the final stages of plan development we want to go to the community and encourage them to take a look at what we’re doing and help us hash out some of the final ideas of what this plan might look like. We need to decide what we’re going to do over the next 10 to 15 years in terms of investing these outdoor recreation dollars.”
The Boone Outdoor Recreation Summit is scheduled for March 30, and will be held at the Broyhill Inn and Conference Center on the campus of ASU. For more information about the event, click to www.booneareaoutdoors.com.
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