As much of central Appalachia looks to reinvent itself amid the decline of coal, community leaders in southwest Virginia say they’re seeing some early success from a focus on another natural resource.
This July 26, 2019 photo provided by The Nature Conservancy shows two people fishing in the mist and fog over the Clinch River as seen from the Clinch Riverwalk on Sugar Hill property in St. Paul, Va. The Cumberland Forest Project protects 253,000 acres of Appalachian forest in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia and is one of TNC's largest-ever conservation efforts in the eastern United States.
“The Clinch is the greatest river in the U.S. that nobody’s ever heard of,” said Brad Kreps, an employee of The Nature Conservancy who has been involved for years in the push to create the park. “So we’re really trying to do everything we can to raise awareness about how special this river is out in this quiet little part of far southwest Virginia.”
Park advocates hope it will become a regional draw for tourists who will visit and spend money in restaurants, breweries, hotels and shops during their visit. The idea for the park grew out of the work of “a grassroots group of people with a fire in their bellies and a desire to see their communities improve,” said Lou Wallace, a member of the Russell County Board of Supervisors who lives along the river in the town of St. Paul, over a five-hour drive from the state capital, Richmond.
Economic development efforts vary across the expansive southwest Virginia region, which is larger than nine U.S. states, according to Cannon. Other initiatives include a push to reclaim abandoned coal mines, increase the number of solar energy projects, lure data centers and become a hub for cybersecurity workforce training.
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