Coalfield Story - Spearhead Trails

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T U E S D AY
the
January 17, 2012
Vol. 101 • No. 5
16 Pages
NORTON, VA 24273
PROGRESS
Trail system can make real money
USPS 120-120 $1.00
A Progressive Newspaper Serving Our Mountain Area Since 1911
JENAY TATE
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER
The new executive director of
the Spearhead Trails initiative
believes Southwest Virginia can
top the revenue generation of the
trail system after which it is modeled.
This is not “a trails project,”
Chuck Riedhammer told Wise
County supervisors Thursday, but
a full-fledged economic development initiative centered around
adventure tourism visitors and
businesses to create a sustained
economic benefit to the region.
Spearhead Trails is the undertaking of the Southwest Regional
Recreation Authority, which
encompasses the seven counties
of far Southwest Virginia.
The trail system is modeled
after the successful 500-mile
Hatfield and McCoy trail network
in West Virginia. Other states
have
proven
it
works,
Riedhammer said.
Last year, Hatfield-McCoy
sold 27,535 rider permits for offhighway vehicles, earning $1.7
million in revenue, he said.
Local expenditures
were
more than $20 million, he said,
generating $1.23 million in sales
tax. The sales tax alone returned
the state’s annual investment, he
said.
With the same investment,
Riedhammer said, Virginia could
have even greater potential and
better return on investment, at
three to one. Why?
Virginia has more venues, better tourism-related infrastructure, more land, a higher concentration of landowners and more
opportunity for land-use agreements, he said.
The Hatfield and McCoy system caters only to all-terrain vehicles. Spearhead Trails will target
ATVs, too, he said, but it won’t
stop there. Spearhead Trails is a
multi-venue adventure destination with off-highway vehicle
trails, equestrian trails, blueways
as well as hiking and mountain
biking, he said.
Riedhammer pointed out that
90 percent of the visitors to the
Hatfield-McCoy trails are from
out of state, and many of those are
from Virginia. They go, he said,
because it is there and they don’t
have a Virginia option.
The recreation authority
wants to tap into this revenue
stream and keep visitors spending
in Virginia, Riedhammer said.
The aim is to have more people
staying longer and spending
more, he said.
Research shows that off-highway and equestrian trail users:
r Stay three to four days each
visit; and
r Spend $150 to more than
$200 per day.
Sixty percent of these trail
users will return more than one
time per year.
The
regional
recreation
authority projects it will have 200
miles of trails open this year and
by 2016 will have opened 400
miles of trails for off-highway
vehicles, 200 miles of equestrian
trails, with 10 trailheads and
related support businesses.
They predict Spearhead Trails
will contribute $10 million in visitor expenditures, create 200-plus
new jobs and generate more than
$1 million in state and local taxes
by 2016. To accomplish this, he
said, local and state investment
will be critical during the first
three years of growth. The West
Virginia legislature has allocated
more than $1 million per year for
the past five years to fund the
Hatfield-McCoy trail network.
Jack McClanahan, head of the
regional recreation authority, said
developing a trail system across
seven counties had grown past
what a handful of volunteers
could do. That’s why they hired an
executive director.
McClanahan said he’s tickled
to death to have Riedhammer on
board, noting that he was involved
in the creation of The Crooked
Road heritage music trail and
most recently was marketing
director of the Heartwood artisan
center in Abingdon.
Riedhammer told the board he
had a good job but was so excited
by Spearhead Trails he wanted to
be part of it.
Riedhammer
commended
Wise County for its Community
Days at Heartwood, noting that
“people are still talking about it.”
The county delivered a community day with record attendance.
At Spearhead, he said, he had
to hit the ground running as the
leaders had a laundry list of tasks
already lined up.
On that list, McClanahan said,
is an ATV safety training facility.
That had been put on the back
burner, he told supervisors, but
now they want to pursue it as
quickly as possible.
The feasibility study is done
and it showed what they already
knew about the region’s potential,
McClanahan said.
The implementation plan,
including budget, marketing
study and business plan, is nearing completion and should be
complete by the end of the month,
he said.
“Now we’ve got to get product
to market,” McClanahan said.
At the end of the meeting,
District 4 supervisor Robby
Robbins said the board needed to
make sure it advocated for
Spearhead Trails during its
upcoming trip to the Virginia
General Assembly in Richmond.
County
Administrator
Shannon Scott advised that efforts
on behalf of Spearhead are
already on the board’s agenda for
that trip.
Riedhammer said the recreation authority also will be going
to Richmond to lobby for legislative support, he said. u
u Chuck Riedhammer
www.SpearheadTrails.com