Regional Trails for an Already Great System

The News & Advance
Published: April 23, 2008

Lynchburg has one of the best trail systems for a city its size in the nation. That trail system for hikers and bikers could get even better if recommendations offered for the region by the 2007 Virginia Outdoors Plan are implemented.
A main focus of the plan, which was influenced by comments from planners and the public, is the need to connect families and children to nature through parks and trails. The plan also recommends continues protection of water resources, state parks and national forests.
City officials used the 2002 version of the plan to help win a state grant to continue development of the Blackwater Creek Trail. Gary Waugh, a representative of the Department of Conservation and Recreation in Richmond, said that mention of the trail in the 2002 plan “put it over the top.”
The plan is updated every five years with suggestions from citizens at two public meetings. Those citizens from Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford and Campbell counties and Lynchburg influenced the new plan with their comments.
Among those recommendations are more walking and jogging trails closer to residential neighborhoods; new athletic fields in the growing Forest area of Bedford County; more public access to public bodies of water, including Smith Mountain Lake; and identification of more historic resources in Amherst, Appomattox and Campbell counties.
Access to recreational waters rated high on the Region 2000 list, especially for swimming, sunbathing, fishing and boating. With greater access to the public, Smith Mountain Lake could provide all of those needs.
Waugh pointed out that the 1997 version of the outdoor plan helped lead to state construction of the public boat ramp on the Amherst County side of the James River. That ramp has given the public greater access to the river for boating and fishing. It has also been crucial for the launch of the annual batteaux festival that begins every June on the Lynchburg riverfront.
The new plan also suggests that regional and local organizations focus on expanding the Blackwater Creek Bikeway from Lynchburg to Appomattox on the proposed James River Heritage Trail that would extend along the river from Lynchburg and Amherst County into Campbell County and on to Appomattox County.
Continuation of the bikeway has been proposed before. Perhaps its mention in the outdoors plan will help bring about its completion sooner rather than later.
Another suggestion included in the plan is development of a connection from Percival’s Island on the river to the College Lake and Sandusky Park area. That would bring a portion of the trail system closer to homes.
More trails and outdoor activities in the future bode well for a continued high quality of life in Region 2000. The 2007 Virginia Outdoors Plan is also another indication that the state and region are listening to what the people want. That’s an ingredient of good government that folks here have come to expect.