By Mannix Porterfield
Burning Rock, the popular and growing all-terrain vehicle park in Raleigh County, now is under the watchful domain of the West Virginia Civilian Conservation Corps, and the transfer is no mystery.
County commission president John Humphrey says the explanation for the move is simple.
“I’ve always said the county is good at implementing things,” he said.
“We’re just not good at running things once they get up and going, especially in recreational matters. We did the best we could.”
Yet, he emphasized, he and fellow Commissioners Pat Reed and John Aliff are part-timers who have their own business and personal interests that demand their attention.
“You’ve got staff, but you still can’t keep your eyes on everything at one time,” Humphrey said.
“There’s no hidden agenda. None whatsoever. It’s time to let someone else manage it. It costs so much more for us to do things than somebody else.”
For about six months, Burning Rock was under the thumb of the county’s recreational authority, but things just didn’t seem to be working out, Humphrey said.
One would assume Burning Rock and the recreational authority would have been an ideal arrangement, Humphrey said, but the latter is best at running Lake Stephens and ball fields, not ATV and motorcycle trails.
“There was just a conflict there between management,” he said. “So we decided to pull it back and let somebody else operate it.”
Early on, the first notion was to hand the reins over to the Hatfield-McCoy Trail, but that entity wanted nothing to do with the ATV park just south of Sophia.
“We looked at several different options,” Humphrey said.
Then, attention turned to the WVCCC and its director, Robert Martin, and a staff of 200-plus.
“I’m very impressed up to this point with what all they have planned and are going to do,” Humphrey said.
Some $400,000 has been invested in the park, including $160,000 in a matching federal-state grant, he said, and another $80,000 recently was approved.
Burning Rock is using the same personnel to oversee the day-to-day functions at the park, a 100-mile expanse of trail spread over 8,000 acres owned by Beaver Land Co. Since it was created as a public-private entity, Humphrey said, this aspect provided another reason for the commission’s decision to transfer the park.
At this stage, there is no consideration for shedding Lake Stephens or the county’s other recreational outlet, Fitzpatrick Park, since both are running smoothly and money continues to be invested in both, Humphrey said.
“If things weren’t working out, I think the commission would look very strongly,” he said.
Lake Stephens has been around almost half a century and still gets some $100,000 annually in county money.
“They’ve done a lot of upgrades there from the time it was built in the early 1960s,” Humphrey said.
The lake’s director, Mike Pinardo, has come up with several new wrinkles, including this year’s launch of two cabins that have proved popular to the point that others are in the offing, Humphrey said.
Within recent years, Lake Stephens also has installed new boat ramps and docks.
“The only other county park we have any control over is Fitzpatrick, and just a few years ago we put in a walking track and ball fields,” Humphrey said.
“That’s pretty much a ballfield park. We’ve got some playground equipment and fishing. It’s stocked in early spring each year.”
WVCCC is a 501-3-c non-profit agency and had its genesis in the Great Depression when President Franklin D. Roosevelt made it a part of his New Deal. Examples of its handiwork still stand, such as some of the cabins at Greenbrier State Forest.
The CCC also manages the Courtesy Patrol, which comes to the aid of stranded motorists and strives for highway safety in 30 of the state’s 55 counties.
Humphrey foresees a myriad of improvements to enhance Burning Rock, including expanded motorcycle and ATV trails, and a move toward shoring up and cleaning a pond where youngsters can enjoy fishing.
“It’s more than just a trail place,” he said. “And it’s all tied into family-oriented things.
“I think, as our attorney put it recently, it’s a match made in Heaven.”
— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com
