The Biden Administration is providing technical assistance to two West Virginia counties lacking basic water services.
The Biden Administration is providing technical assistance totwo West Virginia counties lacking basic water services. The assistance will help communities identify infrastructure needs and apply for federal dollars.
The Environmental Protection Agency will use new and existing programs to help disadvantaged communities in Raleigh and McDowell Counties. The Closing America’s Wastewater Access Gap Community Initiative will use funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The West Virginia counties are two of 11 across the country that will receive aid with basic water and wastewater needs, including replacing lead lines, reducing sewer overflow, and complying with regulations.
About two-thirds of homes in McDowell County lack basic wastewater treatment infrastructure. Some Raleigh County residents deal with discolored water with strong odors. Upgraded systems are expected to improve health in the region.
The EPA is partnering with the Department of Agriculture for the project.
For decades, waterways in West Virginia have been used for dumping everything from coal waste to car tires. Restoring them will take years of work. Part of that work involves restructuring streams so that they support fish habitat.
For decades, waterways in West Virginia have been used for dumping everything from coal waste to car tires. Restoring them will take years of work. Part of that work involves restructuring streams so that they support fish habitat.
Retired Department of Environmental Protection Inspector Bill Simmons was instrumental in bringing a restoration method to West Virginia streams. The method adds structures in the water way that slow down the water flow and provide fish habitat. It all started on a float trip on the Little Coal River. That’s when Simmons got a call that there was a fish kill upstream. Jessica Lilly spoke with Simmons about that experience and about the importance of restoring West Virginia streams.
This story is the final of a series called West Virginia Water Trails. Hear stories from people coming together across southern West Virginia, to create new economies and communities- with waterways. It’s made possible in part by the National Coal Heritage Area Authority.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Lilly: When you found the fish kill, what kind of things were in the water? What is it that we’re talking about that had to be removed and fixed?
Simmons: Well, what happened in the fish kill, and that happened on Pond Fork of the Little Coal River, was a chemical spill that they used to treat preparation plant water, and somehow a tank was hit and opened and killed fish for like five or six miles downstream. They turned the tank off, the flow off.
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Little Coal River before restoration.
What we did was that we asked the coal company to do the stream restoration plan. Stock that section of a stream for five years with trout during the normal trout stocking seasons. They had an annual trash clean up on that section of stream where we had the fish kill and plus the work they had to do around the mountainside to prevent that from happening again.
Lilly: Traditionally in West Virginia, when you talk to communities, people remember black water flowing through the rivers, they remember that.
Simmons: There’ve been a lot of “Wow!” moments. I learned a lot about bug life and what lives in sand and what lives in rocks, and actually wouldn’t, when the structures were being built.
So you’d have an excavator in the stream digging out prior to the structure. It was kind of like going through a history of coal mining where you might find a quarter inch of black sediment and you go down a few more feet and you find two feet, or you know, six inches or four inches. The layers of black sediment got bigger and bigger, the deeper you went. And there were several times when the excavator would dig into the bottom of the stream. And it was like a fresh black water spill, that stuff was still there. It was like a history of the river.
Now when you look at the river, the amazing thing is the sand was not always white along the river. It had the coal stain to it but now we got white beaches all up and down the river., There was a lot of work and cooperation between the DNR (Division of Natural Resources) and the mining companies and all up there was a lot of people that did the right thing to make the black water and in the streams better.
Jessica: What does it mean to you now, when you go down there, and you see those white beaches on the Little Coal River specifically?
Simmons: It’s just, it feels good. You know, and we’re still working on it. I mean, we got a lot to do. The studies we have now show that the structures work, but we got areas in between structures where we need to add more structures. So we’re still working on it.
Lilly: Anything else you want to add that I’m missing?
Simmons: Well, the Little Coal like all the other streams in southern West Virginia has had a historical trash problem. And fortunately, we’re looking better here. You don’t see as much of it. The ecology of the streams is way better than it used to be.
You can't expect volunteers to pick up trash all the time. They'll do it. But they need help. People don't want to come and look at trash. People love it down here, but they can't stay in the trash.
Bill Simmons, Retired DEP Inspector
But as the mining activity decreases in West Virginia, we need to look ahead, but the hard part is, especially with state government, you say the legislature and our Department of Commerce and Parks and Tourism talk about bringing more tourism into the state. As a little canoe and kayak operator person and working with the Coal River Group volunteering, the trash is a thing. When I had my kayak rental business, I had people from all over the country coming in here and I’d say, “How was your float?” and they would say “Ah, it was beautiful, except for the tires in the river.”
We can’t expect volunteers to pick up all his trash. We need help to motivate people where it’s financially putting deposits on bottles, but something needs to happen. So if we could put a bounty like $2 a tire, I mean, you can have all kinds of fundraisers where you get these high school football players and these guys in the summertime pulling tires out. Instead of putting kids on some kind of work program, they’re gonna get paid for how much work they do, and not sitting around for an hour. Give these kids $2 for a tire to get them out of here. I think it’d be a heck of a way and then the REAP (Rehabilitation Environmental Action Plan) guys would come pick them up and haul them away.
You can’t expect volunteers to pick up trash all the time. They’ll do it. But they need help. People don’t want to come and look at trash. People love it down here, but they can’t stay in the trash.
After years of neglect, a river access point called Gilbert Beach at Veterans Park is getting new life. The motivation to restore Gilbert Beach is about one part nostalgia, one part tourist attraction and two parts community service.
After years of neglect, a river access point called Gilbert Beach at Veterans Park is getting new life. The motivation to restore Gilbert Beach is about one part nostalgia, one part tourist attraction and two parts community service.
This segment is the seventh in an audio series called West Virginia Water Trails. Hear stories from people coming together across southern West Virginia, to create new economies and communities- with waterways. It’s made possible in part by the National Coal Heritage Area Authority.
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Gilbert Beach in Mingo County
In the town museum surrounded by Gilbert High memorabilia, artifacts of famous boxers and RC Cola bottles, lifelong resident David Fox points to an older black-and-white photo of Gilbert Beach during its ‘heyday’.
“Right here on the bottom is one of the boarding houses that used to cater to the travelers that used to come in and spend time on the beach,” Fox said.
He grew up in Gilbert in the ’40s and ’50s and remembers trains coming from Huntington hauling visitors to spend the day on the GIlbert Beach. “I swam there many times growing up,” Fox said. “We used to hang out there. We used to swim all the time anywhere in the river.”
Fox remembers when the water in the Guyandotte River was deeper along the river bank. Things changed after the R.D. Bailey Dam was completed in 1980.
“Because of the dam and the water and all of the holes that filled up with the silt,” Fox said, swimming holes “are not as deep as they used to be.”
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David Fox shares stories of swimming in the Guyandotte River while growing up in Gilbert during the 1940s and 1950s.
While the holes filled up, the sand changed color and brush began to creep in.
“I remember it used to be pure white sand. Then in the ’50s, we didn’t have the environmental laws that we have now,” Fox said, “a lot of coal mines dumped their waste in the river and you’d have these black streaks.”
The once white Gilbert Beach in Mingo County was neglected for years. But in just two short years, Mayor Jennifer Miller says local businesses and many residents have worked to restore the riverbank.
“They got some of the trees and debris that had been there for years and years,” Miller said. “It hadn’t been taken care of for quite some time.” The businesses and residents donated what they could: their time, equipment and manual labor to help restore Gilbert Beach. Miller expects the work will help provide more activities for visitors and locals.
“We need places for recreation, we need places for folks to be outdoors,” Miller said. “A lot of our elderly population loves to fish, and Veterans Park at the Gilbert Beach is one of the few areas that’s a gentle slope that’s easily accessible to most folks.”
The easier access is already helping residents who live just across the street from the riverbank at a women’s recovery center. Through the pandemic, residents were not allowed to have visitors.
“They were allowed to go over to the park. So it was wonderful for them during that time,” Miller said. “I would just hear story after story from them of how much it meant for them to be outside the connection with nature’s beautiful scenery. It just soothes the soul a little to be in that kind of atmosphere.”
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A backhoe works to clear large debris at Gilbert Beach.
The work that went into restoring this Guyandotte river access pointstarted with a logging company clearing large debris. Then word got out and in the paper.
“One day I picked up a Mingo Messenger newspaper down there and I actually think I was just checking out at a gas station and it said, ‘plans to revive Gilbert Beach, 1920 weekend destination,” southern West Virginia business owner Will Daniels said. “The only beach in West Virginia’ and I was like, ‘that’s cool.’”
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Small business owner, Will Daniels, paid his workers to clean up Gilbert Bach but didn’t charge the town.
Daniels juggles phone calls and customer service from the breakroom of Dixon’s Automotive Service, a repair shop he owns in neighboring Wyoming County.
In addition to the repair shop, Daniels owns XP Services, a lawn and landscaping business, so sending help just seemed to make sense. It was actually Daniels’ idea to pitch in.
After reaching out to the town of Gilbert, Daniels brought about 12 XP Services employees who worked for about eight hours clearing brush and garbage from the river and riverbanks in Gilbert.
“Tires, there was a lot of metal. I’m even wanting to say there was a railroad track and different parts related to the river that had embedded in the sand and the river,” Daniels said. “A lot of things that just generally plague our streams in West Virginia and times it by 50 to 100 years. It was a task to say the least.” XP has donepaid work for the town of Gilbert, but this job was different. He paid his workers but didn’t take money from the town.
“The guys would have probably come over and done it for free,” Daniels said, “but you’re taking away a day that they could be with their families. This is hard work, and by Saturday they’re tired.”
Daniels says he gives back to the region with labor because that’s the way he was raised and it’s simply the culture of the area.
“Work is respected in West Virginia. Manual labor is respected,” Daniels said. “I want to make this place as good as it can be. I want to give people jobs. I want to give people raises. I want to clean it up. I want to give more opportunities to our kids.”
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Workers pulling railroad ties out of the river at Gilbert Beach.
Gilbert Beach at Veterans Park in Mingo County was officially named a Guyandotte access point in April 2020. Miller, Gilbert’s mayor, says Fortner Logging, the small business that helped to get things rolling, is donating more resources to clear large debris this spring. Miller hopes to install a sign and informational kiosk this year as well.
Michelle Martin is leading a charge to clean up the Little Coal River and turning the trash into treasures.
Tons of trash and thousands of tires have been removed from West Virginia’s rivers. The work is often spearheaded by West Virginians who just want to enjoy a peaceful float trip in their state. Michelle Martin is leading one charge to clean up the Little Coal River and turning the trash into treasures.
This story is the fifth of a series called West Virginia Water Trails. Hear stories from people coming together across southern West Virginia, to create new economies and communities- with waterways. It’s made possible in part by the National Coal Heritage Area Authority.
Martin still gets excited about cleaning up the rivers in southern West Virginia.She’s an accountant by day and a self-dubbed river tire rescuer on the weekend. It started back in 2016 during a trip with her sister on the Little Coal River in Boone County.
“We were just in awe of the beauty of the clear water, the landscape,” Martin said. “But then it kept being scarred by tires and trash. So one day she said, ‘Let’s get this tire’ and I said okay let’s get it. To our surprise we were able to wrangle it up on one of our kayaks and we floated it several miles downstream.”
Michelle Martin during a trip on the river while collecting trash.
Martin always carries plastic bags with her to collect trash while she floats. Eventually, it adds up and the kayak starts to look, well … trashy. So, she embraced the idea and started a Facebook group called Trash Your Kayak Clean Up Crew WV.
“We want to inspire other people who are out kayaking because thousands in the summer time are out kayaking the rivers every weekend. So while you’re out there, take five or ten minutes of your time, take a little bag of trash … take away more than what you brought in.”
And it’s working. She’s proud to say there are more than 800 members in the group. The cover photo shows Martin with several other people, flexing behind a large tire.
Trash Your Kayak Clean Up Crew after getting a large tire out of the river and on a jon boat.
“That picture is us getting out ‘Beast 2’ because it’s so big we had to make a plan,” Martin said. “It takes a lot of effort when you’re dealing with a couple hundred pound tire like that. We finally got it up on the jon boat so that was us kind of celebrating like, ‘yeah we did it.’”
The work has inspired young people in the region. One of the Facebook group members is 19 year-old Lilly Bias. She hesitantly joined Martin and her clean up crew on a Saturday morning about two years ago.
“Through that event we learned how great cleaning up the river was and how fun it was,” Bias said, “which was surprising to us.”
Lilly Bias on a river collecting trash after being inspired by Michelle Martin and the Trash Your Kayak Clean Up Crew.
Bias had such a good time, that she ventured back out on the river a few weekends later for a clean up with her mother. Then, Bias organized her own clean up last year with 100 volunteers.
“Once you’re part of Trash Your Kayak, you can not get out,” Bias said. “When you’re experienced, you want to keep coming back and want to keep hanging out with these great people who are trying to better the community.”
Each cleanup is a chance to take part in a little friendly competition in the Facebook group to see who can collect the most tires. It’s also an opportunity to find treasures.
The Facebook page is a place to share ‘treasure’ finds during clean ups.
A few scrolls down from the cover photo on the Facebook page pulls up images of people and items they’ve collected on the rivers. Martin shared a photo of Daniel, who found a glass piggy bank on the Little Coal River, or as Martin likes to call it, “Coal– Mart”, a play on the names of big retailers.
“We’ll post on Facebook, ‘attention Coal-Mart shoppers, clearance on coolers this weekend’ because we find a lot of coolers on the river,” Martin said.
Martin quickly found that volunteering to clean up the river can get expensive.
“We’ve learned that solid steel shovels which are $30 – $40 work better on prying out tires. I’ve used my own funds but I thought ya know what if we kind of use the boards and things from the river and call it River to Home,” Martin said. “I’m getting things from the river to make art for your home.”
She sells the items at festivals to help offset some of the expenses. She also creates items for gifts and others for her own home. One piece she’s decorated her home with is made of three items she found on the river. One natural item resembles a fish.
Michelle Martin created this piece of art from things she found along rivers in W.Va. She calls it“hooking a river cryptid.” The body was made from driftwood from Kanawha Falls and the wood base and brass stem came out of the Coal River.
In Lincoln County, creating the access points along the Guyandotte River turned out to be much more than a way to get on the river, it was also a way to unite the community.
This story is the third of a series called West Virginia Water Trails. Hear stories from people coming together across southern West Virginia, to create new economies and communities- with waterways. It’s made possible in part by the National Coal Heritage Area Authority.
Finding a Way Onto the Guyandotte
Just behind the West Hamlin fire station is a path to a river. A quick walk down a grassy hill takes boaters to a concrete pad by the Guyandotte. In this region, accessing the river wasn’t always this simple. In fact, the concrete on this access point was poured in 2019.
Fire Chief Ron Porter remembers the challenges of getting boats on the Guyandotte before the access point.
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Slide at Branchland Park after repair work.
“That was tough,” Porter said. “You were fighting briars and brambles and slipping and sliding over the riverbank. And to get that back out was doubly difficult. So you had to drag it up over a riverbank and through all the brush and mud.”
Porter and the department often pitch in to help maintain the access point. He says it’s important for water rescue emergencies. He’s also noticed more people floating and enjoying the water.
“We have a lot of people enjoying kayaking, especially. In the summertime, it’s not unusual to see a dozen or 15 kayaks in our parking lot out here where they’ve taken out on the river,” Porter said. “They’ll park their cars here, go further upstream and put their kayak or canoe or whatever craft they’re using, and paddle, down the river and take out here. [The river] has been utilized a whole lot more now than it ever was.”
Another access point on the guide is at Branchland Park. It was barely noticeable just a few years ago.
“I lived here for years and did not even know that there was a boat dock [at Branchland] because it was just weeds and trees,” Branchland resident Wanda Cremeans said. “You couldn’t see the boat dock.”
Wanda lives along the Guyandotte River not far from the park and entry point. She remembers when the work on the Branchland access point began.
“We started cleaning it up and burning the brush,” Cremeans said. “[We] wanted to get kayaking, going again. We had a lot of people, friends, family, a lot of Cremeans’s jump in there and help with everything. So some of those people have already passed on, just like Tony has.”
Tony Cremeans was her husband. He passed away in 2020. He ran an auto repair shop and was an advocate for recreation on the river.
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Wanda and Tony Cremeans at Branchland Park in 2014. Tony Cremeans passed away in 2020.
“He was very community oriented and liked to bring things to Branchland for people to have fun,” she said. “He loved to live life and have fun.”
Wanda, her family and many other volunteers did a lot of work to clean up Branchland Park. Ralph Triplet grew up at Branchland and worked closely with Tony and other volunteers to clean up the park and entry point.
“Everybody’s close in the neighborhood but we kind of partnered up and we said we were kind of tired of the ‘Guyan River’ and the Branchland community having a black eye that it had,” Triplett said. “We thought we would try to clean up the riverbank up there at Branchland a little bit.”
Ralph and other volunteers wanted to bring back the Guyandotte River Regatta that he says was big deal in the 1970’s.
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Jerry and Randy Lawson at the finish line at the former bridge at West Hamlin of the River Regatta in the 1970’s.
Guyandotte River Regatta Returns
Work on a river access point is never really done. Triplet says volunteers pitch in annually to pick up litter. The community also put up artwork painted by Wanda Cremeans that celebrates the river. They also worked with the Coal Heritage Area Authority to put up signs that clearly marked the access points.
Word got out and people from the region started showing up. There was even a kayak rental and shuttle business that opened. With the revived access point, residents worked to host the Guyandotte River Regatta in 2014. Wanda Cremeans remembers cookouts and a car show to go with it.
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Guyandotte River Regatta put in at Branchland Park in Lincoln County, W.Va. in 2014.
“It was a fellowship,” she said. “It’s just like a party, like a community party.”
The community party lasted about all weekend. The event was gaining momentum and helping to bring a few smiles back to the Branchland community.
“Branchland didn’t and doesn’t get a lot of events,” she said. “So, it was like, ‘Hey, this is so cool.’ Branchland is doing something.”
Organizations and volunteers who wanted to maintain the Guyandotte Water Trail formed the Guyandotte Water Trail Alliance in 2014. With help from volunteers and the Alliance, the Regatta expanded from Branchland in Lincoln County to four other entry points and counties along the Guyandotte River including Wyoming, Mingo, Logan, and Cabell. With the ongoing clean up efforts and clearly marked access points, the Guyandotte River remains a West Virginia Water Trail.
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Guyandotte River Regatta, 2014
“This section of the river parallels Route 10,” Ralph Triplett. “You can see the river, the entire course. And there’s various pull offs, people can see it and watch or dance and I think we have a lot of potential for growth on what we have here.”
Because of the COVID 19 pandemic, the Regatta has been canceled the past two years. Plans are underway to bring it back this year. Chief Ron Porter hopes another regatta reignites the momentum and community pride he saw in his hometown before the pandemic.
“We really need jobs and we need the businesses and the opportunity to have more services available,” Porter said. “If tourism, if it can in some way play a role in that, that will be fun. That would be great.”
There’s a lot of work ahead of the community, lots of organizing, fundraising, and even more cleanup along the river. Ralph Triplet says finding a new generation to help will be critical to the success.
“We’re definitely looking for new blood,” Triplet said “A lot of us are, further down the highway, any kind of support that we could get. I hope this works out well for the whole river. So yeah it’s a good undertaking.”
Triplet says work is underway to register the Guyandotte Water Trail Alliance as a 501 c3. There’s another access point on the Guyandotte just outside of West Hamlin called Salt Rock. This site has been closed for a few years.
Other organizers met in 2020 with state officials with plans to create a new access point in Ranger.
The Tug Fork River recently earned the designation of a West Virginia Water Trail by the Recreation Trail Advisory Committee within the West Virginia Department of Transportation. It’s called the Bloody Mingo Tug Fork Water Trail and visitors are invited to kayak, float or even fish. The “Mighty Tug,” as it’s been called, flows along Mingo County by towns such as Matewan and Williamson.
This is the second of a series called West Virginia Water Trails. Hear stories from people coming together across southern West Virginia, to create new economies and communities- with waterways. It’s made possible in part by the National Coal Heritage Area Authority.
Tugging Tires on the Tug Fork
It’s a warm summer day, and a crew of volunteers are on the Tug Fork River. Some, John Burchett, are pulling up tires from the bottom of the river and loading them onto a boat connected to an amphibious vehicle.
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John Burchett pulls a tire from the Tug Fork River.
“A lot of these tires have white walls on them,” Burchett said. “You don’t see anybody driving around with white walls today. That’s back in at least the ‘80s. Some of these tires have half the sidewall as a white wall. That’s going back to the ‘40s and ‘50s. So these are really old tires.”
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Tires in the Tug Fork River in 2021.
How the tires got into the river is kind of a mystery, or at least a known secret.
“Back in the day before there was regulation, we think before there was really any enforcement of what little regulation there was, the small gas stations, service stations, sold ya some tires and then took your old ones out and threw them in a river,” Burchett said. “They either didn’t know any better or maybe just didn’t care enough. I don’t know which it is. But yeah, it’s a shame that the sins of our grandfathers that’s what we’re cleaning up today.”
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WVPB
Tug Fork River by Williamson, W.Va. in 2021
Tire clean up isn’t easy. It’s intense physical labor that takes extensive collaboration between state agencies and volunteers. Along with volunteers, both the Kentucky and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection are working together. The Tug Fork borders both states. It’s taken thousands of “mighty tugs” to pull more than 5,000 tires out of the water so far. There’s even an annual volunteer event called Tire Tug of War on the Tug Fork.
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WVPB
After tires are loaded onto boats, the are hooked to an amphibious vehicle and pulled to shore.
“It’s a mess, but we’re putting a dent in it,” Burchett said. “There’s still thousands of tires in this river. Several thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of tires in this river.”
Burchett and other volunteers are hoping the work will continue to pay off, not just for the health of the river, but for the economic future of the region.
Things Have Changed
Burchett grew up in Williamson in Mingo County. It’s one of the towns along the Tug Fork River. He remembers the boom times of the coal industry.
“We had a business district that was overflowing with business, with people, it was a struggle to get down the sidewalks,” he said. “Today the coal industry has dropped off tremendously. Our downtown is suffering. We have empty storefronts and not a lot of people on the streets.”
As the jobs disappeared, the population declined and schools consolidated. Burchett says the town lost more than an income.
“The Williamson Wolfpack played in the State Basketball Championships on a regular basis,” he said. “We lost a big part of our identity when we lost Williamson High school.”
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Williamson Public Library
Williamson standout ball player Mark Cline has possession of the ball during the 1981 Sectional Championship game at the Logan Fieldhouse. WHS won 61-58 and defeated Logan 3 times that season.
One part of this area’s identity that wasn’t lost was its history. In particular, the infamous Hatfield and McCoy feud.
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Williamson Public Library
The Williamson Wolfpack defeated Northfork, 66-60 at the Charleston Civic Center to win the 1983 state championship.
“The feud is over, but we still enjoy the history of it,” Burchett said.
In recent years, that history has helped to draw tourists to the Hatfield and McCoy ATV trail system. Burchett is hoping to expand what he calls the “outdoor adventure amusement park” with the Tug Fork River.
“You can spend a day on the trails and then spend a day in the water,” Burchett said. “It keeps our tourists here for an extra day, maybe. It gives them something to do. Gives them another reason to come. Maybe they come to the river and then discover the trail system and want to go ride the trails.”
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In Matewan, W.Va., it’s common to see ATVs and riders lining downtown during riding season.
“The entire length of the Tug Fork that touches West Virginia is impaired for fecal coliform,” Grace Williams, executive director of the Big Laurel Learning Center in Kermit said. “So usually you’re getting that from sewage runoff or impaired septic systems.”
“I think it will be really key for our own knowledge,” she said. “I’ve kayaked the Tug Fork. I’ve kayaked the Guyandotte. So, I hope that by doing this I’ll learn first hand the results that we get.”
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Grace Williams at the 2022 Southern WV Fishing Expo in Williamson, W.Va.
The idea is to test the tributaries of the Tug to see which streams need the most help. The samples will be taken to a lab to be tested for e coli, fecal coliform, and heavy metals.
“Then we know that it’s gonna be repairing septic systems and repairing sewage lines,” Williams said. “That’s going to be the hard part is getting funding for that and getting people to do it. A lot of times land is hard to put in a septic tank if you’re really close to the river.”
Williams and the Friends of the Tug Fork River already have a plan. They are creating a watershed group. The group recently hosted a boarding to gather information. They plan to apply for 501c3 status.
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WVPB
Pete Runyon works with volunteers and state employees to pull tires from the Tug Fork River.
“The idea is once we are a non-profit we will better be able to get grants,” Williams said. “I know that there is a lot of money that we hope to be able to use… that is going to need to be able to go through a 501c3.”
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Pete Runyon fishing on the Tug Fork in 2021.
Friends of the Tug Fork River is a group that connects on Facebook to organize events like the tire cleanup. Pete Runyon created the page five years ago.
“I didn’t realize the impact it made on our community,” Runyon said. “Because after we did that and pulled out 2,323 tires, all the people started watching for things and jumping on board and helping us, because they saw us trying to make a positive change in our area.”
For Runyon, part of that change means more recreational fishing and non-motorized boating on the Tug Fork River.
“People instead of traveling away from here to kayak some of the other places or lakes, now we just go out our back door,” Runyon said. “You come here on a weekend, you’ll see all kinds of kayaks on this river. You’ll see people fishing almost daily.”
When visitors arrive, Runyon hopes they see a clean river.
“I want to be able to look back when I really can’t get out here and do this anymore and say ‘You know what? This used to really look bad, but look at it now’,” Runyon said.
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Tug Fork floating, 2018
John Burchett has been working on these rivers for years. He’s also on the West Virginia Flatwater Trails Commission which was created in 2020. It’s charged with advising the state Department of Commerce while creating standard programs, research and support for the development of a state water trails system. And Burchett says the cleanup efforts are about more than building an economy. The float and fishing opportunities while doing work can also create a sense of place, belonging and new pride for the people in Williamson.
“We are trying to find ourselves, trying to figure out who we are, and tourism is something that we can latch on to right now, until we can move on and find different things for the community,” Burchett said.“It’s important that we start building back, and we’re struggling. But every day, we make a little bit of progress forward. And that’s the important thing is to move forward, everyday. If we don’t, we’re gonna be in trouble.”
Both John Burchett and Pete Runyon are helping other communities pursue West Virginia Water Trail status. In December they met with residents in McDowell County.
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Pete Runyon speaking to residents in Welch, W.Va.
Back in Mingo County they plan to keep pulling tires out of the Tug Fork River.
Anyone interested in learning how to test and monitor the water quality of streams and rivers is welcome to attend Volunteer Day on Saturday, April 9 in McDowell County. Williamson and a group of volunteers will meet at Panther State Forest from noon to 5 p.m.
