Friends of Tug Fork River will host a public hearing this Saturday to talk about the future of the natural waterway. The meeting is open to anyone living in communities along the Tug Fork River and is part of a series of listening sessions for areas along the Ohio River Basin.
Friends of Tug Fork River will host a public hearing this Saturday to talk about the future of the natural waterway.
The meeting is open to anyone living in communities along the Tug Fork River and is part of a series of listening sessions for areas along the Ohio River Basin.
Over the years, the area has suffered contamination from mine waste, toxic waste, sewage and farm runoff, inadequate water infrastructure, flooding and habitat loss.
The National Wildlife Federation, in collaboration with the Ohio River Basin Alliance and Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, is heading a campaign to protect and restore the area’s ecosystem.
The portion of the Tug Fork watershed within West Virginia drains lands in McDowell, Mingo and Wayne counties and encompasses a 932 square mile area of rugged terrain, including steep-sided mountains and rock cliffs.
Friends of Tug Fork River Vice President John Burchett said the group plans to discuss a new regional clean water proposal and the removal of old tires from the river. Last summer, volunteers collected more than 1,300 tires from the river.
Tire drop off sites are available under the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Rehabilitation Environmental Action Plan (REAP) for individuals with proof of West Virginia residency.
Burchett said in addition to pollutants like garbage and tires, there is a problem with raw sewage flowing into the Tug Fork River.
“We have a lot of rural areas along the river that do not have municipal sewage systems,” Burchett said. “A lot of those have septic systems that have failed over the years and have not been properly maintained, and a lot of them never had a septic system to start with. It was straight piped into a creek.”
Jordan Lubetkin, a representative with the National Wildlife Federation, will be on hand to take questions and document comments for a grant request for federal money to help protect natural waterways. Community input from the listening session will help establish a list of priorities for the regional clean water plan.
The public hearing is Saturday, March 25 at the Williamson Fire Department hall from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Food and refreshments will be available at the event.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Tuesday said it will commit $2,817,600 to help reduce flood risks throughout the Elkhorn Creek and Tug Fork River Watershed.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Tuesday said it will commit $2,817,600 to help reduce flood risks for communities throughout the Elkhorn Creek and Tug Fork River Watershed.
Elkhorn Creek is a 23.7-mile-long (38.1 km) tributary of the Tug Fork, belonging to the Ohio River and Mississippi River watersheds. It is located in McDowell and Mercer counties.
The portion of the Tug Fork watershed that lies within West Virginia drains lands in McDowell, Mingo, and Wayne counties, encompassing a 932 square mile area.
In recent years the state has been hit hard by serious flooding including dangerous flash floods that have resulted in the loss of life and property.
In July, Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency for McDowell County after floods damaged more than 75 homes, 12 bridges and multiple roads.
U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito, members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the USDA funding will bolster flood protection and increase the safety of the county’s residents.
The money, through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), will be used to support the voluntary buyout, demolition and restoration of about 30 properties to restore natural floodplain conditions.
The West Virginia Flood Tool (WVFT) examined flood damage to 128 homes and buildings before recommending the buyout as the most cost effective solution.
The flood tool is an interactive web map application developed by the West Virginia GIS Technical Center. It provides public and official access to flood data about the degree of risk for an area or property.
Residents in the Elkhorn Creek/Tug Fork River Watershed are considered at higher risk of flood damage due to the concentration of real estate development in the floodplain.
For as long as he can recall, Williamson resident John Burchett said that when you looked over the U.S. Highway 119 Bridge leading to Kentucky, all you’d see on the Tug Fork River were tires.
“For tire businesses, individuals, the river was easiest way to get rid of things,” said Burchett, also a local part-time firefighter. “And unfortunately, that’s what people did, and we’re paying the price now.”
While a growing number of communities along the river are increasingly touting the waterway as a draw for outdoor recreation, there’s still a lot of work to be done to make sure it’s clean and safe.
Last week, Burchett was one of several local volunteers behind the Williamson PK-8 school, where there’s an access point to the river, half a mile down from the bridge.
With help from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and its Rehabilitation Environmental Action Plan (REAP), the volunteers removed more than 1,600 tires from a couple 100 yards of river over three days.
Credit Emily Allen / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Volunteers and state workers joined forces to remove more than 1,000 tires from a few hundred yards of the Tug Fork River in Williamson on Monday, Sept. 30, 2019.
According to REAP staff, the state has helped other river communities with tire clean-up projects, including those along the Coal and Elk rivers. The tires they remove go to the West Virginia Tire Disposal waste monofill in Summersville, a landfill exclusively for old tires.
“You know, if we’re going to be serious about tourism, growing that industry and helping our environment, this is what you have to do,” said Williamson Mayor Charles Hatfield. He was one of about eight volunteers present Monday morning, in addition to DEP employees and contracted workers, paid for by the DEP.
Other participants included Glen Allen Daugherty of Woodman, Kentucky, another Tug Fork River town about 30 miles downstream from Williamson.
Credit Emily Allen / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Last Summer, Glen Daugherty kayaked nearly the entire length of the Tug Fork River in eight days with his son. Their journey, shared via pictures on a Facebook group for the river, garnered attention for the waterway’s recreational opportunities.
Last summer, Daugherty — who says his friends call him Grizzly Allen — and his son kayaked nearly the entire length of the Tug Fork River, from Welch, McDowell County to Louisa in Kentucky.
“We had to pull the kayak, and we had about 150 pounds of gear, a little tent one-man tent and a one-man sleeping shelter,” Daugherty recalled. “And we went to survive, on our own, catching fish, eating ramen, camp.”
All the while, Daugherty was posting pictures of their journey to the Friends of the Tug Fork River Facebook group, which attracted attention to their trip. He said people began joining them, bought them food and let them sleep in local schools.
“It’s such a beautiful river, and there’s so much good fishing and stuff on it, and we don’t have to drive very far to enjoy it,” Daugherty said.
Daugherty said he’s showed up to help pick up tires in Williamson, to show support for the river and its future as a recreational waterway.
“I just wish we would have more people that would get involved in these events,” Daugherty said. “And I would like to see it spread from town to town and in between, because what’s here in six months will be down there.”
Creating A ‘Wide Open’ And ‘Unimpeded’ River
Mayor Hatfield said the town is also looking forward to building a spillway around a low head dam upstream from town that is used for the city’s water intake.
Credit Emily Allen / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Williamson Mayor Charles Hatfield helped remove tires from the Tug Fork River on Monday, Sept. 30, 2019.
That will allow the more than 150-mile river to flow unimpeded, an important factor for growing river-based recreation. The spillway could also alleviate dangerous conditions that can occur near the dam.
According to Hatfield, the dam’s only about five feet tall, but as water flows over it, it can reach about 10 feet on the other side, creating conditions that can be fatal.
“If you go over the dam and get caught … it will not let you escape,” said Burchett, the part-time firefighter. “It rolls you, until you’re just out of breath.”
With a grant from the National Coal Heritage Area Authority, Williamson has created a construction plan for the spillway.
“If we can get the construction money from that grant, to do this, then this river, all 159 miles of it, will be wide open, unimpeded for recreational navigation,” Burchett said.
Volunteers are scheduled to go out for a final day for tire removals on Wednesday, Oct. 2. Burchett said volunteers will gather behind the Williamson PK-8 school around 9 a.m.
Environmentalists and the Pocahontas Land Corp. have agreed to settle a lawsuit over coal mine drainage into streams in southern West Virginia.
The environmental groups say Pocahontas’ former White Flame mountaintop-removal mine in Mingo County continues to discharge selenium, dissolved solids, sulfates and other pollutants into tributaries of the Tug Fork River.
The proposed consent decree filed Friday in federal court says Pocahontas will test the water and apply for a Clean Water Act permit from the state to address issues.
The Sierra Club says that when the mine was shuttered, Pocahontas’ mining permits were released and the company was no longer held responsible for ongoing pollution from waste-disposal sites.
Pocahontas’ attorney did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
