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7-county region maps proposed trails
Council of governments wants individual counties to endorse map for future planning
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Published: February 8, 2009
BOONE
The High Country Council of Governments has identified and tentatively mapped 389 miles of proposed trails in a seven-county Northwest N.C. mountain region, an ambitious plan that's intended to guide hiking-trail development for decades.
The 18-month planning project involved more than 150 people, including state and federal land managers, local government officials and members of trail groups and other organizations in Yancey, Mitchell, Avery, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany and Wilkes counties.
The trail plan has already been approved by the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation. The Council of Governments is now trying to get official endorsements by the region's seven county governments.
Watauga County commissioners on Monday agreed by consensus to forward the plan to the county's Tourism Development Authority and expects to schedule a vote later. None of the other local governments has endorsed the plan yet.
The state is working with other regional councils to develop a statewide trail plan, including an interactive Web site that would show the trail network across North Carolina.
Phillip Trew, the director of planning and development for the High Country Council of Governments, said that the council is asking the county governments to approve their area's portion of the project in order to get people thinking about where to put trails and to make it easier to get money for projects that are part of an overall plan.
"The whole idea behind it is it will be a jumping-off point for the alignment of these trails and how to fund it," Trew said.
The High Country Council of Government's project included developing a map showing existing trails and the general location of proposed trails, as well as compiling mapping data on existing and proposed trails.
The state provided a $19,250 grant for the project and the High Country Council of Governments provided $5,750 in planning services.
Trew emphasized that the process is long-term, comparing it to the Mountains-to-Sea trail that's intended to extend from Clingman's Dome in the mountains to Jockey's Ridge on the Outer Banks. The concept of the 1,000-mile-long Mountains-to-Sea trail was proposed in 1977, and about 450 miles of the trail have been developed so far.
While it may take decades to build the trails proposed in the new High Country Regional Trail Plan, the idea is to get started.
"The whole purpose of it is hopefully some local governments or nonprofits involved in greenway planning can take this and say ‘this looks like a logical route, let's see who owns the property and get funding and make it happen,'" Trew said.
The proposed trails provide links between the Mountains-to-Sea trail and the Appalachian Trail, as well as connections between public lands, river valleys, and other areas.
The Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail that's being developed to commemorate the 1780 march of the Patriot militia to the battle of Kings Mountain is also part of the trail plan. About 50 miles of the proposed 330-mile OVT trail are in the High Country region.
■ Monte Mitchell can be reached in Wilkesboro at 336-667-5691 or at mmitchell@wsjournal.com.
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