Kingsport Times/News
By STEPHEN IGO
sigo@timesnews.net
HIGH KNOB. Known for bringing home the bacon, Virginia congressman Rick Boucher can bring the rain, too.
“All I have to do is schedule an outdoor event,” Boucher, D-9th District, told a throng gathered on the flank of a mist-enshrouded, rain-drenched mountain in Wise County on Monday, “and I can help break a drought.”
Lousy weather didn’t cost U.S. taxpayers a dime on Monday, either, but Boucher brought a little of the green to forest-oriented discussions at Norton’s Flag Rock Recreation Area with the announcement of three projects for the Jefferson National Forest’s Clinch Ranger District.
First up is one yet to develop, but huge on the hearts and minds of his constituents. On Halloween arsonists destroyed the
much-beloved High Knob Observation Tower. Monday’s announcement was originally scheduled to be held at the tower site, but heavy fog and persistent rain showers prompted a move to Flag Rock for shelter purposes.
Calling High Knob “one of the rare treasures of our region’s natural heritage,” Boucher said he “strongly share(s) your
determination that the High Knob Observation Tower is rebuilt.”
Boucher said his office will organize a task force to coordinate fund-raising and planning efforts to rebuild the landmark structure that, until Halloween, graced the highest point in the Clinch Ranger District. On a clear day visitors could view a 100-mile radius of the region to include a vista into five states.
The task force will develop strategies to rebuild the tower, he said, including developing a plan “that enjoys adequate funding, and together we will rebuild the observation tower at High Knob.”
The second project includes $40,000 in federal grant funds awarded by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation to make improvements to Chief Benge’s Scout Trail, a 24-mile hiking trail that links the High Knob tower site to Little Stony Falls in Scott County.
A year ago the Dungannon based Clinch Coalition partnered with the Clinch Ranger District to apply for the grant to construct two information stations, install new footbridges and steps, and make other improvements to the trail. Total cost of the project is a little more than $60,000, but Boucher said in-kind services — mostly labor — will be provided by the U.S. Forest Service, and citizen volunteers will add another $8,000 worth of labor. Boucher said Wise Lumber & Supply Co. has also offered $500 in lumber and other materials.
On yet another forest front, Boucher said a $500,000 federal appropriation he had set aside two years ago will be released for a groundbreaking next spring for new horse riding trails in the High Knob area. The money awaited plans to be completed for the equestrian trails, Boucher said, and predicted they will be a boost to the area’s growing tourism economy.
Tourism in Wise, Lee and Scott counties brought in $47 million last year, Boucher said, and improvements to High Knob — including eventual restoration of the tower — will restore some shine to one of the region’s most attractive natural gems.
State Delegates Bud Phillips, D-Clintwood, and Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, joined Boucher’s foggy mountain breakdown and praised burgeoning partnerships between government, private organizations and concerned individuals.
“The High Knob area is, in fact, what I consider to be one of Virginia’s seven national wonders. This is truly a magnificent
place,” said Phillips. When good things happen in the region, he said, that’s usually because local people and groups — such as the Clinch Coalition and the Wise County Chamber of Commerce — join forces to make them happen.
Phillips said the “true balance” is to protect natural assets while ensuring access, and the projects announced Monday achieve that goal. Kilgore praised Boucher’s announcement of a tower task force and grass-roots efforts on the trails projects.
Clinch Coalition President Diana Withen said the people’s forest was diminished by the meanspirited act of one or two people on Halloween.
“As more and more citizens feel ownership of this beautiful forest, and all the resources within it that contribute to our
quality of life, then the vandalism that we have seen (with the destruction of the tower) will diminish and hopefully never happen again,” she said.
“Today, we come together to celebrate a new partnership between local citizens and our professional forest managers.”
Withen said her group envisions a “new, bigger and better High Knob Tower. One that includes a nature center that will educate the young people to respect and protect High Knob.”