“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 State Delegate Bud Phillips (D-Clintwood). Despite stunning vistas and more species of plants and animals than can be found anywhere else in the continental United States, this Southwest Virginia region has long been governed by an extractive economy. Mountaintop removal and forest clear-cutting provide the few well paying jobs in the region, and many residents see no other possible way of life.

Recently, local organized efforts have made ecotourism a real option for Scott and Wise counties. One of the treasures of the area, and a focus of these efforts, is the Chief Benge Trail, running for 24 miles along the border of the two counties in the High Knob area of the Jefferson National Forest.

An early friend of the trail was Dink Shakelford of the Norton Kiwanis Club, who raised money and organized volunteers until his death in September 2007. He succeeded in blazing a portion of the new trail which would link the town of Norton with the Chief Benge Trail.

Meanwhile, the Scott County Horse Association began working on trails on the Scott County side of the National Forest. Understanding that horse trails and foot trails often do not mix well, they began to map a 25-mile trail primarily along roads in the National Forest, overlapping with the Chief Benge Trail for a half-mile. The Horse Association’s vision that the High Knob Multi-Use Trail would attract horseback riders to the region moved to construction with a federal appropriation of $500,000 in 2005.

The Chief Benge Trail itself was beginning to fall into disarray. A long bridge and boardwalk had rotted out, requiring hikers to wade through extensive marsh and attempt to jump across a creek. Forest Service budget cuts had prevented improvements to the Trail for several years.

The Clinch Coalition (TCC), also active in the area, was an environmental non-profit group formed in 1998 around a campaign to prevent excessive clear-cutting in the National Forest. TCC’s members have delayed and prevented several timber sales in the National Forest since their inception and they have managed to temporarily shut down existing logging jobs by visiting the sites and finding violations of Best Management Practices. When TCC came to Ron Bush, the local District Ranger, with plans for one more new trail in the National Forest, Bush was understandably dubious.

“When we showed up at the U.S. Forest Service office in 2006 with plans to build another trail, the staff cringed,” said Diana Withen, president of The Clinch Coalition. “We had heard about a $40,000 grant from Virginia Recreational Trails Fund which would pay for trail construction. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to increase the recreational opportunities around High Knob. And the trail meshed well with our ongoing campaign to replace logging with recreation in the National Forest.”

The Forest Service would be responsible for the trail’s upkeep after the initial construction and Bush knew that his funding would not allow for that upkeep. Bush instead suggested that The Clinch Coalition apply for a grant to renovate the existing Chief Benge Trail. Even after this compromise, Bush was not completely won over. “When we started looking at the trail, we really weren’t too optimistic it would happen,” said Bush.

But Bush hadn’t counted on the outpouring of community support. Twenty groups ranging from the local Boy Scout troops and a high school ecology club to businesses and government bodies came to meetings or wrote letters to show their support for renovating the Chief Benge Trail. Many offered their time to help build and maintain the trail, while others offered donations of materials. Many people in the community felt ownership of the Chief Benge Trail, remembering pleasant days hiking and camping there.

During the winter of 2006 to 2007, the Forest Service and The Clinch Coalition and others worked out a plan of action — to replace the bridge and boardwalk, blaze the trail and add signs, clear brush and deadfalls from the trail, add stepping stones at the creek crossings, and construct two interpretive kiosks. One of TCC’s volunteers wrote a 40-page proposal to the Virginia Recreational Trails Fund summing up the trail renovation project, and everyone settled in to wait for a response.

When the grant was approved in December, nearly 100 supporters and members of the press turned out to celebrate the renovation project. Work will begin on the trail in early 2008, with this phase of the project scheduled to be completed by Fall 2009.

For more information about the Chief Benge Trail renovation project, visit The Clinch Coalition’s website at www.clinchcoalition.net. The Clinch Coalition’s other current projects include preventing unsustainable forestry in the National Forest, protecting the forest from the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid, and educating the local community through programs, contests, and naturalist rallies.

For more information, contact Steve Brooks at shbrooks@mounet.com.