Senator Jim Webb today announced that Southwest Virginia’s national forests will receive $3.3 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture toward trail and trail bridge maintenance and repairs. The funding was made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests will receive $1.9 million for forest-wide trail and trail bridge maintenance. An additional $275,000 has been allocated to replace 12 bridges on 5 trails in Bath, Bland, Lee, and Page Counties. The Virginia Creeper Trail will receive $1.1 million for repair and maintenance to improve safety of the trail and access to visitors with disabilities.
“The $3.3 million dedicated to preserve, protect, and provide needed maintenance to Virginia’s natural sites will help stimulate local economies and invest in our public lands,” said Senator Webb. “This funding builds on the recently enacted public lands bill—the most significant conservation legislation passed by Congress in the past 15 years—which protected more than 50,000 acres of the Jefferson National Forest.”
The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests contain nearly 1.8 million acres of public land, representing one of the largest blocks of public land in the eastern United States. The forests have nearly 2,000 miles of hiking trails, almost 80 percent of Virginia’s public hunting lands, and the lakes, ponds and reservoirs located there support over 100 species of freshwater fishes and mussels.
The Virginia Creeper Trail stretches 35 miles from Abingdon through Damascus to the North Carolina State Line near Whitetop, Virginia. The Virginia Creeper Trail is open to hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding.
For more information about these or other USDA Recovery projects, please visit: http://fs.usda.gov.