KINGWOOD — The Preston County Commission was the first to appoint people to serve on the Mountaineer Trail Network Recreation Authority, a 15-county partnership, when it was formed several years ago.
On Tuesday, the county was the first to give the MTNRA $5,000 toward hiring an executive director.
At the end of the meeting, Commission President Samantha Stone said she felt they should look for money in the current budget to fund the request.
“I feel like they weren’t looking to us for that leadership because we were the ones who really spearheaded getting it going and now everything’s coming to fruition,” Stone said. “And I think maybe by our $5,000 contribution, if we can do that, that will potentially get everyone else that they go meet with, they can say, well, Preston County invested.”
Four years ago, the Mountaineer Trail Network was just a loose concept. Today, the governing authority is a functioning organization and economic development authority with appointed board members from all 15 participating counties, said Sara Cottingham of Downstream Strategies, which was hired for technical expertise. It has secured $1.3 million to launch in 2024.
The project is modeled on the Hatfield-McCoy trail but for non-motorized activities in the northern part of West Virginia, Cottingham said.
There are two key groups being focused on — bikers and boaters.
“Our counties already have amazing opportunities for mountain biking or rail trails for flatwater and whitewater paddling and the market data shows us that these are two user groups that spend a lot and they travel a lot,” Cottingham said. “So as an economic development project, we know that launching a trail network focused primarily on these two user groups can be wildly successful for our region.”
Downstream Strategies recently finished its first level of review of all existing trails for bikes and boats in the 15 counties — looking for areas with basic amenities in place — and came out with recommendations for where the trail should launch first.
Two of the places with the best short-term opportunities are in Preston County — Big Bear Lake Trail Center and the Cheat River.
Big Bear has some of the best mountain biking and already attracts people from across the U.S. and Canada for three, four, or five day trips, Cottingham said. The Cheat River has legendary whitewater and is the region’s signature river destination.
Things have moved quickly and a lot has been accomplished, but the organization is at a point where it needs a dedicated, capable person to see the project through, said Jeff Simcoe, trail manager at Big Bear Lake Trail Center. Simcoe is a representative for Preston County on the MTNRA, and asked for the $5,000 to use for hiring the first executive director for the authority.
“We really are confident that with the support we can outperform what the Hatfield-McCoy trail has accomplished — and they’ve been in existence for about 20 years and attract I think 56,000 trail users and have an economic impact of about $38 million annually,” Simcoe said. “Our data shows because we do have developed infrastructure already in place in northern West Virginia that we think we can outperform the Hatfield-McCoy trail in that area.”
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