According to Bill Hilton Jr., the center’s consulting director, a $15,000 grant will fund a nature trail along the sewer line right-of-way at Wolf Creek Park, a mixed-use industrial park planned off Appalachian Drive.

The grant money will stream to Wolf Creek from Project FLOW (Future Leaders of Watersheds), which was initiated by the West Virginia Commission for National and Community Service in 2006. The three-year project funds youth-led watershed service learning activities in community-based organizations.

The installation will be performed by adult volunteers and the high school students involved in Leadership Fayette County, past and present. Weather permitting, it will begin on Jan. 17, 2009. Several individuals will attend a preliminary grant-related training workshop on in early January at Stonewall Jackson Resort.

According to paperwork provided by Hilton in the grant-procuring process, Wolf Creek Park is blessed with several water features, including a small stream that flows into a 10-acre wetland established by a colony of American beavers. This unnamed stream parallels a newly-installed sewer line that, unfortunately, was constructed with some disregard to the environment. Living trees were debarked and stream banks were disturbed, among other outcomes. Among the project objectives will be to restore a 100-yard stretch of the stream, in addition to correcting unsightly damage to trees, shrubs and other vegetation, and converting the sewer line right-of-way into an interpretive nature trail.

As they help restore and improve the stream and riparian areas, students will learn various aspects of watersheds, ranging from the importance of buffering streams, rivers and ponds from development, to the type of species of trees, shrubs, grasses and aquatic plants that are found in West Virginia habitats, according to Hilton.

In all, students will participate in four six-hour stream restoration work days, two roundtable discussions, and an end-of-project evaluation meeting, and contribute more hours through small group work in which they develop a brochure and signage for the stream restoration site.

Wolf Creek Park is a 1,000-acre tract that includes a potential for 21 light manufacturing or technical sites, 60 single-family home sites, 26 town house units, a small retail center, and community and conference facilities.

The project is managed by the Fayette County Urban Renewal Authority (URA), in cooperation with the Region 4 Planning and Development Council. It has been underwritten primarily by contributions from the West Virginia Economic Development Grant Committee, U.S. Economic Development Administration, West Virginia Industrial Access Road Program, West Virginia Infrastructure Council, and the Fayette County Commission.

As of November, a local developer had begun surveying for the first phase of residential development, rough grading has been completed for a potential light industrial site, an entry road complete with access bridge has been paved, initial power lines have been buried, and a full-scale sewer line has been installed.

Eventually, the NRBNC will include LEED-certified structures (meeting hall, labs, classrooms, library, offices, etc.), a wetlands boardwalk, a teaching-learning amphitheater, and a network of self-interpretive nature trails that radiate throughout the residential and business areas.

Hilton, who has a life-long interest in West Virginia ecology, will be assisted by Fayette County resource coordinator Dave Pollard, who also organizes and implements the LFC youth program. Pollard will handle Project FLOW disbursements and financial matters through the Fayette County URA, which he serves as staff liaison.

Adult volunteers for the stream restoration project will be coordinated by Keith Richardson of Opossum Creek Retreat in Ansted.