Friends of the Russell Fork
Contact Information
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The Russell Fork River runs northward through Buchanan and Dickenson Counties in Southwest Virginia, passes through a dramatic gorge in scenic Breaks Interstate Park on its way to Kentucky and eventually flows into the Big Sandy River. The Russell Fork provides recreational opportunities for locals and visitors alike and has long been popular with kayakers, particularly on October weekends when John Flannagan dam offers weekend releases that generate Class IV and V rapids through the gorge. Parties from both Virginia and Kentucky are currently working with the USACE to expand the duration of the releases to better economic development.
On the Virginia side, the Russell Fork cuts through steep terrain and encounters few urban areas on its route. In fact the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is recommending scenic river status for the Russell Fork River. The economy of this region throughout the years has been founded on coal mining and logging, and increasingly on natural gas extraction. Some of the environmental issues facing the Russell Fork are sedimentation, illegal dump sites, poor septic facilities and acid mine drainage. Sedimentation, which blankets streambeds and damages aquatic habitats, arises from the steepness of the surrounding landscape coupled with poor resource extraction practices. Illegal dumping, a chronic problem in the region, contributes to poor drainage and chemical contamination of waterways. Straight-piping, aggravated by poverty and poor soil, persists. Dickenson County remains the only county in Virginia still listed by the Appalachian Regional Commission as economically distressed.
The Friends of the Russell Fork (FORF) is a young watershed group based in the town of Haysi with an office on the campus of Haysi High School. The FORF comprises local citizens who want to improve the quality of the waterways in the Russell Fork watershed, restore the diversity of aquatic life, and promote economic development in their community. The FORF partners with schools, businesses, government agencies, and nonprofits to clean illegal dump sites, monitor streams, give citizens access to lawful wastewater treatment, and raise public awareness about environmental issues.
Goals and Accomplishments:
Recruiting and training volunteers from residents of our area is central to our work. Local stewardship of the watershed is critical to the success of our projects and to the organization’s pursuit of funding. We want not just to write grants to fund our projects, but to teach local citizens how to write grants for future projects. We anticipate our volunteers helping us to set up and run a DEQ-certified bacteria monitoring lab in our office in Haysi. Further, we plan to engage volunteers in regular clean-ups of stream banks and illegal dumpsites.
The Dickenson County School Board has been allowing FORF to use the old Home Economics cottage on the campus of Haysi High School since March of 2008. FORF is unique in that it is actively involved in area schools going to classrooms and planning special events. Getting kids out of the classroom to do benthic macroinvertebrate monitoring has also been a priority. We are coordinating and helping fund the publication of a 9th grade Earth Science textbook supplement that examines issues specific to the local watershed. Some events that have taken place in coordination with area schools include: an environmental education day at a local elementary school, educational programs and a seminar about the American chestnut tree for elementary and high school students, and area high school and elementary students assisted FORF with the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative in order to plant 1900 hardwood seedlings on abandoned mine land. We are currently working with ARRI in planning the 2010 reforestation project with students and county-wide volunteers.
We are still working with the Virginia Department of Health to undertake a systematic removal of straight pipes from the watershed. Starting at the Kentucky state line, we have been monitoring streams and targeting defective and non-existent septic systems. This project is taking some time but is definitely a priority for the group. By helping individual citizens who cannot afford proper wastewater treatment to apply for grant money we will slowly but surely close off the remaining straight pipes that pollute our waterways.
In an effort to promote economic development, the FORF is coordinating the construction of a hiking/biking trail connecting Haysi, John Flannagan Dam and the Breaks Interstate Park. Although substantial grant money was set aside several years ago for this project, construction has been delayed for various reasons, including difficulties with obtaining right-of-way. Now that Dickenson County is close to obtaining the land rights, the FORF will work with the Board of Supervisors to plan and construct and apply for further grant money to complete it. Related projects under consideration are a stream bank restoration at the Splashdam trailhead, a threatened species project assessment, and a visitors’ center in Haysi.
Finally, to educate the public about their watershed and to keep them informed about the FORF’s activities, we publish regular newsletters and make them available in schools and local businesses. We are also teaming up with other area watershed groups and the editor to write a rotating weekly column of environmental information, news and events in the county newspaper.
Partners and Contributors:
- McClure River Restoration Project
- Equitable Resources
- Dickenson County School Board
- American Whitewater Association
- Virginia Department of Health
- Haysi High School
- Council High School
- Upper Tennessee River Roundtable
- Lonesome Pine Soil and Water Conservation District
- Big Sandy River Basin Coalition
- Dickenson County Litter Control
- Dickenson County Board of Supervisors
- Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy
- Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
- Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
- Natural Resource Conservation Service (USDA)
- Cumberland Plateau Planning District
- Trout Unlimited of Southwest Virginia
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- John Flannagan Water Authority
- U.S. Forest Service (USDA)
- Office of Surface Mining
- Dickenson County Public Service Authority
- Veolia Water
- Dickenson and Buchanan County 911 Mapping Offices
- Paula Tate, editor of the Dickenson County Star
- Pike County Department of Health
- Elkhorn City Heritage Council
- Buchanan County Board of Supervisors
- Hill Studio
- Dickenson County Schools
