Life Outside Spring 2019 - 37

pool and waterslides offer cheap summertime fun
that can't be found anywhere nearby.

THE RISE OF ADVENTURE
When John Fox, Jr. wrote that the Breaks was, "a
lovely island of wilderness in a sea of coal mining
operations," he wasn't wrong. In many ways,
the economic boon of the coal industry helped
establish and sustain the park. As an interstate
park, its funding is more complex than at

of rentable mountain bikes, and even constructed
a pedestrian bridge across the Russell Fork River
to connecting the park's Virginia trail system with
the Pine Mountain Trail in Kentucky.
While it's understandable that the park is so
popular with the local community, it doesn't take
much to understand why it needs to diversify to
attract a more widespread audience. In a region
now defined by the collapse of the coal industry
and the outmigration and poverty that accompanies it, the Breaks' new focus on affordable
outoor adventure seems like a good bet for
the twenty-first century.

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APPALACHIAN SAFARI
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Almost double the size of a white tail
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deer, elk originally roamed all over the
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eastern United States, thriving in the
p
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dense forests in Appalachia. Overhunting
r
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and
habitat destruction, however, led to
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the population's extinction by 1877. Due to
"somewhere isited before.
their popularity as a game animal, the Virginia
Game Commission attempted introducing
park we've v
other state parks, with only a fraction of the overall
budget being funded by state appropriations. In
1954, when the park was established, Virginia and
Kentucky each contributed $50,000. Today, that
amount totals $422,000 from each state, a mere 16
percent of the total $2.7 million budget.
In order to fund itself, the park
historically relied on the local coal
economy which, as Park Superintendent Austin Bradley, explains, meant
"coal company Christmas parties in
the winter, coal company employee
appreciation events in the summer
and individuals employed by the coal
industry making up the vast majority
of the park's clientele." Because the
park relies so heavily on direct visitor
spending, as the coal industry in the
region declined, the park found itself
in need of diversifying and appealing
to a broader audience.
Over the past five years, the park
has done just that-diversified
and, as a result, attracted visitors
from all over the world interested
in adventure. Now, one can rock climb the
steep cliffs above Russell Fork or kayak in
its world-class canyon rapids, and a brand
new zip line installed in 2017 allows you to
soar 2000 feet above both.
In order to encourage more trail use, the park
reinstated guided horseback rides, purchased a fleet

CAMPSITES
They're large and private,
and close to the restrooms and showers.

western elk to Virginia in the early 20th century,
but the animals eventually all died out by 1970 due
to a lack of suitable habitat and proper management.
As other states, including Kentucky, staged
successful western elk introduction programs
in the 1990s, Virginia began to reconsider elk

management. The timing was also fortuitous
given the decline of coal in southwest Virginia.
Realizing a need to support other potential economic drivers, between 2012 and 2014, at the cost
of $1 million, 71 elk were relocated to Buchanan
County from the successful Kentucky herd. The
population quickly stabilized and thrived and

THE ELK ARE BACK
Extinct in the area by the
1870s, elk were re-introduced beginning in
2012, to the extent that
about 120 now roam the
counties around the park
(though not in it as yet).

LifeOutsideMag.com // Spring 2019

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Life Outside Spring 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Life Outside Spring 2019