Inventory of Recreation & Culture in Patrick County

As we enter the public meeting phase in the development of a recreational use plan for Patrick, participation from community members will be crucial. Shared in this post is a link to the working inventory of all recreational and cultural opportunities in Patrick County. All are welcome and encouraged to view the inventory. If you have any suggestions, corrections, additions etc., please e-mail them to Anna Wallace at annawallace374@gmail.com.

https://docs.google.com/a/danriver.org/document/d/1tzs-Gw15cJZrMd5A7QvFjBvG5O58c8lxau5Of-uNFgo/edit?hl=en_US

Recreational Use Planning in Patrick County

The Dan River Basin Association’s Patrick County Rivers and Trails Group has been working to gather information and support toward the development of a Master Recreation & Trails Plan for the beautiful county of Patrick. We believe that the pristine natural resources of our county coupled with a rich heritage hold the key to a flourishing and sustainable economic future. Having a recreation plan will help guide future development and encourage cohesiveness when it comes to marketing the assets of Patrick County to visitors and potential businesses. Borrowing from DRBA’s mission statement, we hope to “preserve and promote the natural and cultural resources of Patrick County through stewardship, recreation and education”. The crucial element in this plan will be participation from the citizens of Patrick County. We need your input to identify the assets this county possesses and also to identify areas that need more attention. If there is a mediocre existing trail that just needs some maintenance and signage to become great, let us know! It is these kinds of things that contribute to the over-all quality of life in our county.

So far, we are close to completing an inventory of the recreational and cultural amenities that Patrick has to offer. The PCRTG is gathering information on parks, walking & hiking trials, mountain biking trails, canoeing, kayaking and fishing opportunities as well as heritage and cultural sites, arts, camping and accommodations. This inventory is only phase one in the development of a recreation plan and we need input from the public to complete it. If there is any information you would like to contribute such as locations, descriptions or maps of recreational and cultural opportunities, please send an e-mail to annawallace374@gmail.com.

The next step in the process will be the public meeting phase. Here we will organize meetings to spread community knowledge about the development of a recreational use plan. We hope to gain support for the initiative as well as address questions and concerns from the public. We can use these meetings to identify potential projects, such as constructing a connector trail or improving an existing one. We also hope to get volunteers on board to help us see these projects to fruition. The first public meeting is set for January 19th at Patrick Henry Community College at 7pm. Additional meetings will be held at Reynolds Homestead on February 2nd at 7pm, February 7th at Woodberry Inn in Meadows of Dan at 7pm and February 9th at Boyd’s Restaurant in Ararat at 7:30pm. One additional meeting in Woolwine will be announced when it is finalized.