http://www.dominionpost.com/a/work/2003/09/07/aa/
The Dominion Post
September 7, 2003
Judy Reckart
As defined by the Upper Mon Water Trail Committee and the Upper Mon River Association, the Upper Monongahela River winds 63 miles from its origins at the confluence of the West Run and Tygart rivers near Fairmont north to 10 Mile Creek in Greene County, Pa. Three of the five locks and dams serving boaters on the Upper Mon are located in West Virginia. A sixth locking facility, Maxwell, is located just north of the designated waterway.
"The river unifies people," Patrick Donovan said. "It doesn't divide them."
Donovan, riverfront development coordinator for the state Department of Transportation's Public Port Authority, can point to Monongalia County as an example.
Members of the Morgantown-based Upper Monongahela River Association have lobbied the state's elected officials since March 2000 in hopes of modifying reduced lockage service hours slated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to become effective Oct. 1 at the Upper Mon's Morgantown, Hildebrand and Opekiska Locks and Dams.
Citing continuing budget pressures and drastically decreased commercial traffic transiting the Upper Mon's three southernmost locks, the Army Corps proposes closing Hildebrand and Opekiska to navigation seven months a year and operating them mid-May through mid-October on weekends and holidays only.
Service at Morgantown Lock and Dam will be reduced to a single eight-hour shift year-round beginning Oct. 1.
The UMRA also has solicited and received endorsements from a variety of private and public sector entities (including the Legislature) supporting a "navigation resolution" developed in conjunction with the Pittsburgh-based River Navigation Coalition. With declining commercial use similar to that experienced by lock facilities on the Upper Mon, locks along the Upper Allegheny River in southwestern Pennsylvania are facing similar cutbacks in their operational hours.
The resolution requests that Congress sufficiently fund the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to meet the needs of all river users.
It further requests congressional support for $5 million that Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., has earmarked to automate lockage operations on the Upper Mon.
Finally, it requests a mandate that the Army Corps consider recreation and economic development issues when setting operational hours for specific locks.
Current federal statute requires the Army Corps set lock service hours according to the amount of commercial tonnage transiting a specific lock annually; the number of recreational vessels using locking services isn't part of the formula.
"Although commercial traffic transiting Morgantown, Hildebrand and Opekiska is just a trickle compared to what it was 10 years ago, the number of recreational vessels has increased dramatically," said UMRA secretary Don Strimbek.
The UMRA also is waging a public awareness campaign focusing on the negative economic impact it contends the lockage service cutbacks will cause municipalities throughout the Upper Mon region.
A region, according to the UMRA's message, that's moving away from its traditionally industrial-based economy and toward a more diverse economic foundation built in part on dollars derived from tourism and recreation.
As the UMRA has worked to secure access to the entire Upper Mon for all boaters year-round, another grass-roots group also has been pitching and promoting the recreational and economic opportunities the river offers.
The Monongahela River Recreation Committee, an offshoot of the Morgantown Area Chamber of Commerce's Vision 2020 organization, defined the attractions of the "Upper Mon River
Trail" in a comprehensive water trail brochure unveiled earlier this summer.
The MRRC also obtained a $75,000 federal Boating Infrastructure Grant (BIG) from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to improve shoreline amenities for local and transient recreational boaters on the Upper Mon.
"UMRA members Wally Venable and Don Strimbek initially brought the availability of BIG funding to our committee's attention and prepared the original proposal we submitted to the state's Division of Natural Resources," said Tim Terman, MRRC chair.
"That original proposal requested $75,000 in BIG funding for dock construction or improvement at Star City, Morgantown, and the Marion County community of Rivesville.
"DNR said they didn't have the manpower to shepherd the application through the process at the federal level," Terman recalled. "MRRC member Barry Pallay suggested we redirect the application through the West Virginia Public Port Authority.
"Although the Port Authority admitted they were unfamiliar with BIG funding, they were enthusiastic about working through the process with us. With their assistance, ours was the first project in West Virginia to apply for and receive BIG funds."
Patrick Donovan, the Port Authority's riverfront development coordinator, has acted as MRRC's "gobetween" with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service during the grant process.
As MRRC and Donovan retooled the original BIG application for resubmission through the Port Authority to Fish and Wildlife, the Army Corps announced its plans to curtail lockage service hours at the Morgantown, Hildebrand and Opekiska Locks and Dams.
According to Donovan, the cutbacks at Hildebrand and Opekiska essentially rendered the Upper Mon between Opekiska and its origin at the confluence of the Tygart and West Fork Rivers "a dead pool" for the lucrative long-range boating market downstream. Rivesville is located at that pool's approximate mid-point.
"We had to decide whether to risk the whole project or omit Rivesville from the proposal," Donovan said. "Rivesville lost out due to lockage issues."
Last week, Donovan satisfied what he hopes was Fish and Wildlife's final paperwork requirement -documentation from the state DNR that neither the Star City nor Morgantown dock projects will alter the river's flow, and impact statements from environmenta 1 and historic preservation entities supporting the projects.
"We got our proposal in to Fish and Wildlife just under the wire as this is the final year funding would be available through the current five-year BIG program," Terman said. "But the Morgantown/Star City project monies were ear
marked from 2003 fiscal year BIG funds so we know they're there."
Receipt of those funds requires a 75/25-percent match with Fish and Wildlife granting $75,000 in federal funding and the local municipalities coming up with $25,000. Morgantown has requested $45,000 of the federal dollars for construction of a new public docking facility near the foot of Walnut Street with the city contributing the additional $15,000 to satisfy the grant's match requirement, according to Morgantown city manager Dan Boroff.
Star City requested $37,500 in federal funding to nearly double the size of its existing docks and to add a second gangway, a pump-out station, and Americans With Disabilities Act accessibility features. Mayor Allen Sharp said he estimates the improvements' total cost will run $50,000. The city will augment the federal money with the required $12,500 of local matching dollars.
Donovan said the Port Authority will distribute an additional $25,000 to the two municipalities "for additional riverfront enhancement."
"The important thing is that we're going to have a dock in Morgantown and dock improvement in Star City to both benefit our own citizens and to attract river tourism," Terman said.