s r e n t r Pa for research and recreation
It’s just an upgraded sewer line to the casual observer, but Norton City Manager Fred Ramey ’88 sees much more when he looks at the grassy woodlands that hug the banks of the Guest River. Ramey sees potential recreational opportunities for local residents, a destination for visitors to Virginia’s smallest city, and a useful outdoor classroom for the region’s students. The city manager also saw the benefits when he was approached by UVaWise about developing a unique partnership in which Dominion, UVa-Wise and Norton would work together. The project would use the upgraded sewer line area to create a River Walk from the Ramsey community to an area near Norton Elementary School. “It was just natural that something else could take place on this property,” Ramey said. “It is something we think has a lot of potential. It is a very quiet and scenic area, which could, over a long period of time, become a multi-use trail.”
10 UVa-Wise Magazine
The first phase of the project, from Norton’s perspective, is to upgrade sidewalks from the Dairy Queen and surrounding area, as part of a Safe Route to School project. The project took on a new life when UVa-Wise applied for funding from Dominion. The result is the creation of the Southwest Virginia Outdoor Classroom and the Southwest Virginia Citizen Science Initiative. “It was such a great opportunity for us,” Ramey added. “So many people will benefit from the project.” The Citizen Science Initiative is a student-led effort designed to promote the region’s biodiversity as an educational tool. The project utilizes wildlife observations of local residents to engage them in the scientific process. The focus is to emphasize the biodiversity of various rivers in Southwest Virginia. The project uses various tools, including downloadable smartphone apps and student research. The outdoor classroom uses the diversity of the Guest River, including abandoned coal mined land, deserted farmland and untouched woodland, to promote ecologyoriented education. The proposed River Walk is a key component of the project.
Wally Smith, a biology professor at UVa-Wise, said the River Walk creates educational opportunities for faculty and hands-on learning for students. The College and its faculty work with students to not only create learning experiences, but to also promote environmental education. “It opens up the door for so many things,” Smith said. “It gives a lot of our students educational opportunities that are almost at the graduate work level. It has had a huge impact on our students.” Students are doing biodiversity studies and other research with the goal of finding ways to benefit the region’s residents, the community and the area’s wildlife. Approximately 30 students have been involved from multiple disciplines. Some students take their research and findings to classrooms at Norton City Schools to educate youngsters about the diversity of the Guest River. Student Jennifer Fulton’s research of the riparian buffer zone at the Norton site compared to the riparian forest located at the Guest River Gorge is yielding interesting results, Smith said. The survey has revealed a number of species, including the long tail salamander. “She really hit the ground running,” Smith said. “I was kind of skeptical at first about what we’d find out at the site. It was pretty incredible.”