there are views unique geological
formations
[Music]
and plenty of mountain biking trails add
this newest addition to the New River
Trail State Park in hawasi has quite the
story to tell the draw that something
like this would have and you know it
actually wouldn't have had that type of
draw without the mining this once was an
iron oxide pigment mine the product
taken from from the earth here was used
to make colors those colors were found
in crayons and even in movies mining is
complete here and now there's a new
vision we try to make sure that that all
of our mind sites are returned to some
kind of a beneficial post mining land
use the Virginia Department of Mines
minerals and energy Virginia state parks
and Chuck Hoover worked on getting this
land safe environmentally stable and
enjoyable for the mountain bike
Community I'm a big bike rider and I
ride the trail every day Hoover worked
with dmme to come up with a Reclamation
plan and also offered to donate the land
to Virginia state parks they accepted I
was surprised by the beauty uh surprised
by the rock wall uh or the painted rock
wall that we have uh that's been exposed
and in addition to that just all the
effort and the transformation in the
different organizations uh Hoover color
Corporation Department of Mines minerals
and energy and DCR in terms of trying to
get to a Finish Line uh for everybody
the Reclamation plan included
stabilizing the minded area and making
sure water that ran off of the site had
a proper channel the painted rock wall
or high wall is usually sloped with
leftover Rock and dirt in Reclamation
but in this case it was decided it would
be beneficial to leave it visitors still
are cautioned to stay back from the high
wall Virginia state parks said they
relied on the expertise of dmme to make
sure the site would be worthwhile y'all
have a lot of different individuals uh
with specialized skills whether it's
actually from the vegetation side uh to
the engineering uh aspects to just
general operational uh components and so
there's always probably someone or
multiple people who can provide you the
information that you need to help you
with whether it's the Reclamation the
management of thereafter Park offici are
hoping people can learn about the
history of mining while enjoying the
scenery interpretive signs will
eventually line this wall with the
environmental story of this property and
in that process they looked at
Reclamation uh some of the different
geological uh formations and what we're
seeing and trying to interpret that for
the general public to understand what is
transpired what is transpiring uh in the
importance from a natural and geological
uh standpoint of this area a unique
history and a unique project for all
those involved hoping for the best
ending for a site that otherwise might
have never been seen again most of our
properties go back to to something like
unmanaged Forest land or pasture land or
something like that a lot of it depends
on what the land owner wants so you know
in this case you know it's going to be
used by the by the citizens of the
Commonwealth for more information visit
our website at dm.
virginia.gov