Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 11, 1991 TAG: 9104110548
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That's in keeping with the 1987 master plan for the proposed living-history state park, which called for about 80 percent of the land along Roanoke River gorge east of Roanoke to be left wild.
Rupert Cutler, the environmentalist who joined Explore in January, recently suggested that the plan be formalized with some legal designation - so that Explore planners in the future would have to take specific legal steps if they ever changed their minds and wanted to build there.
In addition, Cutler said, the legal designation "would set to rest some of the criticism you've received for not being environmentally protective, for being more interested in development. This would turn the tables on that."
That suggestion seemed just fine Tuesday to the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority, the state board that owns and governs Explore.
After roundly praising the idea, the board agreed to have Explore's staff look into ways to make the designation official. Cutler said he'll ask faculty members at Virginia Tech to study the Explore site to determine which parts should be declared "natural."
The action capped a busy quarterly meeting for the board, which now finds itself dealing with a long list of technical matters as the park moves toward reassembling its first frontier homestead this summer and getting its environmental program started.
Explore project director Bern Ewert told the board that various federal and state agencies have expressed an interest in using Explore for environmental training programs.
The board, following up on action taken at its January meeting, adopted a policy for selling "surplus property" outside the park's boundary that it has acquired when it bought larger parcels.
Under the policy, modeled after state regulations, the properties will be offered to federal, state and local governments before being put on the open market.
Ewert said the National Park Service already had expressed in interest in some of the land which borders the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Also, for the fifth day, former Explore master builder Ren Heard had one of his employees picket the Explore office on South Jefferson Street.
Heard contends the Explore board still owes him $38,000 for work he performed before his contract expired last year.
Explore project engineer Richard Burrow said Explore has paid all of Heard's "legitimate" bills, but that Heard submitted some that were "not legitimate."
In the past, Explore's attorney has described Heard as a disgruntled ex-contractor who has been trying to drum up bad publicity against the project's management.
by CNB