
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 2, 1994                   TAG: 9407040114
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FINALLY, AN OPEN EXPLORE PARK

AFTER NINE years and almost as many lives, Virginia's Explore Park formally and finally opens to the public today. An advance event was held Friday with speeches, refreshments and walking tours for Explore's closest personal friends - about 750 of 'em. For a while, it looked as if each and every one was going to give a speech.

The long string of public officials was indicative of the history of a project that depended on public funding, and that was pieced together over many years with wildly shifting degrees of support from many quarters. The speakers praised the realization of what many times had seemed a distant fantasy, and years of controversy and conflict melted into congratulations under a blazing sun. Even nature dared not sail a dark cloud onto the sky.

Democrats, Republicans and nonpartisan professionals; Roanoke County, the city and Vinton; the House of Delegates, the state Senate, the U.S. House; and the recently installed Allen administration - too new to have had a part in the park's birthing pains, but important to its healthy development - all were represented. Friends old and new talked about Explore as a link between a proud past and a vital future.

Yet, like the European settlers who hewed the "Great Wagon Road" along the Native Americans' "Warriors' Path" through the Great Valley, each speaker came with his or her own axe.

Becky Norton Dunlop, Virginia's secretary of natural resources, and Robert Skunda, secretary of commerce and trade, carried administration messages touting economic development as a key to a healthy environment, and the advantages of public-private partnerships - with an emphasis on the region's own efforts. House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell allowed as how spending state money to help bring Disney's America to prosperous Northern Virginia is well and good, but some of that public largesse is needed in Southwest Virginia.

And so it went, each in a long procession applying a different spin to the importance and lessons of Explore. One message that came through clearly was the promise of continued jockeying for money. The preservation of 1,300 acres of woodlands and the reassembly of a few buildings of regional historical importance are wonderful accomplishments in themselves. But they are only a start on what park Director Rupert Cutler envisions as an attraction for tourists interested in ecology and history; a convenient recreation facility; and a center for learning, research and environmental conferences.

No, this is not Explore-originator Bern Ewert's dream, far from it. The goals today are modest, but seem achievable. The different perspectives brought to Friday's upbeat ceremony not only hinted at possible battles to come, but also reflected the broad interest Explore has generated. The park's success depends on piquing the imaginations of a broad cross-section of people, both in and out of public life.

That success would be an unalloyed asset to the region: an attraction and economic asset that also preserve precious natural resources.

by CNB