Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 13, 1995 TAG: 9506130057
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Last year, about 160,000 people visited Grayson Highlands State Park in Grayson County. Some came to hike, some to see the blooming rhododendron, and some to picnic.
Some came to shoot a deer.
Hunting has been allowed since the park was created in 1975, which is a surprise to some, Park Manager Harvey Thompson said.
``Occasionally, you get a hiker come in and say, `I didn't know you had hunting in the park,''' Thompson said. The sport is confined to about one-third of the 5,000-acre park, in mostly rough terrain with few trails, where park users rarely venture.
While hunting is not allowed in the national park system, such as in Shenandoah National Park, it is allowed in several state parks in Virginia, and hunters may soon have even more room to roam.
State park system Director Joe Elton recently asked managers of all 29 state parks to review the 60,000 acres in the system for hunting potential.
The goal is two-fold, said Gary Waugh, spokesman for the Department of Conservation and Recreation: To see whether an overpopulation of a species like deer, a problem in many parks, can be controlled with hunting; and to provide more recreation opportunities.
It could also bag extra revenue for the cash-strapped park system. The department is considering adding a fee for hunting in state parks that would be returned to individual parks or to the system, Waugh said. Hunting and fishing fees now go to the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries for conservation and other programs.
Parks also could benefit from hunters booking cabins and other facilities that are largely unused during fall and winter hunting seasons, Elton said.
Some conservationists are uneasy with the notion of expanding a killing sport on public lands where many citizens find sanctuary in undisturbed nature.
``I don't think it respects the environmental and educational aspects of why we have state parks,'' said Don Perry, president of the Virginia Beach Audubon Society. ``I've always thought the objective of the parks is for people to enjoy a natural setting.''
Ed Clark Jr., president of the Wildlife Center of Virginia in Waynesboro, said that hunting can be a wise management tool when too many deer threaten to destroy habitat for other species.
``There is nothing inherently evil about that concept,'' Clark said. It makes sense, he said, for the state to save money, even generate some cash, rather than spend money to have state employees thin the herds - ``as long as management is not being used as a rationalization for recreation.''
Clark criticized what he sees as an increasingly ``hook and bullet'' mentality in the Department of Conservation and Recreation, headed by H. Kirby Burch, an avid hunter who led Sportsmen for Allen during the 1993 gubernatorial campaign.
Last month, Burch was reprimanded by Allen for shooting two wild pigs while leading a caravan of state officials inside Cape Fear State Park. Although rangers there occasionally shoot the non-native beasts to keep them from overrunning the park's ecological resources, Burch wanted two pigs for a barbecue of which he was host for the Virginia National Guard.
``In his mind, hunting is the highest and best use'' of public lands, Clark said. ``Hunting in the state parks is not going to be a popular issue.''
Waugh said that public safety is a chief element of the parks' review. Parks that allow hunting either close otherwise for a limited time or designate areas for hunting. Further, the agency's rules for hunter safety go beyond Game and Inland Fisheries regulations, he said.
Thompson, manager at Grayson Highlands, said he will recommend not expanding the park's designated 1,500 acres, partly because Grayson Highlands is not overrun with deer, and partly because he doesn't get that many customers to begin with.
``Most people, if they're successful, don't want to drag their harvest [deer] over those rock outcroppings,'' he said.
Fairy Stone State Park in Patrick and Henry counties also allows hunting on about half of its 4,700 acres during the regular hunting season.
Claytor Lake State Park in Pulaski County is offering limited hunting with primitive weapons by lottery during six days in January to control a severe deer problem.
Other parks in Western Virginia, including Hungry Mother, Smith Mountain Lake, Douthat, Goshen Pass and Staunton River, do not allow hunting.
Scott Harper of Landmark News Service contributed information for this story.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***