Cautious Optimism for Explore Park

Explore suffered an identity crisis.  Living history museum park?  Adventure park for mountain biking and kayaking?  Both?  Why no campgrounds nor rental cabins? Was it realistic to expect Explore to draw tourists from the Parkway without lodging, or was it primarily a regional attraction?

Those who thought Explore would succeed without lodging apparently ignored two thriving examples.  An hour north of Roanoke, at Douthat State Park, and an hour south, at Fairy Stone State Park, tourists pay substantial sums to rent cabins and camp.  Many cabins were built during the Great Depression and are charming as can be, with real logs, stone fireplaces, and modern appliances.  They’re in high demand.

Both state parks are heavily wooded and feature bodies of water.  Explore compares favorably.  While Explore lacks a lake, it has plenty of riverfront land to build cabins.

Explore has three key advantages over Fairy Stone and Douthat: Proximity to the Parkway; proximity to an urban area’s restaurants, shopping and museums; and extension of the Roanoke River Greenway to Explore from Green Hill Park.  Just as the Virginia Creeper Trail became a tourist destination, so will this greenway.

Explore was never a powerful enough tourism magnet to be financially self-sustaining. Even long after unsustainability had become obvious, the public was shocked multiple times with surprise Explore announcements.

One year, the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors suddenly voted to spend $4 million to prop up Explore.  It closed shortly afterward anyway–a bad investment by any measure.  Who can forget the bizarre deal the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority suddenly announced in 2005?  They rushed a vote on a peculiar lease to an out-of-state developer touting an $80-million adventure theme park.  That grandiose plan, billed as a lifeline, gave all advantages to the developer, and hamstrung for years Explore Park’s ability to move forward.  A real estate lawyer said it was the most one-sided contract he’d ever seen.

The National Park Service, which includes the Blue Ridge Parkway, recently closed the Roanoke Mountain Campground. The primary reason was low utilization due to lack of sewers. Campers want showers.

Explore never had campgrounds nor rental cabins, two key ingredients for success. Explore is in a relatively remote area of Roanoke County, near an old landfill. Cabins and campgrounds require a sewer line. The nearest is miles away, and extending it to Explore could be cost-prohibitive. That may be about to change.

Roanoke County pays to tanker-truck landfill leachate (contaminated water leaching through) to the sewage treatment plant. A sewer line from the landfill to the treatment plant will be constructed, and its high up-front investment will eventually save money by eliminating trucking. Once the sewer reaches the landfill, extension to Explore may become feasible.

In the 1990s, I volunteered to help build trails at Explore, and occasionally supervised trail crews comprised of individuals sentenced by judges to perform community service. This was a great source of labor, and constructive alternative to incarceration for non-violent offenders.

Building cabins and campgrounds at Explore need not cost a fortune. The Roanoke County Sheriff’s Department, which operates the Regional Jail, is interested in expanding their inmate work program. Inmates in work programs behave better and earn reduced sentences. Inmates already operate power equipment for landscaping and, with training and supervision, could help build log cabins and campgrounds. Inmate labor isn’t free, requiring one deputy per seven inmates, but can help instill priceless work ethics in people who need to get on the right path. Which is more rehabilitative, occupying a jail cell, or building character by building log cabins with pride?

Douthat and Fairy Stone both spurred private enterprise investments nearby with additional lodging and stores. Strategic public-private partnerships might boost Explore’s success, but not if it can’t attract patrons. Affordably creating lodging is essential. Innovative approaches, such as using state parks’ reservations system, deserve examination, as does carefully deciding beforehand which areas to preserve and which to develop.

Explore might become a prosperous tourism magnet, or a resurrected money pit. Tepid investments in Explore, without including lodging, may become investments squandered. If Roanoke County is going to operate Explore successfully, without reliance upon ongoing subsidies from tax-payers, it needs to commit to a practical, comprehensive vision with high probability of success.