Questions for the community planner

Author	Message
ahereford Apr 16, 2009 3:24 pm	Questions for the community planner Meghan Dorsett will be speaking at the next stakeholder meeting. She is a certified community planner who has experience working with rural communities. Currently, she is the planning consultant for the Greenbrier County Comprehensive Master Plan. Meghan has requested questions from you, the stakeholders, so that she can focus her presentation on the topics of greatest interest to the watershed. Please post questions here, or email them to us (elkplan@downstreamstrategies.com) in the next few days. Thanks!
Dave Litsey Apr 16, 2009 4:26 pm	Re: Questions for the community planner Hi! I am a land holder of about 450 acres in Pocahontas and Randolph County with several miles of frontage on the Headwaters of the Tygart's Valley River as it emerges from the National Forest, and before it gets to 219. I am interested in getting information on ways to integrate my river frontage with recreational interests responsibily. I am hoping that the Elk Headwaters research will produce information that will be helpful on how to do that, groups that might help support and fund that effort through planning and asset management. I have many of the same assets as found in the Elk Watershed with elevations from 3000 to 4200 feet.
Dave Litsey Apr 22, 2009 12:12 pm	Re: Questions for the community planner Here are 4 questions that I have heard raised at our meetings, that haven't been posted yet. 1) Periodically, Rt 219 floods North of Slaty Fork in heavy rains. Is there a process by which the Highway Department evaluates such events and considers raising the road bed to alleviate such events? If so, how do we access this process? 2) It appears that there is an advantage to keeping the upper Elk watershed cool and shaded in the summer. Some steams meander through pastures. Is there a way to access plans for vegetating such meandering beds, and if so, are there sources of funds to assist in paying for these types of changes? 3) I have heard of ways and programs to assist property owners create drinking ponds for the livestock that avoids having the animals go down in the stream to access the water. Do these programs really exist, and if so, could you give us specifics on accessing them. 4) I have heard of programs that assist landowners fence off streams from livestock. Do these programs really exist and can you give us sources to access?
Tolly Peuleche Apr 23, 2009 8:32 am	Re: Questions for the community planner For the meeting with the community planner, I am interested in her ideas on how to increase local interest. I don't feel that we have the critical mass of interested citizenry needed to jump into the next phase of implementing some of the ideas we have come up with. On another front, the draft document does not really say anything about the Elk beyond the Pocahontas county line except mention of Whittaker Falls, and there are businesses and recreational opportunities in this area that are more relevant than mention of Cranberry wilderness. I think a future phase of this study needs to go downstream further.
Tom Shipley Apr 25, 2009 5:05 pm	Re: Questions for the community planner This is a good subject for our stakeholder process. Ms. Dorsett's work can be viewed at http://www.cambriaplanninggroup.com/greenbriercounty/Greenbrier.htm She and her company produced a comprehensive plan for Greenbrier County. My question is: Our final CWP will be geared toward providing businesses, landowners and local officials with information about our watershed and suggestions for its sustainability. Are there successful processes or proven formulas that have resulted in the voluntary implementation of these guidelines? If local officials find merit in our plan, can you recommend a path they can pursue to encourage implementation, i.e. tax incentives, county recognized program with official designation or 'brand' that could be used as a marketing tool?

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