Can Appalachia’s World-Class Rafting Help Coal Towns Thrive?

Appalachia has long struggled to throw off its stereotypical image of impoverished miners and moonshiners—and its recent outdoor recreation boom might be helping.

The sprawling region, which stretches along the Appalachian Mountains from northern Mississippi to southern New York, gained notoriety in the 1960s as the epicenter of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty.” But that doesn’t tell the whole story of an area that today is home to more than 25 million people—and which welcomes millions of visitors every year, drawn to the natural assets helping some communities bounce back from the economic brink.

RELEASING THE RIVER

One such community is Fayetteville, West Virginia, bracketed by the New and Gauley Rivers, which plunge through billion-year-old gorges. Here, each morning for 22 days every fall, the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers opens the gates of the Summerville Dam, unleashing torrents of water that attract thousands of rafters from around the world to “Gauley Season.”

“My dad was a coal miner,” explains guide Mike Sharp, as our raft rapidly approaches a section of white water on the New River. “As a kid, I spent two-thirds of my summer right here on this river, with my brothers.” Above the growing roar of gushing water, he warns us to get braced in.

Sharp is one of about 600 people employed by outfitter and resort Adventures on the Gorge during the fall high season. His job is to guide thrill-seekers through West Virginia’s wild waters. His backstory, which reflects a generational shift away from extractive industry work toward jobs in outdoor recreation, isn’t uncommon here.

Fayetteville (population: 2,700) sits on some of the country’s highest-grade coal; mining formed the region’s economic backbone for decades. Since 2008, however, coal production in West Virginia is thought to have fallen by 40 percent. The number of coal miners in Fayette County has halved in the last decade to around 600.

Recreation, however, is on an upswing. Although the number of people taking commercial rafting trips has fallen nationwide since the 1990s—including in West Virginia—industry experts estimate that in 2019 the state hosted around 103,000 trips, channeling some $30 million into the economy. Independent kayakers and rafters are believed to bring West Virginia another $5 to $10 million a year. Advocacy group America Outdoors identifies the New River, which flows just west of Fayetteville, as one of the most popular rafting rivers in the U.S.

Check out the full article from National Geographic here!

Photo credit: Harrison Shull, Cavan Images