15 months ago, Hurricane Helene brought devastation to parts of Southwest Virginia, particularly in the town of Damascus. The town is located right next to the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests.
Tom Schultz, chief of the U.S. Forest Service, was at a recent ceremony in Damascus to celebrate the rebuilding of the Virginia Creeper Trail —a popular biking trail that was partially destroyed in the floods.
“This project is kind of a shining star for us that they’ve got about a 12 month time frame to get the work done,” Schultz said.
Before Hurricane Helene, the Creeper Trail brought 250,000 visitors each year. An economic impact study estimated visitors spent more than a million dollars every year at businesses in Washington and Grayson Counties.
The storm destroyed the top half of the trail, and damaged 30 historic bridges. Rebuilding it will cost $240 million. Schultz said it’s part of a larger effort by the Forest Service to restore national forest land throughout Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee that was damaged during Helene.
“We received over 12 and a half inches of precipitation in 24 hours,” Schultz said. “So, the impact was to rivers and streams and trails and the community. But the forest is resilient, just like the people are, so the forest will come back. So, the money really that we have is to really help recover the forest quicker and support the community.”
Schultz added that Congress has appropriated over $6 billion to the Forest Service for recovery after Helene. He said the agency is contracting with engineering companies for much of the work.
