The Shadow
Bill Wilson, President of the Jackson River Preservation Association, and Bill Uzzell, an avid fisherman and conservationist, have teamed up as advocates for safety and conservation at Lake Moomaw and the Jackson River.
Uzzell, from Rockville, Md. who came to the Alleghany Highlands as a teacher and football coach at Alleghany County High School, helped the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conduct its survey of the area that became Lake Moomaw.
From a maritime perspective, he has been fishing on Lake Moomaw since its official opening on April 1, 1981, its first fishing day.
For more than 40 years, Uzzell has had an ongoing love for Lake Moomaw, and for the past decade, he has been an advocate for improvements to address the deterioration of certain facilities and for the improvement of safety features that were lacking due to wayward buoys and other problems.
Wilson, a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates and an attorney at law in Covington, founded the Jackson River Preservation Assoc.
“The idea is simple, to protect and preserve one of the most beautiful streams in the world,” Wilson stated.
Before Gathright Dam was built, the Jackson River flowed from Highland County into Bath County through the Kincaid Gorge on southward through Alleghany County and the cities of Covington and Clifton Forge into the northern edge of Botetourt County where it met the Cowpasture River to form the James River just south of the Town of Iron Gate.
Construction of the Gathright Dam got underway in the early 1970s, and Lake Moomaw was formed at an elevation of 1,634’ adjacent to the T.M. Gathright Wildlife Management Area that provides additional wildlife habitats.
Constructed for flood control, augmentation (water quality) and recreation, the Gathright Dam that formed Lake Moomaw provide nine portals that are distributed vertically along the outlet tower. The design allows the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to regulate the downstream water quality requirements.
After operating Gathright Dam and controlling Lake Moomaw for two years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers turned the project over to the U.S. Forest Service while maintaining control of the water releases.
Moomaw Lake is located 19 miles north of Covington, and it has 43.5 miles of undeveloped shoreline and 2,530 surface acres with 152’ being its deepest part.
Uzzell has been fishing from his motorboat on Lake Moomaw for more than 40 years, and he has documented problem areas with his camera.
He has worked with the U.S. Forest Service to draw attention to the problems he has encountered.
For example, one of his photographs reveals a buoy that has the word, “No,” on it without any other message. Confused?
Does it mean no swimming? Does it mean no fishing? Does it mean no boating?
Several buoys installed 40 years ago, had lost their original warnings due to weathering and water damage. Uzzell is pleased that Ranger TheresaTanner has led the way and replaced the majority of the damaged bouys.
He has also documented facilities that need repair.
The good news is that Tanner, a native of Turkey Run in Southwest Virginia who worked in Alaska for more than two decades before moving to Bath County to serve as the ranger in charge of managing the recreational aspects of the area, is actively eliminating many of the problems Uzzell has documented.
Uzzell praised Tanner for her efforts to make Lake Moomaw a safer place and to make needed repairs.
Wilson remarked, “Our purpose is to keep the river clean and protect the wildlife and water creatures.”
He continued, “Everything from a salamander to the critters that crawl around on the bottom to keep the stream clean is what we are concerned about preserving.”
Gathright Dam is a rolled rock and earthen structure that stands 257’ high and is 1,310’ long. The lake was originally stocked with yellow perch and has since been stocked with a number of species of game fish.
“I’ve made two presentations to the Alleghany County Board of Supervisors concerning the needs for improved safety measures at Lake Moomaw,” Uzzell noted.
There are bass tournaments held at Lake Moomaw and recreation events that could have resulted in boating accidents due to “wayward bouys,” ones that Tanner has now restored to their original locations.
Wilson noted, “It’s a fluent situation, and Gwen Mason, a former assistant to Senator Tim Kaine, has been helpful focusing on the problems.”
Mason is the Public Affairs Officer for the George Washington & Jefferson National Forests.
Concerning Tanner, “Uzzell remarked, “She has resolved several of the problems that all of us appreciate.”
Tanner said, “I know a lot of folks are frustrated with the conditions at this time, and the lake is incredibly important to our community.”
Since arriving to assume her new position in July of 2020, Tanner has methodically approached the situation that was controlled at the time of her arrival by a concessionaire, a private business that had a permit to conduct the recreational aspects at Lake Moomaw.
“When I arrived in 2020, the U.S. Forest Service was still under concessions which allows a private business to operate instead of the Forest Service.”
It took six months to work out a mutual agreement to terminate the contractual agreement with the concessionaire.
Also, the COVID-19 shutdowns that caused a problem with America’s supply chain contributed to making a bad situation worse in that it took six months to receive the buoys that Tanner ordered for replacements.
Since she arrived on the scene, she has been able to have engineers examine all three of the boat docks on the lake. Fortney Branch Boat Dock has been refurbished and the two others have passed inspections and are slated for further refurbishing in the future.
Tanner said, “Coles Point and Bolar still need some repairs.”
She continued, “Bolar courtesy dock is in process for replacement; boaters are encouraged to launch from Fortney until Forest Service engineers can install a replacement courtesy dock for the launch.”
Mason remarked, “There is a forest supervisor and a deputy forest supervisor over the entire 1.8 million acres, and we have a multiple use mission of forest management, while overseeing wildlife habitat, mineral leasing, timber cutting and recreation.”
Tanner noted that the current priority is to address the problem concerning the water treatment facility.
She revealed, “The U.S. Forest Service received just under $1 million toward the new water treatment plant.”
Mason remarked, “Senator Mark Warner was instrumental in getting the funding that came from the Great American Outdoors Act.”
Tanner concluded, “We have submitted a proposal internally within the U.S. Forest Service to receive funding to refurbish facilities across the entire lake.”
Currently, the U.S. Forest Service is facing staffing issues.
Mason noted, “We are feeling the pinch of the labor market.”
As for Uzzell and Wilson, they met with Tanner and Mason on May 17 to discuss ways to support the USDA Forest Service’s mission at Lake Moomaw.
Having begun repairing the boat docks and having replaced buoys, the USDA Forest Service’s main thrust is to temporarily repair, then permanently decommission and replace the 40-year-old wastewater treatment plant at Bolar Mountain Recreation Area.
Those interested in applying for jobs with the USDA Forest Service may do so by visiting www.fs.usda.gov or by calling (540) 265-5100.
