Prince George County Rotary - Canoe Launch Project

July 30, 2011 --Grand Opening of the Rotary Canoe/Kayak Launch. Over 60 Rotarians and community leaders attend!

The Rotary Club of Prince George County with DG Jim Bynum standing in the middle.

April 27th: Prince George Rotarians and guests met at the Appomattox River Regional Park(ARRP) on April 27th to celebrate the near completion of the first public canoe/kayak launch in Prince George on either the Appomattox or James Rivers. The launch, constructed by the Rotary Club of Prince George County, the Friends of the Lower Appomattox Rivers, the Prince George Department of Recreation & Parks and with help from the Student Transportation Company at Fort Lee, was possible because of two grants. One grant was for $2000 from Rotary District 7600 and $1000 from the Prince George Rotary Foundation. Pile on top of that over $7000 in volunteer hours and in-kind equipment and materials and the launch is a reality. About 4 hours work remains on the launch. Signage is being developed and a grand opening is being planned for July. The public is invited to visit. ARRP sits behind the Riverside Regional Jail so to get directions from where ever you are click on the link below for the jail's website. You can google for directions there.

When arriving don't turn into the main entry to the Jail. The entry road to the park is the last road left before 295 if you are going towards Hopewell or the first right if you are going toward Colonial Heights after you cross 295.

Travel down that road and drive to the end of the road to the park entrance. You may park in the main parking lot. From the main parking lot enter the main trail by the park sign and continue travelling slightly northwest with the river to your right--about 3/4 of a mile, pass the fishing pier and continue on the trail to the launch site. From the Education Pavilion, take the trail left just past the toilets and follow the trail again, northwesterly.

March 2011: On March 1st and 5th Prince George Rotarians, Lieutenants from the Ft. Lee Ordinance School and FOLAR Volunteers met and worked at the site. Doing additional clearing, digging and installing the steps of the launch. In total 24 people assisted in one way or another that day. One or two more work days are being planned and we are anticipating a Grand Opening in June, 2011. See some of the fantastic photos ...

Past President Donna Street at right is savoring a job well done. Scott Firestine is at the top in green and we believe the white shirted figure is our own Daniel Herr.

There was a whole lot of digging and carrying of crush and run by our nimble volunteers. Construction Chief Rotarian Lonnie Kitchen is in dark blue in the middle of the picture

9-26-10 Yesterday (September 25) prior to learning it had been awarded

$2000 by Rotary District 7600 5 Prince George Rotarians (Steve, Daniel, Donna, Carol and Scott) along with Jimmy Daley and Wayne Walton of FOLAR and 20 military students from Ft. Lee met to work on trails in the Appomattox and on the site for the canoe/kayak launch.

The site was shifted by a few yards which will eliminate the need to remove two fallen trees which will greatly reduce the cost, equipment and the time required to complete the project.

The approach and the site have been cleared for the most part and shortly the club will organize its next work day at the site.

At left the site as seen before clearing, and at right is the after or almost after part. Rotarian Steve is manning the chain saw. What is not known is how many times Daniel, Donna & Carol went up and down the slope to clear debris.

At left are pylons which remain of a Union pontoon bridge during the Civil War. This site is just west of the canoe/kayak launch site.

9-25-10--Club learned it had been awarded $2000 of the $3000 requested in its application for a Rotary 7600 District Simplified Grant. This was the dessert after the hot dogs served by FOLAR to the project workday workers.

8-25-10--The District Simplifed Grant Application has been submitted to DSG Chair, Lee Harris, who has acknowledged receipt of the application. Thanks to Lee who made it easy to submiit by pdf and now--keep your fingers crossed. See the application HERE.

The Prince George Rotary Club Foundation voted on the August PG Rotarians

19th to donate $1000 towards the Canoe/Kayak Launch Project. On the 17th with over a dozen Prince George Rotarians present and after a nifty presentation by PDG Earl Hale, the Prince George Board of Supervisors gave the project their blessing.

The next step is to apply for other grants and seek other donations. A grant application will be submitted to the Rotary District 7600 Grants Committee for a District Simplified Grant which has a maximum award of $3000.

Individual tax-deductible donations for the Project may be made to the Prince George Rotary Foundation by mail to The Prince George Rotary Foundation, PO BOX 4, Prince George, Virginia 23875. Specify on the memo line of the check that it is for the Canoe/Kayak Launch Project.

Prince George County has one of the longest stretches of river front of any locality in the Commonwealth because it is contiguous to the both the Appomattox and James Rivers. Unfortunately, there is no public access to either river in Prince George County.

The 2007 Virginia Outdoors Plan cites public river access as one of the primary goals for localities in Virginia. A large stretch of the Appomattox River and the James River are tidal rivers along Prince George and provides unique opportunites for family fun and education in these historic rivers.

The Rotary Club of Prince George County, its Club Foundation, the Friends of the Lower Appomattox River (FOLAR) and the Prince George County Recreation and Parks Department (PGP&R)are uniting to create a canoe/kayak launch at the Appomattox River Regional Park in the county. Ultimately, the goal will be to have an educational pavillion so that river ecology, water safety and other river related programs provided at the site.

The first steps are to develop constructions plan for the canoe/kayak launch, develop a financial plan for the project for the launch, and develop a public relations plan so that the Club can apply to Rotary District 7600 for a District Simplified Grant (DSG) and for FOLAR to apply to the Club's 501 (c) (3) Foundation for a grant to complete the first phase of the project which is to build the canoe/kayak launch.

Recently Carol Woodward from the Club, Wayne Walton from FOLAR and Keith Rotzoll (PGP&R) visited such launches in the area and determined that a

variation of the canoe/kayak launch at the Pony Pasture launch at the James River Park in Richmond would be suited to the elevation (about 30 degree slope) and sandy bottom of the site at the Appomattox River Regional Park.

The launch at Pony Pasture is double sided with a sluice in the middle. Kayakers would walk down the steps and be able to lead their canoe or kayak down the sluice. It is likely that due to money constraints, the launch in Prince George would have steps just on one side of the sluice. Our proposal will specify that the risers be of treated timber with rocks in the risers and at the top rather than concrete.

While we were visiting the Pony Pasture Launch a large family with many craft

were unloading and preparing to spend a few hours on the river. This picture shows one their craft being guided down the sluice. Note how loaded this large vessel was. It was obviously one of the larger vessels in the group and was therefore carrying the provisions for the outing.

Once we our grant applications completed and submitted the committee (PG Rotary members, PGP&R and FOLAR) will visit other 501 (c) (3)s and other Rotary Clubs to ask for contributions to the project.

More details to be developed...so check back often and see draft grant documents and plans as they are obtained or created below.

Keith Rotzoll, Earl Hale, Wayne Walton, Carol Woodward and her Aussie, Jack, visited the site for the

proposed canoe/kayak launch in the newly acquired parcel at the Appomattox River Regional Park which brings the total park size up to about 66 acres. Here, Earl is shooting down the slope as Carol takes his pic to show the slope. Earl allowed as how he had once climbed Mt. Fuji.

The site has a sandy bottom, is about 25 feet from the top and has a slope of about 35 to 40 degrees. Here you can see Lonnie in the middle on the sandy bottom. Yes, there was Poison Ivy here and there.

Lonnie, Earl and Keith discussing the logistics of building on this site. This fall and winter FOLAR will extend the walking trail to the site. In the beginning canoers will need to portage thier canoes or kayaks on this trail. It is hoped ultimately to gain an easesment to the road owned by the Riverside Regional Correctional Facility to the launch site.

This hard working Aussie needed a quick cool off in the wonderful Appomattox River.

Article in the July 22, 2010 Richmond Times Dispatch article about the Pony Pasture (Huguenot Flatwater) Canoe Launch which is featured earlier above and is our model for our proposed launch.