Augusta County is set to celebrate the grand opening of the Dooms Crossing – South River access point on Thursday.
This long-awaited river access, Augusta County’s first, is the culmination of years of collaboration between federal agencies, state partners, and local and regional businesses.
Completely funded through grants, this premiere addition to Augusta County Parks and Recreation department’s offerings will improve opportunities for recreation, fishing, tubing, and boating.
“Because of the diligent and complex work done by our county engineers to secure funding, Augusta County citizens can enjoy a unique amenity that connects them to a one-of-a-kind outdoor experience at no expense,” Augusta County Director of Parks and Recreation Andy Wells said.
Dooms Crossing is located between river access points in Waynesboro and Crimora. Dooms Crossing is approximately three miles downstream from Basic Park in Waynesboro and about 4.5 miles upstream from Crimora Park and enhances the connection between points along the water trail from Waynesboro to Grand Caverns and access sites further north. Improvements to water access will be forthcoming at Crimora Park.
In 2018, the engineering office in Augusta County’s Community Development department applied for and received two grants as part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration process. NRDAR is the result of a settlement agreement between the federal Fish and Wildlife Service and the Commonwealth of Virginia and DuPont that provides funding for restoration of wildlife habitats that were impacted by the release of mercury from the former DuPont facility in Waynesboro more than 70 years ago.
County engineers combined two separate grants for a total funding amount of $451,961 to restore and preserve the waterway and provide citizens with opportunities for recreation. The project initially focused on improving water quality and fish habitat. Augusta County worked with DWR and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to remove the remnants of a failed dam at Coiner Mill and associated log jams, which created navigational hazards for boaters and impediments for fish migrating upstream to the headwaters of the South River to spawn.
Six hundred feet of eroding bank upstream of the former dam needed to be restored, a formidable task that redirected the use of remnants from the dam to reinforce the bank from additional erosion. The bank area was seeded and live staked using three different tree species to stabilize the area, provide a riparian environment, and improve fish habitat and water quality for the long term.
Staff members from DWR were onsite to provide design guidance throughout the bank stabilization process. Once the restoration segment was complete, the project focused on recreational enhancements.
This work included acquisition of more than six acres of floodplain property at the site of the former, historic Coiner Mill Dam. An access roadway to the parking lot, necessary for the construction equipment during the restoration work, was further graded and paved for visitor access.
A 2016 study by the Department of Wildlife Resources estimated that 14,000 fishing trips were taken on the South River between April and September and counted approximately 29,000 non-anglers who used the river during the same timeframe. The economic impacts of this usage during that six-month period include conservative estimates totaling $700,000.
“Convenient water ways such as this provide environmental, social and economic benefits to communities,” said Wayne District Supervisor Dr. Scott Seaton. “We can use these boat launch and fishing sites to engage a larger, growing audience and introduce them to all that Augusta County has to offer, benefitting our lodging, retail, and food service industries, among others.”
Dooms Crossing will be open from dawn to dusk for fishing, launching kayaks, canoes or other non-motorized boats. Other activities are prohibited, including camping, fires, consumption of alcoholic beverages, trespassing after/before hours, and the discharge of firearms.
For information on fishing licenses, fish consumption advisories, and fishing regulations, see the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources page at dwr.virginia.gov/fishing.
For more information about the Dooms Crossing South River access point, visit www.co.augusta.va.us/government/county-projects/dooms-crossing-south-river-access.
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Chris Graham
