PINEVILLE, Ky. (AP) - For years, it was an empty industrial park, abandoned by a mining company, and waiting for a company to build a factory there and call it home. Now, a large plot of land in eastern Kentucky will instead become transformed into a home for elk herds and, officials hope, a major attraction for hundreds of thousands of tourists.
The Pine Mountain Regional Industrial Development Authority has agreed to sell 750 acres in Bell County to the Appalachian Wildlife Foundation for $750,000, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports (https://bit.ly/1IR4fom).
The land will be developed into a campus that would include a conservation center, a theater and an astronomy pavilion, said Mike Bowling, a Middlesboro attorney who chairs the authority.
“It’s really a unique thing,” Bowling said. “We’re excited about it.”
The plan envisions elk-watching as a key attraction, but there also are black bears, white-tailed deer, wild turkeys and more than 240 species of birds at the site, according to the foundation. All will be visible from bird-watching trails and a 15-mile loop road on the grounds.
“The views from this place are just spectacular,” said David Ledford, the head of the foundation.
The authority purchased the land in 2001 from a mining company and spent years trying to attract an industrial factory to take root there.
A steep slide in coal jobs heightened the need to think about different kinds of solutions.
The state’s Shaping Our Appalachian Region, or SOAR, initiative also played a key role, Bowling said.
The idea for the center is modeled on an elk-viewing center in Pennsylvania that had more than 400,000 visitors in 2014, according to the foundation.
The foundation hopes to open in 2018 and projects that by 2021, as many as 600,000 tourists a year will be visiting the site.
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Information from: Lexington Herald-Leader, https://www.kentucky.com
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