Becoming a State Park
A Foundation Is Laid
In the early 1980s, the N.C. Dept. of Natural Resources and Community Development (NRCD), Division of Parks and Recreation's Stream Watch program encouraged local groups to sponsor sustainability measures for the state’s watersheds and river basins. Chartered in 1981, The Lumber River Basin Committee, successor to the Lumber River Preservation Society begun by David and Donna Scott, Sherwood Hinson and Dempsey Herring was a diverse group whose mission was to identify the best protection and future uses of the river. Active members included John Bowman, Rudolph and Betty Floyd, Chris and Bob Gaddy, David and Betty Hammond, Sherwood Hinson, L.D. and Rosa Hunnings, Robert Keber, Bonnie Kelley, Edward Lee, Glenda and Colin Osborne, III, Al Pittman, The Scotts, Emily Whittle, and Dean and Maryann Williams. Drs. Helen Scheirbeck and Stanley Knick, directors of the N.C. Indian Cultural Resource Center, and Dr. Adolph Dial, founder of the American Indian Studies Department at UNC-Pembroke, along with Bruce Barton of the Carolina Indian Voice, were occasional participants at monthly meetings, providing valuable details of Lumbee history and insights into the tribe's culture.
Dr. Dial co-authored a book with UNCP history professor David Eliades titled The Only Land I Know about Henry Berry Lowrie and his band in their guerilla-style skirmishes with the White Militia in the hamlets, forests, and swamps around the river during and after the War Between the States. Chaos ruled both parties in the form of murder, kidnappings and robbery until shortly before February, 1982 when Lowry disappeared. Apparently, the $12,000 reward for his capture was never claimed.
LRBC Builds Support
Members of the committee consulted experts in ecology, agriculture, forestry, recreation, and environmental conservation individually, and at monthly meetings. For many years they gathered in the McLean Room of the Robeson County Public Library with the blessings of Director Robert Fisher. Incorporation, federal 501(c)(3) and N.C. tax-exempt status were attained in 1985 to ensure financial viability and to support the activities of the group. Fayetteville native Derb Carter of the N.C. Wildlife Federation (currently as a lead attorney for The Southern Environmental Law Center) helped with the articles of incorporation and registration with the NC Dept. of Revenue. Chandler Stewart, an accountant from Maxton, also helped with the application for tax exempt status.
The LRBC’s ambitious mission statement promoted efforts to educate and motivate area citizens to understand and protect the unique, free-flowing river. Activities included several cleanups along the riverbanks and around access points; canoe races; a photo contest with cash prizes from LRBC hosted by the Robeson County Public Library; and a photo display of river scenes was mounted in Lumberton’s Biggs Park Mall, the Mary Livermore Library at UNCP, the Fair Bluff Library, and on the Lumberton plaza.
Members made slides and composed a narrative for a slide-tape presentation shared with school, church, and civic groups. Canoe races and safe boating demonstrations drew experienced and novice paddlers. Committee members guided group floats
down all sections of the Lumber River, building on the efforts of the Scotts to introduce more people to the region’s outstanding natural resource. T-shirts served as walking advertisement for the river.
Nation-wide recognition of the Lumber had grown steadily through the period of the 1970-80s. Musician and author Bland Simpson published an article entitled “Sweetheart Stream” about the Lumber River in Wildlife in North Carolina. Two articles about the Lumber entitled “Nature’s Sanctuary” and “River Cruisers” were published in The State. One-time poet laureate of North Carolina, John Charles McNeill, limned nostalgically of the river in his poem, Sunburnt Boys. He also poignantly wrote "She is a tortuous, delicious flirt, but she does not deserve the punishment put upon her by geographers, who have perverted her sweet Indian name of “Lumbee” into something that suggests choking sawdust, rotting slabs, and the shrill scream of the circular saw.” Now, the Lumber clings to a name that in a more conservancy-minded age is an anachronism.
Canoeists and kayakers came from as far away as New England, Florida, and points west to test their skills on the wild and pristine sections of the blackwater river. The challenge was to avoid downed trees above and below water that choked passage and upended unsuspecting paddlers. Wasps nests dangling from low, overhanging limbs, suspended in black willows and river birches, were also occasional hazards.
To read relevant documents (minutes, memos, letters) on the history of the LRBC, go to: LRBC Meeting Minutes and Notices
Others Join the Effort
Another group, The Lumber River Canoe Club, also led trips on the Little Pee Dee, Black, South, Cape Fear, Uwharrie, Waccamaw, Little, Dan, New and Lockwood Folly Rivers, Big Swamp, and on Rockfish Creek. Key leaders of the Canoe Club were Danny and Diane Isom, Al Pittman, Sherwood Hinson, Rudolph Floyd and Marshall Thompson. In Scotland County, Dave and Marge Johnson, Chandler Stewart, Joe and Abby McDonald and John Memory of the Upper Lumber River Conservancy worked with elected officials to develop legislative initiatives. They also led canoe trips and river cleanups. Wildlife Action, a conservation group in South Carolina under the energetic leadership of Bunny Beason, sponsored similar events along the lower Lumber and Little Pee Dee Rivers.
In 1984, Gov. James G. Martin gave his Conservation Achievement Award to the Lumber River Basin Committee for the organization’s protection of the river and its environs.
Designation Achieved
At the beginning of the 1980s, with the lone exception of Lake Waccamaw in Columbus County, none of the other southern tier of NC counties between Charlotte and Wilmington contained a unit of the NC State Park System. Members of LRBC focused on getting the Lumber River included in the system. The NC Division of Parks and Recreation (DPR) hosted a meeting in Fayetteville April 16, 1984 to assess the demographics of park locations within North Carolina. At that meeting two members (Keber and Osborne) of the LRBC made a case for a Lumber River State Park based on the outstanding resource and on under-representation of the region within the state park system. They stated that such a park could become a “dynamic recreational magnet for southeastern NC” with the prospect of increased tourism and economic benefit. River preservation efforts began in earnest in the political arena and continued for decades.
On December 11, 1984, James E. Martin, County Manager of Robeson County, sent a letter to James Summers, Deputy Secretary of NC Department of Natural Resources and Community Development (DNRCD) on behalf of the Robeson
County Board of Commissioners. In the letter he requested a study of the river from NC Hwy 71 near Maxton, NC to the South Carolina line to determine if it merited inclusion in the state ’s natural and scenic rivers system. In response, the newly appointed Secretary of DNRCD, S. Thomas Rhodes informed Mr. Martin that he would be hearing from Bob Buckner, the Natural and Scenic Rivers Study Coordinator. Qualification and feasibility studies conducted by the Division of Parks and Recreation in September, 1986 provided data DNRCD needed to publish the “Report on the Qualifications of the Lumber River for Designation into the NC Natural and Scenic River System”.
That report recommended the designation of the Lumber River as a state park. The LRBC and DPR held meetings to inform area citizens of the study’s findings and to assess public support for designation. With overwhelming public support being expressed, the study was fashioned into a report from then Secretary of DNRCD William Cobey and submitted on February 2, 1989 to the Governor and the General Assembly. Cobey recommended designating the Lumber River as a NC Natural and Scenic River. Supporters of the river plan wanted a state park as well and waited anxiously during the 1989 long session of the general assembly. Fortunately, the region had a savvy legislator from Raeford in Representative Dan DeVane. In the closing hours of the session on August 9, 1989, he was able to use his skill as an auctioneer in gauging critical timing of the vote to get passage of House Bill 1587. Rep. Leo Mercer of Columbus County joined DeVane in support of his leadership, and the Lumber River State Park and NC Natural and Scenic River were created on the same day, "to preserve its outstanding character in perpetuity". Senator David Parnell of Parkton guided the companion bill, SB 44, through his chamber successfully. In 1993 the "State Parks System Mission and the Lumber River and State River Park Purpose Statements" were published to serve as guides for park planning.
The 115 miles designated as Lumber River State Park (LRSP) and Natural and Scenic River, begins at SR 1412/1205 (Turnpike Rd.) on the Hoke-Scotland County line north of Wagram and ends at the South Carolina state line, making it one of the longest in the continental United States. With a new state park to serve a half million people in Southeastern North Carolina, there was a sense of great relief for this major accomplishment, especially in light of some serious environmental threats confronted during the process. LRBC members and friends shared a covered-dish meal on David and Donna Scott’s pier at Lake Waccamaw to celebrate a hard-won achievement (chronology).
Building the Park
The work of the 1990s was to get the park built, a fiscal challenge as the designation was in name only and came with no funding. LRBC members contacted W. Kent Olson, president of American Rivers, a non-governmental advocacy group for the nation’s waterways. They also appealed to U.S. Senators Jesse Helms and Terry Sanford, for technical support through the NPS Rivers and Trails Conservation Assistance Program. (In May, 1993, NC Senator David Parnell introduced a Bill to Appropriate Funds to Implement Phase 1 of the Master Plan for the Lumber River State Park and For the Purchase of Additional Land for the Park. $1,663,296 was approved as a first installment. Representative Charlie Rose of Fayetteville was a dedicated ally in support of the park, requesting support from the Dept. of Interior.
Based on recommendations from Rep. DeVane, Secretary Cobey appointed a twenty member citizens advisory committee for the state park and state river. The Lumber River Citizens Advisory Committee (LRCAC) was charged with the task of funding and developing a master plan for the park. For its first meeting on March 20, 1990 at the O.P. Owens Agricultural Center in Lumberton, members from Columbus, Hoke, Robeson and Scotland Counties "were asked to introduce themselves and to explain their interest in this project". Of particular value was first-hand information, shared over time, about significant areas along the river known to many of them from frequent explorations. They informed UNCP associate professor of Ecology, Dr. Andy Ash, a contracted consultant, of points of interest they thought merited closer investigation.
Dr. Ash conducted natural areas inventories along the entire river corridor and identified twelve sites (including Chalk Banks) as Natural Heritage Priority Areas. Staff members of the NC Natural Heritage Program, Chuck Roe, Alan Clark, Carol Tingley and Alan Weakley (noted botanist and director of the UNC Herbarium at the NC Botanical Garden) participated in the inventory. Using this information, the Advisory Committee submitted grant requests to the NC Recreation and Natural Heritage Trust Fund. One million dollars was appropriated by the fund for the purchase of tracts of land containing rare and endangered species of plant life.
The Lumber River Conservancy and the NC Nature Conservancy purchased property and held title to it until the park became operational. Over two thousand acres were acquired by the mid 90’s. An additional two million dollars were earmarked for the park out of the $35 million generated by the 1993 NC State Parks Bond Referendum. The river sold itself. Otter video below.
IMG_0727 (6).mp4Kim Huband of the NC Division of Parks and Recreation was the dependable contact at each step of the process, offering editorial and technical support by phone, letters, and through frequent meetings with the LRCAC. He communicated with Dr. Frank Boteler of DPR and Dr. Phil McKnelly, then Secretary of the Dept. Natural Resources and Community Development. Fred Annand of the N.C. Nature Conservancy impressed upon LRBC members, at a monthly meeting, the importance of protecting native plants and threatened species in Southeastern N.C. Bill Holman of the Sierra Club offered his organization’s support and political backing. Local citizens did the yeoman's work in advocacy for the park with state and local officials.
On September 9, 1991, Don Reuter of the Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources issued a press release announcing that Carolina Power and Light Company (CP&L) and North Carolina State University (NCSU) had joined in the Lumber River Master Plan effort. CP&L pledged a $40,000 challenge grant, and the Office of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management at NCSU, under the leadership of Dr. Phil Rae, offered its expertise in planning with $31,692 of in-kind services to develop a Master Plan for Lumber River State Park and State River, if additional financial support could be generated.
Businesses, individuals, industries, and local governments in Hoke, Scotland, Robeson and Columbus Counties, that stood to benefit the most from increased tourism and environmental protections, needed to raise $43,343 to cover the remaining costs of developing the plan. (With an overall pledge of $144,000, CP&L became the first corporate sponsor of an entire state parks system in the USA when it announced its “Adopt State Parks Program'' in February, 1991.) The Lumber River plan became the first master plan conducted for the state park system since 1979, and it was the first use of computerized mapping in NC for a state park. NRCD and NCSU staff assisted in gathering cultural, ecological and historical data for the plan. The first draft of the plan was released Sept. 4, 1992.
Key members from the LRBC along with Bill Brewington, Bo Biggs, Everett Davis, Donna Foy, Carr Gibson, Marge Johnson, Lonnie Maynor, Bruce Mattox, Kirk Mattson, John McLaurin, Dickson McLean, Jr, John Memory, Sybil Sikes, Jimmy Turner and Rob Wright of the LRCAC contributed and helped local subscribers raise $43,343. It was done in six weeks in a frenzy of fundraising. David Scott and Colin Osborne served as co-chairmen, succeeded by Andy Ash, David Hammond, Rudolph Floyd, Bruce Mattox, Lonnie Maynor, and Whit Gibson. As members resigned or rotated off, others joined. Serving in the same capacity he had for years with the LRBC, Bob Gaddy became the advisory committee's permanent treasurer in an agreement David Scott made with NRCD to use LRBC's tax-exempt status for banking activities. Everett Davis, former Robeson County Extension Director with the N.C. Cooperative Extension, served as the perennial secretary for LRCAC.
LRAC brochure.pdfMeeting regularly with committee members, Thomas Jones, an employee of CP&L, acted as liaison between the company and the LRCAC during the planning process. The Master Plan laid out the blueprint for the location of park headquarters, canoe-in landings, and campsites, river trail mapping and float times. It also specified the number of staff members needed to manage the state’s lengthiest park unit (Except for the U.S. Park Service's Blue Ridge Parkway.). Environmental, ecological, cultural, demographic data and historical records became the underpinnings of the master plan.
That plan provided for two park offices: one at Princess Anne and the other north of Wagram at Chalk Banks on the Upper Lumber. A larger visitors center is planned for 2025 for the Wirepasture Landing area near Pembroke with an appropriation approved by the NC legislature in 2023.