Agency receives funds for upgrades

Scenic Rivers Development upgrading and improving area facilities

Joseph Parker overlooks overgrown area at Bogue Chitto Water Park. Recent improvements made at cabins at Bogue Chitto Water Park.

By Connor Raborn

Parks and other recreational areas of Southwest Mississippi’s great outdoors are poised to see upgrades over the next two years.

Scenic Rivers Development Alliance, a regional agency that seeks funds for recreation facilities, has secured millions of dollars of state bond money for work in Pike, Amite, Walthall, Franklin and Wilkinson counties.

While bond money has been relatively plentiful so far, the range of projects across the region is wide. Spending needs to be paced efficiently, and work has to be done around seasons and weather.

Overseeing those matters is Joseph Parker, the executive director of Scenic Rivers.

“As these one-time dollars are coming through, you want to be smart about how you spend them,” Parker said, pointing out frost-proof valves that were recently added to campsite water hookups at Bogue Chitto Water Park.

Additions like that save money in the long run by avoiding the costly work of repairing broken water lines.

They’re also just one of several upgrades to the water park in eastern Pike County since this past fall, which also include resurfaced gravel roads which doubled in width, new wells and pull-through sites, one of the most popular requests of campers.

Pull-through sites allow RV campers to pull into a site for water and electrical hookups then drive out the same direction when they leave, no driving in reverse required.

The water system is being upgraded in phases with the possible supplement of American Rescue Plan Act funds to finish it.

Coming attractions to Bogue Chitto Water Park include a 6-foot-wide, ADAcompliant, paved path over the nearly milelong trail that loops through the park near the river. Parker said Neel-Schaffer’s work on that could start as soon as November.

New gutters and air conditioning units are being added to the six cabins. Plaques identifying the many trees in the park, a

Road work being done at Bogue Chitto Water Park. Angela Harvey and Michelle Sandifer at Ethel Vance Park where improvements are due to be made.

paved path from the camp store to the pavilion and a possible disc golf course are on the horizon.

“The most important thing is getting the infrastructure back in place—the water, the sewer, the roads, bringing the gravel back in,” Parker said.

The schedule of work on these types of facilities is always in flux and can change “at a moment’s notice,” he said.

“You know you have to cut the grass, but you didn’t know you had to cut the tree out of the road.”

Parker recalled a day in early June when he was working in another county but got a call that canoe rental business Gator’s couldn’t get a vehicle to the park’s boat ramp because trees were down across the road.

“OK, let me get my chainsaw,” he told them.

There are hundreds of trees down at the Amite River in Ethel Vance Park, which Scenic Rivers is managing as of July 1.

“The trails that go along the Amite River are going to need some serious rehabilitation. It’s going to take some logging,” Parker said.

The alliance has a full rehabilitation planned for the park’s arena. They’ve already ordered new rodeo and cattle equipment like bucking chutes and roping chutes. There will be reconfigured bleachers, new gates, more sand, a new irrigation system, upgraded electrical system and new paint.

“The nice part about it is, most of it’s under a roof. A lot of that work can continue over fall and winter,” Parker said.

Scenic Rivers will begin rehabilitating the park’s ball fields this fall.

Parker reflected on the alliance’s origins and the realization that having municipalities and counties from all over Southwest Mississippi speak with one voice would help get more money on the state level to help everyone in the region.

“One of the most important aspects of this alliance is the cooperation of these municipalities and counties. You can see the successes of the areas that have come together,” he said. “When you take a region and put all these numbers together, you’re much more attractive to a business or industry.

“Relationships. That’s what this is all about. Scenic Rivers is relationships, building relationships.”

That singular voice has also helped get funds for projects in Franklin and Wilkinson counties.

Scenic Rivers is close to acquiring the deed for 150 acres on the north end of Okhissa Lake in Franklin County.

In Wilkinson, the county’s industrial board is working with the alliance to fence and landscape Wilkinson County Park on Hwy. 61 in Woodville. There are plans to repair the Lake Mary boat ramp, delayed by river flooding. Parker hopes to order a full study on the Buffalo River Basin, where downpours have flooded roads and houses.

Ongoing work in Walthall County includes 16th Section land for the sheriff ’s office, Lake Walthall and Walker’s Bridge Water Park.

A piece of 16th Section land just off Hwy. 98 on Old Hwy. 24 East is being turned into a shooting range for Walthall County Sheriff ’s Office. Berms of earth will also open the land up for archery contests. A pond there can be used for youth rodeo fishing.

“It’s taking some land that has not been developed in the past and helping it see its best use,” Parker said.

Scenic Rivers will refurbish a gazebo and rehabilitate the parking lot and picnic areas at Walker’s Bridge Water Park.

With potential help from a T.R.A.I.L.S. grant that’s been applied for, a trail may be cleared around the 55-acre Lake Walthall to allow bank fishing.

There’s plenty of work for Parker and his agency. Once he finished looking over Lake Walthall, he headed back to Bogue Chitto Water Park to lay more gravel.

For more information on Scenic Rivers’ facilities and how to make reservations, see visitscenicrivers.com. n