Vision Is Not a Hallucination: Matt Ford and the Meadow River Rail Trail

Matt Ford has a line he likes: plans and visions are often confused with hallucinations — until the $3.2 million comes through. At the inaugural WV Outdoor Economy Summit, he shared that news publicly for the first time. Congressionally directed spending is now moving toward the Meadow River Rail Trail, a project that would connect Rainelle to the New River Gorge National Park along more than 40 miles of former railroad corridor threading through some of the most dramatic canyon scenery in the state.

For Matt — seventh-generation Greenbrier County, his family going back to the era when his great-grandfathers mined the coal that rode those same rails — this one is personal. The broader Adventure Meadow River plan wraps rock climbing, whitewater kayaking, mountain biking, and hiking into a regional recreation ecosystem anchored by the trail. And when he went to write the latest grant, he walked in with 17 stakeholder letters. Nobody wants to be the only dollar in, he says. The goal is to make sure they never have to be.

Learn more about: Meadow River Valley Association / Adventure Meadow River / nps.gov/neri