CHARLESTON, W.Va. — For the first time since 2005, the Hatfield-McCoy Trails will have a new executive director, as longtime leader Jeffrey Lusk has announced his retirement.
Lusk goes back to the inception of the trails, as he began helping with the development in 1993. Lusk was there when the first trail system was opened in 2000.
“I started in 2005 as executive director and at that time, we had five trail systems, barely 400 miles of trail, and that year we hosted about 11,000 riders,” Lusk said Monday on MetroNews Midday.
“You snapshot forward to today and 20 years later, we’ve got 13 systems, over 1,000 miles of trails, and this year we’re going to host around 95,000 riders on the trail with about 85,000 of those being non-West Virginia residents,” he continued.
Lusk says that over the last two decades, he’s watched the Hatfield-McCoy Trail system bring in visitors from all over the globe.
“We’ve had every state. We’ve had around 17 foreign countries and the further I’ve talked to is a couple riding from New Zealand,” Lusk said. “We’ve had folks from all over the world ride here.”
He also mentioned that Canada produces the more visitors of the trails than almost every state in the nation.
Lusk says he’s keenly aware of what the systems mean to the Mountain State’s economy.
“This is an economic development project that uses tourism associated with ATVs to bring folks here,” he said. “We have literally had over 100 businesses open up around the trails. Everything from major resorts like the Ashland Resort or Twin Hollow Campgrounds where these folks have 30 or 40 cabins and 30 or 40 campsites, to new restaurants, to folks that literally just remodeled a couple of houses or built three or four cabins and went into business.”
He says there are thousands of truly invested riders that can bring their business to West Virginia for a great experience.
“These folks that travel to do this sport are like these boat owners that own these high-end boats that go lake to lake. They are spending money. They’ve made upwards of $100,000 of investments into the sport before they ever get here and their goal is to use those units as much as they can, and we provide them with what I believe is the best venue in the eastern U.S. to do that at,” Lusk said.
Lusk says his favorite scenic trail is in Wyoming County, but the best historic trails are in Mingo and Logan counties.
“The most scenic trail in my opinion is our Pinnacle Creek Trail System because you get to ride right along a native trout stream, but the historic streams would have to be that Rock Owls, Devil Anse Buffalo Mountain Trail System. There is just so much history and I love to go into Matewan to go to the Devil Anse Cemetery to see all these places that were part of the mine wars,” Lusk said.