Volunteers create footprint of new park with miles of trails: Lake's true nature surfaces as site reborn

Published: Thursday, October 26, 2006 - 6:00 am; The Greenville News Online

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, a lake that once was a legacy of the industrial revolution is about to become the centerpiece of a new park on the periphery of one of Greenville County's fastest-growing areas.

Volunteers have been testing the water and building trails at Lake Conestee since 2000. Their efforts are about to pay off -- and it's the public that gets to cash in. When Lake Conestee Nature Park opens to the public at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, hikers will be able to trek 2.3 miles of marked trails and stand on boardwalks that offer views of wetlands and forest. It's the first phase of a park where the master plan also calls for an education center, a conference center and more trails.

A nonprofit, The Conestee Foundation, is securing funding and is overseeing development of the park. The drive to the trailhead from downtown Greenville or Mauldin takes minutes. Donaldson Center is nearby, along with new developments, including the planned community at Verdae and the International Center for Research and Development.

The trailhead is at a Henderson Avenue parking lot off Fork Shoals Road. Hikers are advised to wear long pants and sturdy footwear and to bring bottled water.

Foundation members, who plan to be on hand to greet the public, say the event that opens the park lasts until 5:30 p.m., but the trail will be open every day thereafter.

"We're very excited about being able to allow the public to come out there and enjoy it," said Jeff Beachman, the foundation's executive director.

A dam built on the Reedy River in the early 1800s formed Lake Conestee, which is six miles downstream from Greenville. The current dam was built about 1892, according to the foundation.

Industrial and municipal waste flowed down the Reedy River and into the lake for decades. State and federal regulations enacted in the 1970s significantly reduced the pollution, allowing silt to build up in the lakebed and bury most of the contaminants, according to the foundation.

The foundation bought the 145-acre lake in 2000 with funds from the Colonial Pipeline Remediation Trust, a fund set up after an oil spill downstream from the lake.

Since then, the Conestee Foundation has worked with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control to assess the lake's condition and develop a site management plan. That has included evaluating the lake as a "brownfields" site, similar to how former industrial sites are studied and recycled into useful property.

Analysis of soil, sediment, groundwater and fish confirmed that the lake area could be used for passive recreation, public green space, educational activities and wildlife habitat, according to the foundation.

With the help of public and private money, the foundation bought a 110-acre farm in 2001 and is planning to buy another piece of property just south of Municipal Stadium. The second purchase would bring the foundation's land holdings to nearly 300 acres.

Plans for the park's future call for an extensive trail system, including a paved, half-mile trail accessible to the handicapped, and an education facility to serve public and private schools, especially middle school through the university level.

The park has already drawn researchers. Six graduate degrees have been awarded based on research at the lake, according to the foundation.

"I think we've got a really good future before us, although it's going to take a lot of work," said foundation chairman Douglas Stevens.

The foundation says it also expects to address the maintenance and rehabilitation of the Lake Conestee Dam, which DHEC recently classified as a "significant" hazard because of the sediment behind it.

But the dam should be sound for the next two decades, barring an extraordinary flood or earthquake, according to the foundation.

Long-term management also calls for monitoring and managing the lakebed while keeping the sediments contained, the foundation says.