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By: Robert Janis
Marshall University’s
On-Campus and Online Course
Prepares Designers, Builders, Managers of OHV
Trail Systems
Off-highway vehicle recreationists who may
have considered a career in the field of
off-highway vehicle trail systems can take
undergraduate and graduate courses at Marshall
University in Huntington, West Virginia. These
courses were designed to be offered online as
well. Dr. Raymond Busbee, Professor
Emeritus at Marshall University, developed all
four of the courses in the series. He has
taught the first two courses online for the past
five years. The last two courses in the
series are currently being converted to online
capability.
According to Busbee, the courses, which he
started to develop about 12 to 15 years ago,
have ties to the creation of the Hatfield-McCoy
Trail System in West Virginia.
According to Busbee, Southern West Virginia was
a heavy coal mining area, but over the years
coal mining began to decline in seven southern
counties of West Virginia due to automation.
“Not as many people were needed to work in the
coal mines, so those counties suffered a very
high unemployment rate,” he said. “So two
gentlemen, an attorney from Falls Church,
Virginia named John English, and a lobbyist from
West Virginia named Leff Moore wondered what
could be done to boost the economy of this
region of West Virginia. They came up with the
idea of developing a world class OHV trail
system. Over the next several years they worked
diligently to get support for the project. They
created support groups, they got the southern
counties involved, and they secured a $400,000
grant for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to
conduct a feasibility study on the idea. The
study was done and indicated that there was a
very good opportunity for economic development
if a trail system was developed in those seven
southern West Virginia counties.”
Buoyed by the study English and Moore obtained
support from the State of West Virginia, and
they then approached timber companies, coal
mining companies, and gas and oil companies who
owned land in the area and requested permission
to develop OHV trails on these private lands.
“The idea was to develop the trail system using
private lands, not federal or state land,” said
Busbee. English and Moore were then successful
in getting the state to pass legislation
exempting the land companies from liability.
They were then successful in acquiring
development and operational funding assistance
from the State of West Virginia, various federal
agencies, and private sources.
“Currently, there are approximately 600 miles of
OHV trails in the Hatfield-McCoy Trail system,”
said Busbee. There are current plans to expand
the system to 2,000 miles with extensions into
Kentucky and Virginia, volunteered Busbee.
During the early planning stages of the
Hatfield-McCoy Trail, English and Moore
contacted Busbee and asked him to develop an
academic program that could support the trail
system. Working with them, including the Nick J.
Rahall, Jr. Appalachian Transportation
Institute, the National Off-Highway Vehicle
Conservation Council and Marshall University,
Busbee developed a four-course curriculum on OHV
recreation.
The purpose of the courses is to provide
Marshall University students and professional
employees of planning and land management
agencies courses dealing with the general
aspects of OHV recreation, and the planning,
construction, operation, and management of OHV
trails and facilities. Career employees can
obtain academic credit after completing the
courses and students attending other schools may
have the credits transferred to their respective
colleges or universities. The courses fall under
the jurisdiction of the Recreation and Park
Resources Program of Marshall University. The
program offers a Bachelor of Science degree in
Parks and Conservation. “The idea was not to
just teach the courses on campus,” explained
Busbee. It was also to offer them online for
professional career employees who were out in
the field." We wanted it to also be for people
who were out of college for many years who had
never taken OHV management courses in school.”
The National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation
Council (NOHVCC) participated in the development
of the curriculum. “NOHVCC created an advisory
committee which worked with me in creating the
courses. The advisory committee, along with
their various partners, participated in tweaking
the courses into what professionals in the field
of OHV trail system development and operation
thought was needed,” said Busbee.
Four courses have been developed and are being
taught on the campus of Marshall University. Two
of those courses are currently online, and the
last two courses are being prepared to go online
in the not-too-distant future, said Busbee.
The four courses are:
- Introduction to Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation
- Planning
and Design of OHV Trails and Parks
- Construction of OHV Trail Systems
- Operation
and Management of OHV Trail Systems
The courses that are now online are:
- Introduction to Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation
- Planning and Design of OHV Trails and Parks
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