
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 31, 1990                   TAG: 9005310155
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TRAIL TRYING TO ACQUIRE MORE LAND

The U.S. Forest Service has begun condemnation proceedings against two Botetourt County landowners to acquire land for relocation of the Appalachian Trail away from a secondary road.

The proceedings are the first time in almost a decade the secretary of agriculture has asked the Justice Department for condemnation proceedings under the National Trails System Act.

The land in question lies west of Virginia 652 in the Daleville-Troutville area and adjacent to the Jefferson National Forest at Fullhart Knob.

The Forest Service is forbidden from offering more for the land than the value put on it by the government's appraiser. Because the two landowners, James Gordon and Johnnie Gross, are unwilling to sell at the price they were offered; the only way to settle the matter is in court, said Mike Dawson, regional representative for the Appalachian Trail Conference.

Gordon said if it was up to him he wouldn't sell any property at all but that he has no choice in the matter.

"I'm trying to get just compensation out of it," he said. The loss of the land will require him to erect 3,000 feet of fence, and the cost of the fence would eat up all of the money he has been offered for the six to seven acres, Gordon said.

Gordon said he had offered to settle with the government last year, but was told that was not possible. His hope now is to be treated fairly in court.

Dawson said Gross was willing to sell the land to the Forest Service, but was not happy with the price he had been offered.

Gross, however, said he felt he had been misled about how much of his land Dawson wanted the Forest Service to acquire for the trail.

The trail now is asking for more of his land than was originally proposed, land that lies over a ridge from where the trail is located, Gross said. There's no use in tying up a man's land if it's not needed, he said.

The trail conference's goal is to eliminate all areas along the trail where people are walking along public roads, said Dawson, whose office is in Newport.

Roughly 20 years ago, 200 miles or 10 percent of the Georgia-to-Maine trail, followed public roads, Dawson said. "When we're finished, there will be less than a mile of road walking."

by CNB