Communities - Natural Resources

Dickenson County lies in the Big Sandy River Basin. The principal streams of the county are Pound River, Cranesnest River, Caney Creek, McClure River, Lick Creek and Russell Fork. These are headwater streams, and the area drained is not sufficiently large to provide other moderate supplies of surface water.

The streams in Dickenson County are tributaries to two great drainage systems. Those on the south side of Sandy Ridge flow into the Clinch River, which joins the Tennessee, a river that flows as far south as Alabama before turning west and north to the Ohio River. Streams north of Sandy Ridge are tributaries to Russell Fork of the Big Sandy River and reach the Ohio by a direct northerly route.

Although even small tributaries contain some running water during most of the year, none of the streams have a very large flow. The rainfall of the region is moderate. The sandy soil, dense growth of trees and brush, and high stream gradients all work to prevent serious flooding.

In 1966, the John W. Flannagan Dam was completed, a recreation project constructed under the supervision of the District Engineer, Huntington District, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army. The project provides for a flood control pool of 95,000 acre-feet acre feet, and a minimum pool (winter) of 12,000 acre feet. At minimum pool elevation 1,315, the project will have 310 surface acres extending six miles upstream from the dam.

Stream-gauging stations have been maintained on Russell Fork at Haysi and Pound River near Haysi since 1946. The water is moderately hard with comparatively high sulfate content owing to drainage from coal mines. Records of temperatures and water quality data are available for these gauges. Flow duration and high and low flow sequence data are also available for these gauges.

With the anticipated increase in coal production in Dickenson County, greater demands have been placed on the water supply. Presently, there appears to be sufficient ground water to fulfill the needs of users with deep wells, however, increasing population, mining activities, and gas exploration has lowered the water table and placed stress on the more shallow wells.

Commercial forest land occupies 182,045 (86%) of the total land area of 212,077 acres. Most forest lands are owned by private individuals or by corporations. Approximately 167,718 acres (92%) are owned by non-industrial land owners while 14,279 acres (8%) are publicly owned.

The forest has approximately 218,974,000 cubic feet of growing stock (standing trees). About 92% of this consists of hardwoods and the remainder softwoods. A large percentage of the hardwoods are red and white oaks and yellow poplar. Small amounts of hickory, red maple, beech and ash can be found. The softwoods are mostly hemlock and white pine with some yellow pine species scattered throughout the county. Almost 70% of the timber is classified as saw timber size (11.0 DBH for hardwoods; 9.0 DBH for softwoods). This indicates that a large percentage of the timber is nearing maturity. On an annual basis the forest is growing four times the amount that is harvested. Growth is 8,618,000 cubic feet with removals being 2,148,000 cubic feet.

Recent forest surveys for Southwest Virginia indicate more timber is being added each year. Most of the forest land is privately owned and the timber is only harvested on a demand basis.

Dickenson County is considered to be an excellent area for national air quality standards.

The chief natural resource in Dickenson County is coal, and many high-grade seams exist. There are approximately 1,214,000,000 tons recoverable reserves, which would take 150 years to mine, according to the Virginia Division of Mines. Coal production will continue to be one of the county’s chief industries.

Dickenson County was the third largest producer in 1999 with 4,284,833 tons produced from 55 mines compared to a state total of 32,253,994 tons from 361 mines.

Dickenson County is the second leading county in the state in the production of natural gas. Gas demands have increased and will continue to increase into the next century due to the development of new southern markets. Natural gas development in Dickenson County is dominated by Equitable Production Company, )formerly Philadelphia Oil Company, a subsidiary of PECO Resources, Inc.) Other gas operators are Columbia Natural Gas, Elliott Production, Pine Mountain, and Virginia Gas Company .

Explorations that resulted in increases in Dickenson reserves in 1986 anticipated the development of a new East Tennessee Natural Gas Company pipeline spur from Philadelphia Oil’s Nora gas field to the main ETNG pipeline in Abingdon. The new ETNG pipeline will offer new markets in Southwest Virginia between Bristol and Roanoke and as far south as Atlanta. Very little is being used locally except for landowners that own reserves and have wells on their property. Natural gas is available to industries in most in areas of the county. Virginia Gas is the licensed distributor for the region. According to the Virginia Division of Oil and Gas, 1987, Dickenson County has 118.5 million cubic feet of natural gas reserves, the most in the state.

In 1999, Dickenson County had a total of five gas operators producing 8,138,874 million cubic feet (mcf) from 436 conventional gas wells; 9,526,242 mcf from 373 coalbed methane (cbm) wells; and 139,375 mcf from five dual completion wells. (Dual completions wells produce both cbm and conventional natural gas.) Columbia Natural Gas acquired permit rights to a gas gathering system formerly operated by Virginia gas Company in the Haysi area of Dickenson County. The newly acquired system is complementary to Columbia’s current area of production and drilling activity.

Dickenson County had 53 cbm wells drilled, one dual completion and 4 conventional wells totaling 58 wells during 1999. A total of 55 wells were completed (made ready for production) during the year. A total of 144,129 feet was drilled in Dickenson County in 1999.