ROCKY MOUNT -- Former Olympian Scott Shipley has a vision for the Pigg River.

Where mud and debris now piles behind a dam in southeastern Rocky Mount, Shipley sees children sliding down rapids in inner tubes. Where a crack is beginning to form in the 22-foot high dam, which hasn't generated power in 40 years, he sees people sitting on the shore and picnicking.

And for the first time since the dam was built around 1900, Shipley sees endangered fish swimming past the site to mingle with upstream populations.

That was the vision Shipley put forth to the Franklin County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday when he unveiled the concept plan for a whitewater park to be built where the power dam now stands.

"There's so much more to that park than just the whitewater," said Shipley, who competed as a whitewater kayaker during the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. "The important thing is that people who come out have a healthy experience, whether they're walking or tubing or sitting, or, if the water's higher, kayaking. ... Really with our parks, people are down there reading books, eating lunch, jogging or strolling every day."

Scott Martin, Franklin County's director of commerce and leisure services, has been pushing the dam removal project since January, when he started lining up federal, state and nonprofit partners, including the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation.

The dam removal project is based largely on the Roanoke logperch, an endangered fish found in stretches of the Pigg River. A chemical spill in the 1970s wiped out wide swaths of the fish population near Rocky Mount, and the dam has made it hard for them to repopulate that stretch of the river. According to federal wildlife officials, logperch aren't found from 5 miles above the dam to 15 miles below.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is pursuing the project because it believes the dam removal will benefit the logperch, and Roanoke bass, also known as red eye, which is endemic to the Pigg River.

Martin sees the project as an opportunity to boost Franklin County's "blueways" program, which offers public access points on the Pigg and Blackwater rivers. And he thinks a "park 'n' play" kayak playground could generate at least 10,000 visitors a year, boosting tourism revenues.

The Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation has gotten involved because of the opportunity to provide a state and nationwide model for conservation education, particularly with a nearby wetlands area.

Removal of the dam is estimated to cost about $500,000, most of which is already available in federal money. The park, meanwhile, will probably cost between $150,000 and $300,000.

So far, the park idea has received $60,000 from the Virginia Tobacco Commission. Half of that went to the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation, and the other half went to Franklin County, Martin said. About $12,000 of that was spent to produce Shipley's park design, he said.

An additional sum will be paid for Hill Studios to design the portion of the park on land, which Martin hopes to present to the board next month.

Right now, he's looking for board approval of the designs. Gills Creek Supervisor Russell Johnson was excited about the project, calling it "the best idea I've seen in my four years on the board."

But none of this is a done deal by any means.

On the county level, the real test will come during next spring's budget process, when Martin will ask the board to set aside money to pay for construction. The county already faces new costs for projects such as landfill expansion, Windy Gap Elementary School and a regional jail, and the whitewater park will have to compete for any remaining dollars against a number of other possible capital projects, including a new administrative complex and water and sewer lines.

There are other potential problems. Officials have yet to test the sediment piled up behind the power dam. What they find could dramatically change the cost and logistics of dam removal.

"The big question is sediment," Shipley said. "The elephant in the room so far is that we don't know how much is there."

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality estimates there's between 60,000 to 400,000 cubic yards of sediment accumulated behind the dam. And with much of it coming during the early part of the 20th century, there's a question of whether it's contaminated with toxins.

If so, the cost of removing the dam could skyrocket.

Martin said that the agencies have agreed on a protocol to test the sediment, and bids could go out later this year.

Virginia Tech's Conservation Management Institute will help facilitate that aspect of the project, Martin said.

In addition to concerns about sediment, the federal wildlife service has yet to sign off on the whitewater park design. Its primary objective is restoring fish populations, so the design must allow for upstream fish movement if it's to pass muster.

Shipley said that his primary goal was to accommodate the fish.

"The number one objective was to open up this river for fish migration, to recreate and restore the aquatic habitat that's been divided up by the dam," Shipley said. "Number two we look for a way to provide a recreational opportunity, so people can play and come down to the swimming hole. Lastly, how do you make that an example and learning tool for people who come to visit, to show how important rivers and wetlands are?"

Combining those goals produces a park, he said, that meets a wide variety of needs and interests.