This grant, if awarded, would also benefit the city of Saluda by providing it with $5,000 to install a Wi-Fi antennae to provide wireless Internet access along Main Street.

Sara Bell is enthusiastic about this aspect of the grant because she said it would also boost the potential for additional small business growth in Saluda.

Johnson agreed the Bell’s expansion would only further benefit surrounding businesses.

“We want our tourism to flourish because that gives our businesses more traffic than they would have if we didn’t have more people drawn to our area,” Johnson said.

Johnson said Polk County is positioned well to thrive through  supporting outdoor recreation, which accounts for $646 billion in Americans’ spending each year, according to the Outdoor Industry association.

The Bells said they also want to make sure the community feels good about their expansion.

Tim said a select number of trees would be trimmed to create a path from one platform to another platform but said no clear-cutting would be done to create the course.

“Our plan is to build the canopy tour so that in 20 years, you could take the platforms off the trees and no one would know we were ever there,” Tim said. “We’re working with live trees, so part of that business is to keep the forest healthy.”

Honeybee Drive, meanwhile, is a gravel residential road that includes four homes.

“We are super sensitive to the fact that this is going to be a commercial use in an area that has been residential forever,” Sara said. “We want to do everything we can to make sure everyone is happy with it.”

The Bells said they would be taking on maintenance of Honeybee Road, including grading the road and restructuring the drainage. They said they also only anticipate 10 participants per trip, with trips leaving every hour.

Sara said they encourage any community member who has questions about the project to contact them.

The company’s business plan expects trips to run from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. This year they are shooting to open in May with a plan to run trips March – November. No trips would run in December, January or February.

The City of Saluda and the Bells should hear back about whether or not they will receive grant monies by the end of the year.

For more information, visit greenrivergorge.com or find the tour on facebook at www.facebook.com/TheGorgeCanopyTour?ref=hl. To reach the Bells through Green River Adventures, call 828-749-2800.