The old beaver pond along the Longleaf Trace has a new name: the Denbury Beaver Pond.

Under sunny and cool skies Saturday, the Pearl and Leaf Rivers Rails-to-Trails Recreational District unveiled the new name of the pond honoring Denbury Resources Inc., a Plano, Texas-based oil and gas producer and founding development partner of the pond project.

"This has been a really fun event," said Beverly Gordon, Denbury account and operations manager. "I love this trail. It's so much more than I thought it would be."

Gordon and Mississippian Mark Worthey, a founding member of Denbury who retired this year, joined former Congressman Ronnie Shows of Bassfield in the 40-mile Denbury-Beaver Pond Festival ride that started in Prentiss and ended with the ceremony at the pond site. More than 150 participated.

Shows, a Denbury consultant whose effort at the state level in the late 1990s preserved the trail for the district, pushed for funding from Denbury.

Worthey, who lives in Texas, said he will be moving back to Mississippi in the next year.

"I don't know where I'll settle; it may be Hattiesburg," he said.

Worthey said company president Gareth Roberts wanted to participate in the festival but had business in England.

"Once he rides this trail, there shouldn't be a problem with continued funding," Worthey said. "We'll just have to put the pressure on him."

Laurel resident Phillip Wedgeworth is a frequent trail rider.

"We came down to this event to show our support of the trail and its continued development," Wedgeworth said. "This trail is our area's hidden jewel."

Martha Holloway of Hattiesburg believes the trail will one day be the nation's best.

"This pond development is such a wonderful addition to our area," Holloway said. "And think of what it will be like in the future. One day nothing will compare with our trail."

District board President Lynn Cartlidge said with local corporations matching Denbury's $10,000 donation, the district has $29,000 toward the $500,000 needed to develop the beaver pond with walking trails, overnight camping facilities, an outdoor classroom facility, a horse corral and a road to connect the pond with nearby Epley Road.

"Next year, instead of looking at the pond from the trail, we'll be down there walking around it," Cartlidge said.

At the end of the 40-mile ride that started the festival, Ronnie Shows was among the last group of riders to finish.

"What's important is that I did it," Shows said. "I may be last, but I rode it all the way."

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