Another Grant for Trails in Morgantown!

Today, Friday April 13, and Saturday, April 14: Clean-up of Deckers Creek
with Global Impact

New Litter and Illegal Dump Law for WV takes a bite out of dumpers

Project Pride (Monongalia County), April 21 and April 22 (Saturday and
Sunday)

JOIN THE GREEN SPACE COALITION!

Jobs in the Parks: BOPARC to hire seasonal crew for work in White Park

National Arbor Day: Local event in Morgantown

BOPARC to host Public Input Forum on BMX and Skateboard Park, Friday April
20, 5:30

Nominations sought for Governor's Service Award

Tygart River Cleanup, Saturday April 14

Wildflower Walks at Core Arboretum, April 22 and 29

Those Little Tree Plantin' Dudes need your help in Westover

Annual Audubon Banquet, Mountaineer Chapter, April 28

Mason-Dixon Park events: Ramp Fest on April 21 and Dunkard Creek Float
Trip April 22

Newspaper article about rail trail in Clarksburg

Interesting web sites

WV Economic Justice Coalition: Re-localization Conference, April 29 in
Morgantown

Celebrate Earth Day and Help Count Canaan Valley's Timberdoodle on Friday
April 20

Run for Cancer, April 28

Mon County Schools' Kaleidoscope Program, WVU, BOPARC, the Fun Factory,
and the Green Space Coalition went together in a grant application to build
"Learning Trails" behind South Middle School and the Bus Garage. The
University of Pennsylvania awarded our alliance a grant for $30,000 to build
trails connecting the neighborhoods to the school, the school to the park,
and to make possible an activity-based, outdoors curriculum for the middle
school! Trail construction will begin in late April or early May, with
curriculum development coming right behind! The main trail will be accessible
for most of its length, with a limestone sand surface. We are really excited
about this project. It builds on our other trails, it connects everybody
together, and builds a cooperative spirit. Let me know if you would like to
help in any way. Greg Good, ggood@wvu.edu.

Friday April 13 and Saturday April 14, 9am: Join the local group Global
Impact Inc in cleaning up Deckers Creek from Marilla Park to the Monongahela
River. Trash bags will be supplied, but please bring gloves. Refreshments.
The group meets at Marilla Park office. The group works statewide and is
currently developing a Household Hazardous Waste Program, a backyard
composting program, and recycling activities with the Mon County Solid Waste
Authority.

New Litter and Illegal Dump Law: The governor has signed a new law that
significantly increases fines and the ability to act against people who Trash
West Virginia! The sliding scale for fines is based on how much is dumped,
ranging from $1000 for less than 100 pounds up to $25,000 and a jail sentence
for more than 500 pounds. It helps to have a big stick, but let's remember
that in the end, it's pride in where we live that really counts.

Project Pride, Saturday April 21 and Sunday April 22: These are the big
Trash Bash days of local tradition. Hundreds turn out to clean up parks, work
along the rail trail, in the neighborhoods, and on the road and stream sides.
DO YOUR PART! Call Kim Allen at BOPARC to volunteer yourself or your
organization, 296-8356. Or just join us at the Hazel Ruby McQuain Riverfront
Park at 1pm on Sunday April 22.

JOIN THE GREEN SPACE COALITION! If you want to help out with clean-ups,
tree plantings, trail building, and park improvements, fill out the form
below and help the GSC! If you can't do the physical labor, but you want to
help the Mon Valley, make a tax deductible contribution.

Please note that we are now beginning to build an endowment fund to be able
to Preserve Greenspace locally. The fund will let the GSC act as a Land
Trust. This will be discussed more as the details are worked out, but we can
begin the fund now. All contributions to this fund will be used only for this
purpose and are tax deductible. Our goal is to raise millions of dollars (we
don't dream small!), but realistically, this is what is needed to do this job.

Join us! Mail to: Green Space Coalition,
PO Box 4157, Star City, WV 26504
Name: __________________________
Address:________________________
____________________________
Phone:___________e-mail:__________
Student/low income $10/year
Regular (ind. or family) 25
Steward 100
Lifetime 500
Business 100
Corporate 200
Corporate Steward 500
AND IF YOU CAN:
Tax deductible donation to Green Space Preservation Endowment Fund _____

JOBS: Seasonal work crew members needed for hard physical work, but it's
outdoors and very satisfying! Each summer since 1998, BOPARC and the Green
Space Coalition have cooperated in trail construction, park restoration,
vegetative management (control of invasive plants), around the city of
Morgantown. This year we will mainly be working in White Park. If you like
working outdoors every day and want to help, contact Greg Good by email at
ggood@wvu.edu. (I'll be out of town until the 22nd, so be patient waiting for
the reply.) Work will start in early May and go until August. This is a great
job for college students and others looking for something for the summer.
Volunteers are also welcome!

National Arbor Day: Local event in Morgantown. Saturday April 21. Hi
folks, Our Arbor Day observance will be on SATURDAY, April 21, in Evansdale
(specific location will be sent to you via email about a week before), at 10
am. Bring a shovel! We'll have 10 or 12 trees to plant. Contact Brent Bailey,
bbailey@mail.wvnet.edu.

Join the National Arbor Day Foundation and receive 10 free shade trees: red
oak, sugar maple, weeping willow, green ash, etc. The trees will be shipped
postpaid for planting in April or May. These seedlings are 6 to 12 inches
tall and are guaranteed or they'll be replaced free of charge. Send $10 to
Ten Free Shade Trees, National Arbor Day Foundation, 100 Arbor Avenue,
Nebraska City, NE 68410, by April 30.

BOPARC to host Public Input Forum on development of a BMX track and
Skateboard Park. On Friday April 20, 5:30 pm, at the Marilla Center. The goal
is to develop a first class facility that would be suitable for national
competitions. But more importantly, Morgantown needs more activities for
youth. This facility would be in a very visible place, a location served by
major roads and/or the trail system to make it easy for kids to get there.
Join the new director of BOPARC, John Skeel, at the public forum and share
your ideas.

Nominations wanted for the Governor's Service Award. If you know someone
who deserves recognition for volunteering for the community, dominate him or
her for the Governor's Service Award by May 15. Categories are: youth, young
adult, adult, senior, family, organization, faith community, and life-time
achievement.

Applications are available from the WV Commission for Community and National
Service. Contact: Leslie Adkins at 800 WV-HELPS.

The 2000 Governor's Service Awards will be presented July 18 at the Lakeview
Scanticon Resort and Conference Center near Morgantown during the annual
state conference on volunteerism. The conference --Building West Virginia's
Future Together -- will have Robert D. Putnam as keynote speaker on July 17.

Tygart River Cleanup: Saturday April 14, 9am to 3pm. Work with the WV DNR
and WV Make it Shine to clean up the banks of the Tygart River. For info call
1 800 522 5530.

Wildflower Walks at Core Arboretum: The WVU Dept. of Biology will conduct
wildflower walks at 2pm on April 22 and 29. This annual tradition will be
guided by Jon Weems and Donna Ford-Werntz. Groups assemble near the Arboretum
parking lot. No reservations needed. Wear sturdy shoes and be ready for steep
trails, blue bells, trilliums, and spring beauty.

The Little Tree Plantin' Dudes: Read the story in the April 13th Dominion
Post (page 9A) and be inspired. 25 Fifth Graders from Westover Elementary
have formed a club (great name!) to help Westover and Westover Park with tree
plantings, clean-ups, and other park projects. They just finished a tree
planting day and plan another day of work and fun on Saturday May 19,
starting at 10am, at the main pavilion in Westover Park. If you live in
Westover (or if you don't) and if you are older than Fifth Grade, turn out to
help show the kids that they aren't the only ones who care about their town
and the environment.

The annual Audubon Banquet will be held Saturday, April 28 at Ali Baba
Restaurant in downtown Morgantown. A social hour starts things off at 6 PM,
followed by a buffet dinner. Speaker: Dr. Jim Anderson, "Wetland Management
for Birds." A silent auction benefiting the chapter will be held, and door
prizes will be distributed. Reservations are due by April 5 to Vicky Shears,
463 Cobun Ave., Morgantown, WV 26505, with a $16.95 check per person made out
to Mountaineer Audubon. All are welcome.

Mason-Dixon Park: Ramp Festival at Mason-Dixon is April 21. Crafters are
welcome to sell their wares outside. Includes ramp wine tasting and museum
tours. Float Trip by Dunkard Creek Watershed and Mason-Dixon Park is April 22.

Annual Ramp Festival to be Held at Mason-Dixon Park April 21 On April 21,
from 11 am to 5 pm, the atmosphere around the Red Barn at Mason-Dixon
Historical Park will be filled with the tantalizing odor of ramps. The Park's
annual Ramp Festival will feature ramps cooked and raw, potatoes fried with
ramps, ramp kielbasa, soupbeans and ham (with or without ramps); the Park's
famous ramp salad, sassafras tea, coffee, applesauce, bread, and various
unannounced ramp creations by Ramp Chef Walter Danna, such as angel hair
pasta. There will be tasting of ramp wine samples for adults. Cost: $6
Adults; $3 age 6 through 12; free age 5 and under. Crafters are invited to
exhibit and sell their wares outside, weather permitting.

The Mason-Dixon Historical Park is 12 miles northwest of Morgantown just off
Route 7 west on Buckeye Road. From that approach, the visitor will note
extensive earth disturbance as work is presently underway to build a new,
innovative wooden arch bridge across Dunkard Creek. The Park can be reached
via I-79 at Mt. Morris exit 1 and go southwest into W.Va. From Waynesburg use
I-79 S, or Rt. 218 to Blacksville and turn east on Rt. 7 (Mason-Dixon
Highway).
A fish quilt will be displayed and raffle tickets are available at donations
of $1 for one, or $5 for 6, for the benefit of the Dunkard Creek Watershed
Association, whose headquarters are at the Park. For more information, call
Connie Ammons at 304-879-5500.

Rail trail in Clarksburg: Click on this link to see an article in the
Sunday paper about the rail trail into Clarksburg.

http://www.cpubco.com/cgi-bin/LiveIQue.acgi$rec=6178cbgFrontPage?cbgFrontPage

Interesting web sites:

http://www.biodiversityproject.org/mediakit.htm

http://www.wvlandtrust.org

http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?pr0122



WV Economic Justice Coalition, Conference: Re-localization, Saturday
April 28, 9am on, Woodburn Hall, Morgantown

In this age of globalization, we find our communities overrun by
multinational corporations, our local economies increasingly dominated by
distant entities, and the facets of our lives dictated to us by large
advertising and marketing agencies. We must regain control of our
resources-natural, social, economic-in order to instill an ethos of social,
economic, and ecological justice. Join activists, inspired individuals,
organizers, friends and colleagues at the first conference of the West
Virginia Economic Justice Coalition. It is our aim to provide a meeting place
and network to be used to further the principles of self-determination and
justice and to relocalized our economy and society. Workshop topics include:

Globalization 101.
Introduction to the ante sweatshop movement.
Local currencies.
Sustainable energy.
Localizing food.
Consensus and decentralism.
Community media.
The effects of U.S. sanctions on foreign countries.
Columbia and foreign policy.
Anarchism within antiglobalization.

Contact: Erin Condo, econdo@wvu.edu

Celebrate Earth Day and Help Count Canaan Valley's Timberdoodle. Canaan
Valley is one of the most important breeding areas for the American Woodcock
in West Virginia. Each year woodcock are surveyed in the Canaan Valley as
they perform their unusual mating display, and the Canaan Valley National
Wildlife Refuge is seeking interested volunteers to help survey this year.

We will be meeting on April 20th at 6:30pm at the refuge office to discuss
the survey and visit sites where calling woodcock can be heard to familarize
voluteers with the survey techniques. Then on April 21st we will be
conducting the survey in as many locations as possible in the Canaan Valley.
Meet at the refuge office on the 21st (CALL FOR MEETING TIME - 304-866-3858),
located in Canaan Valley on Rt. 32 between Timberline and Cortland Roads.

If you are familar with woodcock calls and displays, you may skip the
training session on Friday if you wish. If you are planning to participate
plan on bringing a flash light and warm clothes; surveys will take
approximately 1 hour. Please contact Ken Sturm at the Canaan Valley NWR if
you need further information.
Ken Sturm
Canaan Valley NWR
304-866-3858

5K Run/Walk for Cancer (All proceeds go to the American Cancer Society)

WHEN: Sat, April 28th at 10:00am. Race day registration is from 8-9:45am.
WHERE: Start and finish in front of Morgantown High School, near the corner
of Wilson and Elm in South Park. Parking is available at the high school.
WHY: Top 5 reasons to participate in the Honorary 5K for Cancer:

5. Relieve stress before final exams.
4. Procrastinate studying for final exams.
3. Increase oxygen to the brain.
2. Regular exercise helps prevent cancer.
1. Raise money to help find a cure for cancer.

Please see the registration form (attached) for additional information. If
you have any questions, please email me at Jvalosky@aol.com.


Yours truly,

Greg Good
PO Box 4157
Star City, WV 26504
304-291-3091 (home and home offfice)
ggood@wvu.edu

Mon Valley Green Space Coalition -- Greenways linking Greenspaces

BUILDING COALITIONS TO VITALIZE COMMUNITY GREENSPACES