Mon Valley Green Space Coalition Records

Access and use

Location of collection:
West Virginia and Regional History Center
West Virginia & Regional History Center
West Virginia University
P.O. Box 6069
1549 University Avenue
Morgantown, WV 26506
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Lori Hostuttler
Phone: (304) 293-3536
Restrictions:

Audiovisual recordings must be digitized for research access. Researchers must contact the West Virginia & Regional History Center reference department at https://westvirginia.libanswers.com/wvrhc.

Researchers may access digitized materials by requesting to view the materials in person by appointment or remotely by contacting the West Virginia & Regional History Center reference department at https://westvirginia.libanswers.com/wvrhc.

Terms of access:

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Preferred citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Mon Valley Green Space Coalition Records, A&M 3965, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Summary

Extent:
8.81 Linear Feet 6 record cartons, 15 in. each; 1 document case, 5 in.; 1 stack of trifold panels, 6.5 in.; 1 folder, .25 in.; 1 rolled map, 4 in.
Creator:
Good, Gregory
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Mon Valley Green Space Coalition Records, A&M 3965, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Background

Scope and content:

Records of the Mon Valley Green Space Coalition, an environmental advocacy group. MVGSC materials include correspondence, agendas, reports, by-laws,financial information, newspaper clippings, volunteer timesheets, construction drawings, trifold promotional panels, project photographs and slides, event materials, AV materials, and trail maps. Additionally, there are materials for member groups such as the City of Morgantown, West Virginia University, Chestnut Ridge Regional Park and Sand Springs Campground, Tibbs Run Coalition, Friends of Deckers Creek, and other stakeholders. Subjects include MVGSC's trail work in Monongalia County parks, the multiple northern West Virginia trail initiatives of the 1990s and 2000s, and the creation of Mountaineer Heritage Park and Dorsey's Knob/Sky Rock Park. The collection has been sorted into three series.

Series 1 consists of the textural and graphic records of the Mon Valley Green Space Coalition for the years 1995 to 2008. These records are indicative of the organization's mission and initiatives. They include board meeting agendas, bylaws, budgets and balance sheets, receipts, correspondence, volunteer logs, membership lists, maps, newspaper articles, materials from annual Trash Bash events, photographs and slides of project work, park bridge designs, flyers, awards, newsletters, management plans, materials related to workshops and the March 2000 Building Coalitions to Visualize Community Green Spaces Conference and other related materials.

Additionally, there are materials related to MVGSC Neighborhood Associations (GSC-NA). These include Wiles Hill, Greenmont Community Center, Suncrest, Cheat Lake Environmental and Recreation Association (CLEAR), West Virginia Rails to Trails Council (WVRTC), Friends of Deckers Creek (FODC), and Snake Hill Wildlife Management Area (also known as The Other Side).

This series includes documents related to MVGSC's trail work in Monongalia County parks, including Whitemoore Park, Krepps Park, White Park and The Learning Trail. Plus, there are materials related to the multiple northern West Virginia trail initiatives of the 1990s and 2000s including the Caperton Trail, Cheat Lake Trail, North Bend Trail, Falling Run Trails, Pompano Run Trail, and the Deckers Creek Trail. Additionally, there are documents related to the creation of Mountaineer Heritage Park and Dorsey's Knob/Sky Rock Park.

Lastly, there are several audiovisual/digital items including VHS tapes from the Building Coalitions conference, a PowerPoint presentation titled "Trail Portal, Campus Connection, and the Monongalia Pedestrian Safety Council" all on CDR and a 3.5" floppy disk with the MVGSC Brochure. These items can be found in Box 7.

In addition to the MVGSC records, there are documents related to Greg Good's non-MVGSC, but parallel activities as a member of various local green group boards. These materials relate to the Morgantown Beautification Commission, the Chestnut Ridge Park Management Board, Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Board, and the Board of Parks and Recreation Commission (BOPARC).

The following is a list of the general date range of the materials contained within each box in this series. Box 1 1996-1999; Box 2 1996-2002; Box 3 1997-2008; Box 4 1996-2003; and Box 5 1995-2003.

Series 2 consists of a box of unorganized newspaper clippings for the years 1995 to 2000. The West Virginia University Daily Athenaeum and the Morgantown Dominion Post are the principal sources for the clippings, but other newspapers are represented including the Charleston Gazette, USA Today, the Baltimore Sun, the Atlanta Constitution, and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The newspapers clippings can be found in Box 6.

Subject matter includes Whitemoore Park, Caperton Trail, Earth Day, Morgantown smoking ban, Tibbs Run/West Virginia Botanic Garden, Blackwater Canyon, Cheat Lake Trail, and other related articles.

Series 3 consists of foldered, oversized, and rolled items. Foldered items include the following items: Whitemoor and Richwood Park, Morgantown, W.Va., Preliminary Plan of Arrangement, March 1924 (copied and pasted together); Rail Trails of North Central West Virginia, May 2000; Whitemoore Trails Map, 2001; and Concept For A Pedestrian Bridge (over University Avenue) at Mountaineer Heritage Park, 2002.

Oversized items are trifold informational panels. Some panels have minor water damage. Specifically, Item 1. Green Space Coalition Report on Trails in Parks 2000; Item 2. Building Trails in Whitemoore Park 1996-2000; Item 3. Green Space Coalition Greenways, undated; Item 4. Sky Rock at Dorsey's Knob, undated; Item 5. Smelling Sensations (part of the Learning Trails), undated; Item 6. Smelling Sensations, undated.; Item 7. Mon Valley Green Space Coalition History and Awards, 2001; Item 8. Morgantown, WV: A Greener Vision, 1996; Item 9. Falling Run Trails?, 2001; and Item 10. The Caperton Trail, circa 1996-1997; and Item 11. Volunteer Work at Whitemoore Park, 1998 (bifold panel).

There is one rolled map, Item 12. Whitemoore and White Parks Mapping Project (Learning Trail, Woodland Trail, and Lakeshore Trail), 2001.

Biographical / historical:

Dr. Greg Good founded the Mon Valley Green Space Coalition (MVGSC) in 1995 and served in a leadership role until 2008. Good, a retired WVU Professor of the History of Science and Environmental History, was an active member of the West Virginia Sierra Club. He helped form the Morgantown Chapter of the Sierra Club in the early 1990s. The idea for the MVGSC was an outgrowth of the local Sierra Club Chapter, which was looking for an impactful project. The Coalition chose the name of the coalition carefully. They wanted the coalition to be broad and to be inclusive of the entire Monongahela River Valley. Ultimately, however, the organization remained local. The organization was modeled on the Friends of Deckers Creek, a local watershed group, formed to clean up and revitalize Deckers Creek.
In early March 1995, MVGSC invited nearly twenty local environmentally friendly groups to meet and explore their mutual interests. By the end of the year, MVGSC had created a members' network through the use of email and printed calendars with the goal of making Morgantown and the Monongahela River Valley an environmentally friendly place to live. MVGSC published its first newsletter in April 1995.
The MVGSC green space efforts began immediately, helping to organize the April 1995 25th Anniversary Celebration of Earth Day. It then helped raise funds for the wheelchair accessible overlook at Coopers Rock State Forest and participated in the annual Morgantown Trash Bash cleanup project. In 1996, MVGSC embarked on its first major undertaking, the restoration of Whitemoore Park, Morgantown's first public park. This was a combined MVGSC and BOPARC effort, which resulted in the restoration of the landscape and the building of new trails. Whitemoore Park was re-dedicated in 1998.
MVGSC was an advocacy organization, and it helped promote and save First Ward Greenspace (now Jack Roberts Park) and Tibbs Run Reservoir Greenspace (now West Virginia Botanic Garden). Its efforts helped to create the Morgantown Tree Board, promoting urban forestry. Starting in 1997, MVGSC held the First Annual Greenspace Summit, bringing together local greenspace stakeholders. An outgrowth of the Greenspace Summits was the March 2000 statewide Building Coalitions to Visualize Community Green Space Conference, hosted by MVGSC and attended by 150 people. MVGSC again teamed with BOPARC in 2002 and played an important role in promoting the purchase of Dorsey's Knob/Sky Rock as a seventy-acre public park.
MVGSC's other grassroots efforts included writing grants for both the City of Morgantown and the City of Star City. These grants helped fund trail building in White Park including the Learning Trail, Pompano Run Trail, and other trail construction and improvement grants. It helped construct other trails, such as the Cheat Lake Elementary School Nature Trail. In 2003 MVGSC released its ultimate Trail Plan, an all-encompassing vision for trails in Morgantown. It should be noted that the majority of MVGSC trail initiatives were designed to connect with the anticipated Caperton Trail and the Deckers Creek Trail, both still in their development phase.
MVGSC's mission was not limited to advocacy and trails, but it worked to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety in Morgantown, as well. This work included sidewalks and bike lanes on the new Star City bridge, proposed bike lanes and sidewalks on Mon Boulevard, and the creation of the Morgantown Bike Board.
The Mon Valley Green Space Coalition is still an active organization in 2025. Its mission continues true to its founding, the development, preservation, and protection of interconnected trails and green spaces in the Monongahela River Valley. developing, preserving, and protecting interconnected trails and green spaces in the Monongahela River Valley.

Sources:
"Department of History: Greg Good." Department of History | West Virginia University. https://history.wvu.edu/faculty-and-staff/adjuncts-and-lecturers/greg-good. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.
"Homepage." The Mon Valley Green Space Coalition. https://www.monvalleygreenspace.org/. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.
Informal interview with Greg Good by Lee Maddex, October 3, 2025
Emails between Lee Maddex and Greg Good, October 9, 2025
MVGSC informational panels


MVGSC Member Groups/Stakeholders 1995-2008 (see Box 4)

  • Friends of Deckers Creek
  • Coopers Rock Foundation
  • Board of Parks and Recreation
  • Mon River Trails Conservancy
  • WV Botanical Garden
  • Tibbs Run Coalition
  • Greater Morgantown Chamber of Commerce
  • Morgantown Beautification Commission
  • West Virginia Rails to Trails Commission
  • Chestnut Ridge Regional Park
  • Vision 2000
  • Greater Morgantown Community Trust
  • West Virginia University
  • City of Morgantown
  • Morgantown City Planning Commission
  • Monongalia County Commission
  • City of Star City
  • WV Trails Coalition
  • Dorsey's Knob/Sky Rock Park
  • Mason Dixon Park
  • WV Sierra Club
  • Sierra Club, Monongahela Group
  • Walk/Bike Morgantown
  • West Virginia Transportation Transfer Center
  • Friends of White Park Woodlands
  • Friends of Whitemoore Park
  • Friends of Cheat Lake Trail
  • Mon County Commissioners
  • Urban Forest/Tree Board
  • WV Division of Forestry
  • Main Street Morgantown
  • Friends of the Cheat
  • Issac Walton League
  • Boy Scouts
  • Girl Scouts of SW Pennsylvania
  • National Park Service, Rivers and Trails
  • Mountain Stream Monitors
  • WV Rivers Coalition
  • Neighborhood Associations (GSC-NA)
  • Cheat Lake Environmental and Recreation Association (CLEAR)
  • Greenmont Community Center
  • Wiles Hill Community Association
  • Snake Hill Wildlife Management Area
  • Suncrest Neighborhood Association
  • Rogers Beauty Spot
  • South Park Association of Neighbors
  • Jerome Park
  • First Ward Community Park Association

Physical location:
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Environmentalism
Names:
Good, Gregory
Places:
Monongalia County (W. Va.)