Mon Valley Green Space Coalition Records
Collection
Collection Number: A&M 3965
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.
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.
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.
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)
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. )
English
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/
Part of the West Virginia and Regional History Center Repository