Published: July 15, 2008 09:38 pm      

Free coal heritage workshops scheduled in area

The National Coal Heritage Area (NCHA) will be hosting several workshops to gather information about existing trails and potential trail opportunities from communities in Raleigh, Fayette, Summers, Wyoming, Boone, Cabell, Kanawha (Paint Creek & Cabin Creek Watersheds), Lincoln, Logan, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo and Wayne counties.

The workshops are free to public.

The NCHA has partnered with the National Park Service-Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program to create a regional trail plan for southern West Virginia, and the input gathered during these public workshops will be used to identify issues and opportunities for motorized and non-motorized land and water trails, including byways and backways, officials said.

All locations are handicapped accessible. Light refreshments will be served.

Peggy Pings, outdoor recreation planner with the National Park Service's Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program (RTCA), will be coordinating and providing her expertise during these trail planning and input workshops, along with other RTCA staff from Pennsylvania and Ohio. Members of the 20-person steering committee will be on hand.

Participants are asked to bring any local trail-related information to these sessions.

Staff from Cornerstone GIS along with a VISTA member will be digitizing trail ideas directly onto computer mapping software. Please bring any local trail related information, GPS points, and information about projects underway to these sessions, officials said.

For more information, please contact Peggy Pings, NPS-RTCA: mpings@wvu.edu or call her at 293-2941, ext. 2446, or Christy Bailey, executive director, National Coal Heritage Area at ccbailey@ntelos.net or call her at 256-6941.

— Fred Pace