CRG Science and Education Facilities

The Coal River Science and Education Building
Charleston Daily Mail news story about CRG construction
The beginning of construction was complicated...
The log raising party got the job on the way!
The new coal river group science and education building
Community events
Volunteers make a difference!
What is next?
What is a Science Center?
What is an Education Center?
What is an Interpretive Center?

The Coal River Science and Education Building

Grand Opening event hosts 200 friends - CRG President

Kris Radford delivers keynote address

THE VOLUNTEERS, NIEGHBORS AND GUESTS ENJOYED THE FESTIVITIES AND THE MUSIC WAS WONDERFUL

"It all started because we needed a place to hold meetings, the rest is history" Bill Currey.

Appalachian Log Structures made a generous donation of a log building to the Coal River Group in 2008.

Just arrived: Solar Panels

The Three 165 watt Solar Panels. Installation now complete

Thanks to Monarch Service Corporation VP Dave Lewis and WV Solar Power's Dan Bowles for their help in conducting the Solar Panel Instalation workshop. Thanks to Jon MCDavid from Batteries Plus for the donation of Batteries to power the installation. Helpers for the project included Dr. Mike Harshbarger, our new Manager of Techincial Systems, for his help on the roof and thanks to Tim Moss, contractor, for his help in getting the job done. Pictures tell the story.

Just Arrived! We have the world's most unusual Rain Water Barrel!

Thanks to a donation from Dave Lawson of Lawson's Flooring the Building now has a beautiful custom oak floor. The conference center main room is now finished. Thanks Dave!

The following pictures show some of the additional finish details. The second floor is also in the finishing stages. We are looking for a good drywall volunteer to help with the second floor work. Exterior lighting and security equipment is being installed. The security system will feature a video monitoring capability which can be monitored via home based monitors.

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Charleston Daily Mail -publishes a News story about the progress of the CRG River Center construction December 29, 2009

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THE BEGINNING OF CONSTRUCTION WAS COMPLICATED - THE DELIVERY TRUCK COULD NOT MAKE IT THROUGH THE ENTRANCE OF THE PARK

The building has been designed to serve as the first WV River Science and Education Center. “Green as a forest in June”, the building will serve as a demonstration center for various forms of alternative energy and environmentally friendly applications.

Funds for the building have come from many private individuals. The WV Legislature along with the Governor has provided a substantial amount of funding from the Community Participation Grant program. Private businesses from throughout the region have provided additional funding and construction materials along with support for the project.

Money and donations don't build a building. It takes work and help. Volunteers working along side of contractors have made the difference in the building being just a building. It has taken over 9 months of work and coordination to get the structure built. The volunteers and generous support by local business of every kind have made it happen. Truly we can say that volunteers and partnerships with private industry is the way to get er done...Thanks to everyone !

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THE LOG RAISING PARTY-GOT THE JOB ON THE WAY!

Yep, we got er done!

Truly, the Center will become not only a hub of research and learning but also a center for history preservation and outdoor river-based recreation.

Located at the picturesque overlook of the Coal River's Upper Falls on the original home site of the Pettigrew family in Meadowood Park, the building offers a magnificent view.

The CRG is working with local schools, universities, national river environmental groups and a host of West Virginia and federal agencies to develop a multitude of learning experiences at the site for both young and old.

The Coal River Group has long sponsored river and water quality education programs in 11 schools located in Boone and Kanawha Counties. The Group hosts an annual education conference for both students and instructors. The Science and Education Center is a natural location for hosting this conference and others for southern West Virginia students.

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THE NEW COAL RIVER GROUP SCIENCE AND EDUCATION BUILDING

THE REAR DECKS PROVIDE A WONDERFUL VIEW OF UPPER FALLS OF THE COAL RIVER

The first floor is nearing completion. The buidling is already hosting community events.

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Community Events

The St. Albans Girl Scouts recently held a Watershed day at the Center.

CRG played host to 400 runners at a recent Regional Cross Country race for students from 4 counties.

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Volunteers Make a Difference!

CRG VOLUNTEERS ARE BUILDING A NEW FUTURE FOR THE COAL RIVERS

GREG STAMM, DAVE LEWIS, DAVE MILLS, BOB MILLER, LISA CHRISTY

VOLUNTEERS MAKE IT SHINE

JOE ERDMAN, JOHN BARRY

The Lumadue Family makes a great team of volunteers

Linda,Kris and Pam working hard to get spring bulbs planted.

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE RIVER.....THE VIEW OF UPPER FALLS FROM THE DECK IS IMPRESSIVE!

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So what comes next?

GREEN BUILDING? ALTERNATIVE ENERGY? LEARNING CENTER? SCIENCE CENTER?

The devil is in the details. How do we make this a truly green building? What is green?

The CRG has done much reasearch regarding how best to demonstrate different aspects of building a practical building that incorporates the latest in GREEN technology while being affordable to the average home owner.

The following diagrams illustrate some of the concepts we are considering incorporating in the final phase of our learning center.

Hydro Power could be generated from a small turbine locate at the Falls. The units being considered are being used in developing nations to provide small scale power reasorces to charge batteries.

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What about the Science Center? Just what is that?

The Coal River Group plans to make the River Center truly a center for river studies. We are working with the WV DEP along with WV State, WVU and Marshall U to help develop a real time river water and aquatic life laboratory at the site. The concept is to install state of the art monitoring devices that will allow us to study the river in a way that has never been done before. The concept is simply a concept at this time but we have a vision that would make the River Center a place for conducting important reasearch. We believe that the more knowledge we have of the Coal Rivers the more we can do to restore and protect them.

The fact that a river is a constantly changing eco-system makes the study of rivers a moving target. The River Center will provide a home to consolidate various types of river studies that will be able to measure water quality and aquatic life on a constant real-time basis. The center will need state of the art monitoring devices to conduct these studies. Funding for this equipment is not available but the CRG has hopes that funding sources will be found and the center will be equipped with the latest in scientific equipment.

A small building is planned to provide additional space to house laboratory equipment along with alternative energy battery storage and monitoring devices.

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What is an Education Center?

The River Center will become a center of learning for all citizens. We plan to utilize the building the nature site, the scientific equipment, the alternative energy system and the river to help provide practical learning experiences for everyone. Programs will be developed to encourage utilization of the facilities by schools, univerisities and other organizations to come back to nature and the river to learn how to restore and preserve our future water supplies.

Creating a COAL RIVER watershed teaching program headquartered at the river center is another goal. The group is studying an internet based teaching program designed by the Cacapon Institute that provides specific teaching modules for use in the Classroom. A partnership between the Coal River Group and the Cacapon Institute could help design a similar program for use in all the schools in the Coal River Watershed.

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THE RIVER CENTER WILL EVENTUALLY HOST A HISTORY INTERPRETIVE CENTER - WHAT'S THAT?

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