Save Coonskin Park
Information about the Kanawha County Commission race:
Let us start by expressing how amazingly non-partisan this Save Coonskin Park movement has been. People from all areas of the political spectrum have joined the cause, signed the petition, and advocated for OUR park!
For the future of the Kanawha County Parks and Recreation system (Coonskin is a part of KCPR), we need a change at the Kanawha County Commission. We need our commissioners to begin to prioritize our parks and to understand that Coonskin Park is off the table when it comes to airport expansion.
We have met with all three of the candidates.
If you are voting a Democrat ticket in this primary, the choice for change is simple. Vote for Natalie Tennant. Our meeting with her left us hopeful for positive change if she were to win the race.
If you are voting a Republican ticket, our meetings with Chris Walters and Dewayne Duncan were promising and they both had some great ideas for future development of the parks system.
If you are registered as an Independent you can vote in either party's primary, but you have to ask for the Democrat or Republican ballot to vote for one of the above candidates.
Research the candidates and feel free to reach out to us if you have questions.
Bottom line - VOTE! And vote for a change! The primary election is May 14th, and early voting started May 1.
Welcome to any person interested in the future of Charleston's Coonskin Park! Yeager Airport in Charleston has proposed a runway extension that would destroy approximately 400 acres of Coonskin Park, including all the upper shelters and hiking trails, and would forever bury Coonskin Branch (including "the Grotto" and the Alice Knight Memorial Trail) under hundreds of feet of rubble. We're here to protect Coonskin.
'Friends of Coonskin' was originally formed over 20 years ago when the airport was proposing a similar expansion that would have impacted the park. That proposed project was stopped and Friends of Coonskin went inactive. Now, FOC is back to once again protect one of Charleston's most accessible and beloved public parks.
what would we lose?
The entire Upper Park area would be destroyed - over 400 acres of natural hardwood forest would be leveled into a mountain top removal site!
7.5 Miles of Trails:
Alice Knight Memorial (Grotto)
Cougar
Cub
Eagle Scout
Fern
Fire Road
Harry Wise
Hemlock
Nature
Oak
Patriot
Pine
Turtle
Wildlife
15 Shelters
Railroad Club
Gorman Field and Volleyball
3 Playgrounds
Day Camp Area
3 Miles of Paved Road
Watch these videos explaining how much of our park would be destroyed by this proposal!
A large portion of our park would be bulldozed into a mountain top removal site and the dirt used to fill in the valley to extend the runway.
Pilots Perspective Video.mp4Map Overlay Full but shorter.mp4Take the time to read this amazing article from the Charleston Gazette about the creation of OUR park in 1950! Let's rekindle this spirit!
