Save Coonskin Park
Information about the EIS pause:
On March 27, 2024 the FAA announced a pause to the Environmental Impact Statement that was being prepared for the airfield portion of the project proposed by Yeager Airport.
Members of 'Save Coonskin Park' attended meetings hosted by the FAA on July 9, 2024 to learn more about the reasoning behind the pause and to learn if the pause could be lifted in the future. After some wonderful conversations at these meetings, we are cautiously optimistic that this project will not resume and if it does, it will likely look a lot different than their original plan that would have destroyed hundreds of acres of our beautiful green space.
We are committed to continuing to learn more about the pause and are continuing to work toward improving our park and forming positive relationships with the governing bodies who ultimately make decisions that affect us and future generations.
Thank you to everyone who has supported this movement and continue to do so! Our work is far from done!
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!
