This year begins the third year for our young Foundation. A year that has seen both strides and sadness. The Park’s professional leadership team was finally in place last Spring with Superintendent Marshall Markley arriving to compliment the new Assistant Superintendent, Ben Leedom. A permanent leadership team was now in place and the team was clearly supportive of the Foundation and its plans. Tragically, Superintendent Markley passed away after only a few months in his new role. Fortunately, and only after a brief period, Ben Leedom was named the new Superintendent, although the Assistant Superintendent’s remained unfilled until just a few weeks ago when Joe Emmerth joined the Park’s staff. Given this significant transition of leadership over the past year, it could have negatively impacted the work of the Foundation, but that was not the case. Superintendent Leedom’s time, active participation and obvious commitment to the work of this Foundation has enabled our collaborative activities and plans to move forward without interruption.
We were notified by International Dark Sky that the Blackwater Falls State Park met eligibility requirements for a formal Dark Sky Park application and have done so. The Foundation worked with Park staff to determine what lighting must be retrofitted to be Dark Sky compliant. The survey of the Park’s lighting was completed and the Foundation has begun purchasing lighting fixtures. To the extent possible, the Foundation is also supporting the cost of installing these new fixtures. Lighting replacement is a priority of the Foundation.
However, the Park’s needs are many and the Foundation helped to fund the renovation of the basketball courts and the purchase of a BWO “smart” Digital Telescope to enhance programming offered through the Park’s Nature Center. Funds have been approved to acquire three additional bike racks this spring and discussions are taking place related to the design and financial support for a new playground facility.
Not all of the projects include financial support as reflected by the inaugural “trail maintenance” activity bringing volunteers and the Blackwater Falls State Park staff together to monitor and enhance existing trails. The new initiative is being conducted monthly, weather permitting.
The Foundation continues to present and participate in various state and regional conferences held at the Park such as the Kanawha Valley Astronomy Society, Astrophotography Weekend and the West Virginia Wildflower Pilgrimage. We sponsored a running/walking team for the area’s largest fundraising event that’s entitled “Run for It” and brings over a thousand participants to the small community of Davis.
The Foundation has acquired a sufficient number of attractive “donation boxes” that are placed in various locations of the Park and have proven rather successful. Some preliminary work has been undertaken to explore potential sources of grant and gift funding, particularly in support of the Dark Sky initiative.
Comments are closed