About
The Coal River Group works at the intersection of watershed health, community access, and river recreation in the Coal River watershed of Kanawha, Boone, and Putnam counties. They're focused on river cleanup, building public access to the water, and developing the Coal River Water Trail — a network of put-ins and take-outs that makes the Coal River accessible to paddlers, fishermen, and anyone who wants to experience this often-overlooked waterway.
The Coal River runs through communities that have historically been shaped by extraction — coal, timber, chemical industry — and the river itself has paid a price for that history. The Coal River Group represents a different vision for what this watershed can become: a recreation asset, a community amenity, and a source of economic activity for the towns along its banks. Their work is slow, patient, and important.
