Updates from WV Rivers Coalition
June 2025
A snapshot from Paddle Camp on the Tug Fork River.
There’s nothing like being out in the community — on the water, in town squares, at festivals, in meetings big and small — connecting with people who care deeply about clean and healthy West Virginia waters for all.
This month has been a powerful reminder of the strength, joy, and urgency of this work. We attended Paddle Camp on the Tug Fork River, hosted by our partners at Friends of the Tug Fork River and Big Laurel Learning Center. We hosted First Friday in Marlinton with the Town and the Pocahontas County Drama, Fairs & Festivals, joined by many of our public lands allies. We also celebrated the magic of our rivers at a truly unique event in Morgantown, featuring ORSANCO’s 2,200-gallon mobile aquarium filled with live native fish from the Ohio River and its tributaries.
We danced for the Guyandotte River in Mullens at the Down To The River Festival, and represented WV Rivers alongside local leaders, from the Rural Appalachian Improvement League to Coal River Mountain Watch and Economic Development Greater East. These groups are finding innovative ways to meet their communities’ needs — from air-to-water hydropanels to pollution watchdog programs — and we’re honored to stand with them.
We showed up for Pride, too — in Morgantown and in the Greenbrier Valley. Clean water and LGBTQIA+ rights are inextricably linked: it’s about dignity, justice, and the right to live fully and freely, with access to basic needs and safe, thriving communities. We’re grateful to welcome more young people and new allies into our movement through these joyful and powerful spaces.
In Wheeling, we met with the Sisters of Saint Joseph and other environmental leaders to discuss the future of our state’s resources. We also saw firsthand the aftermath of the devastating floods, and are keeping our neighbors in our hearts.
In Washington, DC, we asked for real relief for Southern WV. We told the stories we carry — stories of undrinkable water, health issues, methane in wells, and children getting sick. We asked for water trucks, mobile showers, and a public health crisis declaration.
What we heard from congressional staff was surprise, but no clear commitment to act. And so, we keep going. We keep advocating. We keep showing up. And we hope you will, too.
It’s been a full month of action, learning, heartbreak, and joy. Thanks for being on this journey with us.
Onward,
The WV Rivers Team
What’s Next for the Ohio River Basin?
Jordan Lubetkin with the National Wildlife Federation discusses the Ohio River Basin Restoration and Protection Plan in Huntinton, WV.
Last week, West Virginia Rivers Coalition hosted a public input session in Huntington at Marshall University’s Brad D. Smith Center for Business and Innovation. The event focused on the Ohio River Basin Restoration and Protection Plan, a comprehensive strategy to improve water quality, build flood resilience, and invest in healthy communities across the basin.
The Ohio River Basin spans 80% of West Virginia and remains one of the only major watersheds in the country without dedicated federal support. The draft plan outlines key priorities and actions to change that, but it needs public input to reflect the needs of the people who live here.
Public comments are open through July 18, and your feedback will help shape the final plan that will be presented to federal agencies and members of Congress. There will also be a virtual public input session on July 8 from 12:00-1:00 PM. You can register here.
📣 Review the plan and submit comments here: ohioriverbasinalliance.org/restoration-plan
Your voice matters — please take a few minutes to weigh in.
Final Day to Submit Comments on WV’s Water Quality Standards
Help stop the rollbacks on water protections in WV! Send a comment to WVDEP by June 30, 2025.
Last chance! The public comment period for changes to WV’s water protections ends today, June 30. These proposed rules—now required to undergo public input—could weaken drinking water safeguards and open the door to more pollution in our rivers and streams.
We’ve made it easy to weigh in. Submit your comments on these three critical rules now:
- Water Quality Standards (47 CSR 02)
- National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program (47 CSR 10)
- Underground Injection Control (47 CSR 13)
Make sure your voice is heard before these changes go to the Environmental Protection Agency. Every comment counts.
Take Action: Build Stronger, Safer Communities After the Floods
In this image, cars sit submerged in floodwaters, Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Wheeling, W.V. (Photo: Wheeling West Virginia Fire Department via AP)
This month’s flash floods devastated communities, claiming lives, damaging homes and infrastructure, and displacing families. While neighbors step up to help one another, it’s clear: West Virginia needs lasting solutions to prepare for and recover from disasters like this.
Join us in calling for urgent action:
- Tell WV lawmakers to fund the Flood Resiliency Trust Fund during the upcoming special session.
- Urge Congress to invest in disaster recovery and flood-ready infrastructure for communities most at risk.
Our communities can’t wait. Speak up today to help West Virginians rebuild stronger and safer.
Program Reflections: Our Work in Southern WV
Students at Kermit PK8 designing their own deciduous forests and flexing their advocacy muscles.
Recently, Southern WV Coordinator Mariah Clay worked with Grace Williams and Big Laurel Learning Center to create a lesson plan on rivers and advocacy. The lessons were a hit! Each 6th, 7th, and 8th grade class designed their own deciduous forest river ecosystem. They drew organisms that would live and thrive in a healthy ecosystem. They identified each organism’s relationship to water and the river. Each class also learned the definition of a watershed and identified the watershed and the larger river basin in which they live.
Students reviewed the water cycle and identified the four steps: precipitation, runoff, evaporation, and condensation. Students explored what can happen to precipitation, including absorption into groundwater, evaporation from surfaces, and runoff into streams and larger bodies of water.
Finally, each middle school class identified concerns or threats to their watersheds. Students listed their concerns, including pollution, litter, flooding, droughts, water quality, air quality, deforestation, invasive species, and others. Some classes began discussion of how they can help combat these threats.
After the lesson, students wrote postcards to their local leaders to share their concerns. Thanks to Kermit PK8 for having us!
Public Lands, Public Health, and Clean Energy: What’s at Stake in the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act
Photo: Seneca Rocks
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is now being considered by the Senate. The bill includes provisions that could significantly affect West Virginia’s communities, environment, and healthcare system.
If passed:
- Oil and gas drilling would expand on public lands, polluting the places we love.
- Protections that prevent the construction of roads through vital habitats, such as the Ambler Road through Alaska’s Brooks Range, would be removed
- Clean energy incentives that save families money would vanish.
- Rural hospitals like Welch Community Hospital could shut down.
- 65,000 West Virginians would lose their health insurance.
These provisions will increase pollution and harm West Virginians at the same time as the bill removes folks from health insurance and risks losing funding for rural hospitals. So, while pollution exposure goes up, access to medical care goes down.
📢 Add your name today. Tell the Senate: We won’t trade our health and lands for tax cuts for billionaires.
The WV Rivers Coalition also encourages you to contact your leaders by phone. You can call the Senate Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
Investing in Grassroots Water & Community Projects
A white oyster mushroom and a group of students in Fayette County helping Plateau Action Network, one of our new mini-grant recipients, with their Fayette Co. Fungi Initiative.
WV Rivers is proud to share the June recipients of our Community Action Mini-Grant Program.
The WV Rivers Community Action Mini-Grant Program supports communities in growing their collective power to influence decision-makers and secure safe, healthy water for all.
Since 2019, WV Rivers has provided over $78,000 to support 46 projects aimed at improving water quality and raising awareness across the state. Through our mini-grant program, WV Rivers has supported dozens of powerful grassroots projects across the state — defending headwaters, uplifting frontline voices, and taking real action on clean water and climate.
Today, WV Rivers is proud to share the June recipients of our Community Action Mini-Grant Program. Meet our newest awardees:
- Judy’s Garden Club (Braxton County) will host a rain barrel workshop to help residents combat drought, lower water bills, and preserve food access. The event includes a civic engagement component to raise awareness and call for affordable water solutions.
- Midland Trail High School (Fayette County) is partnering with WV DNR and Trout Unlimited to launch Trout in the Classroom, teaching students hands-on science, water quality monitoring, and environmental advocacy as they raise and release trout into a local stream.
- Tucker United (Tucker County) is organizing against proposed industrial development with public meetings, signage, and community outreach to protect air, water, and health in the county.
- Plateau Action Network (Fayette County) is piloting a mycoremediation project using mushrooms to naturally filter pollutants from tributaries feeding into the New River, just upstream of a public water intake.=
- Protect Middleway (Jefferson County) is conducting groundwater monitoring to track seasonal changes in well depth and protect the Lake Louisa/Turkey Run watershed, building a data-driven case for long-term water protection.
The Community Action Mini-Grant Fund is a project of WV Rivers, supported mostly through grant funding made available to us thanks to people like you who believe in the power of local action.
Whether you give to WV Rivers, take action, or read and share these updates, your sustained commitment to clean water, public lands, and healthy communities makes a difference. Your engagement helps us secure more funding, which we can then redistribute to grassroots leaders on the ground.
Thank you! You can learn more about this program and find our next deadline at the button below.
Vote Ridge for Jr. Ranger!
Let’s help make Ridge Crowe the next Jr. Ranger. Vote today (and every day!)
We’re cheering for Ridge — our Deputy Director Autumn Crowe’s son — who’s a quarterfinalist in the National Wildlife Federation’s Junior Ranger contest with Ranger Rick! Ridge is a passionate young naturalist who loves all animals — even the ones that make some folks squirm, like worms and spiders. You might remember our viral “crawdad on a petal” reel from the Greenbrier River Celebration — that sweet moment was all Ridge! He carefully placed the crawdad on a flower to help it “have a nice ride.”
WV Rivers is proud to be an affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation, working together to inspire the next generation of conservationists. Ridge’s curiosity and compassion for wild things make him a perfect candidate for Junior Ranger — and we’d love your help getting him to the semifinals!
Voting resumes today, and you can vote once daily to support Ridge on his journey: https://jr-ranger.org/2025/ridge-ebff
Let’s lift up this young explorer and future environmental leader!
Meet Us at The Confluence on September 12, 2025
We’re celebrating 35 years of commitment to conservation and community. Join us in Hico, WV. Event poster and creative designed by Wheeling-based artist, Hannah Hedrick at Spore Print Press.
ICYMI: On Friday, September 12, we’re gathering at The Confluence in Hico, WV to mark 35 years of WV Rivers Coalition. It’s a moment to look back at what we’ve done together — and to look ahead, knowing there’s still so much more to do. We hope you’ll join us!
🎟 Tickets are available now: wvrivers.org/35thanniversary
Want to support the event? Sponsorships help make this celebration possible and free for the community! Click here to learn more.
