Groundwork Guyandotte

Southern West Virginia

Community Garden Park Project Proposal

Kenneth Goode

Project Coordinator

Summer 2014

Executive Summary

Groundwork Guyandotte Southern West Virginia is a nonprofit organization in Wyoming County that is working towards the revitalization of the watershed area through increasing recreational opportunities, redeveloping underutilized land and Brownfields, implementing environmental education and job training programs, developing strategic partnerships, and empowering communities and individuals. Groundwork works with various local, state, and federal partners to establish programs that improve the physical environment of Wyoming County in order to improve economic, social, and environmental well-being of the county. One of these programs was the Glen Fork Garden Build Day 2010 where Groundwork volunteers worked with teachers and students of Glen Fork Consolidated School to establish a school garden to provide the students an opportunity to learn about gardening. Fruits and vegetables were planted in a lasagna garden for organic gardening practices.

Introduction

This proposal is aimed at the development of a community gardens project in Wyoming County with the implementation of gardens in selected sites to create organic food sources, community supported agriculture, and developing the sites to support farmers markets. Three sites will be discussed for further development of gardening spaces and how to implement a community garden project in these specified sites. The three sites proposed are the Baileysville Community Center, the McGraws Community Park, and the Bud-Alpoca Community Center. These 3 sites are spaced uniformly across the county and can reach the community populations thoroughly. The purpose of a community garden project will be to further facilitate the formation and expansion of state, regional and local gardening and agricultural networks and more importantly to improve the quality of life for the citizens of the communities.

What are Community Gardens?

Basically, community gardens are tracts of land that is collectively tended by a group of people for the cultivation of fruits and vegetables. The purpose of these gardens is to provide the area with healthy, organic food as well as satisfying labor, neighborhood improvement, sense of community and establish a connection to the natural environment. They function publically in terms of ownership, access and management and can be owned in trust by local governments or nonprofit organizations. Many groups, such as county extension offices, offer workshops and seminars of gardening basics and have local master gardeners working with citizens to offer hands on experience and training.

Why Community Garden Parks?

The United States has come out of the grips of a terrible recession where jobs and productivity has declined exponentially. The cost of doing business, especially growing food, has become increasingly more expensive. So to offset some of that cost and labor, community agriculture could be a way to ease some of the difficulties communities have recently gone through. Many community centers have been unable to operate due to utility costs, especially in the lowest income areas like southern WV, where many counties are dead last in the county in health and employment opportunities. For example, neighboring McDowell County has the lowest life expectancy in the US and many of the residential and commercial properties have been abandoned or are in disrepair. We live in an area where our citizens feel insecure about proper nutrition and food insecurity is a major, ongoing topic for families. These parks will be a major focus with the goal of transforming our area with community gardens to grow the most affordable, healthiest food in the Guyandotte foodshed and create a network of sites and people for the specific purpose of community supported agriculture programming.

Site Analysis

The proposed three sites are Baileysville Community Center, McGraws Community Park, and Bud-Alpoca Community Center. These three areas are located in unincorporated parts of Wyoming County and are geographically capable of agriculture capacity and distribution of fresh produce to its residents.

Site #1: Baileysville Community Center

The old Baileysville high school site is well suitable for a community gardens and recreational park. The site has land that was used for a football and baseball field and also a large park like sitting/picnic area. The site is located on the deposition curve of the Guyandotte River and has high soil quality. The area is linear and is geologically at the mouth of the Baileysville community which is in the western area of Wyoming County. The geography of the site runs northeast to southwest and receives plenty of growing season sunlight. The long stretch of creek line at the river would also make for a good recreational river park/fishing area. As for the condition of the water in the river, the WVDEP has data for further analysis and planning.

Site #2: McGraws Community Park

The Milam’s Creek Park, recently improved by Groundwork teams, is located on the site where the old McGraws Grade School still stands is a suitable area to establish a community gardens park and program. The old school structure could possibly be adaptively reused for a community center to hold meetings and store supplies. Further information about the structure

needs to be analyzed by a state licensed architect. The geology is suitable for gardening because it sits in a deposition zone for the creek and contains rich fertile soil. The geography of the site is suitable due to 2 reasons: (1) the site runs east to west and receives adequate growing season sunlight, and (2) it is located in an area of the county that would certainly be capable of delivering fresh produce to local rural areas with minimal transportation efforts. This benefits community supported agriculture and farm to school programming.

Site #3: Bud-Alpoca Community Center

The old Bud-Alpoca grade school site would make a well suited greenspace community garden park. The old structure on the site is in disrepair and should be looked at by a licensed architect if ever considered for adaptive reuse. The property has poor drainage due to lack of maintenance of the old culvert and needs converted into a bioswale for wildlife habitat. Due to location in a deposition valley of George Branch, the area has good soil quality. The site runs northeast to southwest and receives adequate sunlight during the growing season. The site also has a linear raised area on the entire stretch of the eastern side that would be good for different types of greenhouses. Benefits of this site include: (1) located in the southeastern part of the county which could deliver fresh produce to the local citizens, and (2) located 5 miles from Mullens which aids in resources and transportation corridors. This is instrumental in community supported agriculture and Farms to Schools programming.

Benefits of Community Gardens

Community gardens not only provide access to fresh, nutritious food, they also serve as a place to build supportive, inclusive relationships among people of all ages and backgrounds. In addition, they provide the opportunity to educate citizens about the importance of good nutrition for child development and educational achievement, chronic disease prevention, obesity prevention, plus getting hands-on-experience by participating in a gardening program with others. Some additional benefits include:

Improves the life quality of people in the garden Provides a catalyst for neighborhood/community development Stimulates social interaction Encourages self-reliance Beautifies neighborhoods Produces wholesome, nutritious foods Reduces family food budgets Conserves resources Creates opportunity for recreation, exercise, therapy, and education Reduces undesirable social behaviors Preserves greenspace

Creates income opportunities and economic development Reduces heat indexes from streets and parking lots

Creating a Network

The first step will be to identify one of the sites for a pilot community garden to test the plan of the GW program there first. To ensure the continued operation of this pilot garden and the vision of food security in Wyoming County, an expanded network of community gardens, food distribution and community education are necessary. These steps may include:

1. Obtain program management assistance, primarily through technical information, partnerships, funding and capacity building. Groundwork will identify and will build partnerships with local organizations that can provide project development and management assistance, capacity development and technical assistance in developing gardens and food distribution strategies.

2. Strengthen ties with partners and participants identified through this project to help carry out planning and implementation of the development: design, site identification, analysis and site acquisition, construction of community gardens, types of operation at each site, food distribution and education programs.

3. Conduct outreach activities to reach underrepresented communities, seniors, school programs, and to obtain assistance from the county for suitable sites and educational programs.

4. Work with the county if needed to modify policy and/or permit requirements for the community gardens and obtain agreements for the planning, design and construction of the network to:

Plan and build Operate and manage Distribute food Obtain funding Coordinate school garden activities with the network Coordinate ancillary programs such as art, beautification, education, and

volunteer participation programs5. All the efforts to create a community garden network will require a fulltime staff person

during the expansion period. It will also be necessary to obtain assistance, paid or volunteer, from various fields of expertise, such as legal, design and engineering, brownfields and other related disciplines.

Envisioning the Community Garden Parks

Groundwork Guyandotte Southern West Virginia envisions that the parks will create opportunities for discussion and education in the communities about agriculture, organic gardening, food security and many other topics as the parks grow and solidify the neighborhoods. Increasing the quantity and availability of locally grown, more healthy organic food that residents can consume could reduce the carbon footprint of the area by decreasing the distance that food must travel; in turn decrease transportation caused CO2 emissions.

The Community Gardens Parks will be sustainable landscapes. It would not incorporate or promote harmful pesticides or other dangerous chemicals which would leach into the groundwater. We are confident that these sustainable garden parks would be a much more environmentally conscious choice by practicing sustainable ideas such as utilizing a rainwater collection system to irrigate the soil, a central gathering space for events, solar power lighting, and related environmental infrastructure. These parks will benefit the citizens of the communities in many ways and would initiate a sense of well-being into the local neighborhoods.

Renderings

Note: Artist conceptions (digital and hand drawings), and before and after photos needed