The head of the table, from left: Laura Foreman (OVEC), Carlos Gore, of Logan County (WVOP), Larry Gibson (of Stanley Family Heirs, Kayford Mountain), Randy Sprouse, Lowell Dodge, and Stacy Edmunds

Event: First Meeting of the Coal River Mountain Watch (CRMW).
On Saturday, November 22, 1997, the Coal River Mountain Watch (CRMW) held its first meeting. CRMW has been coordinated by Randy Sprouse, who first worked with John Flynn as an Appalachia Forest Action Project (AFAP) volunteer, and then became a field coordinator for AFAP and for the Coal River Folklife Project when Vicky Jarrell resigned from the position in the spring of 1997. Vicky Jarrell had been Flynn's office assistant. Sprouse reported to Lowell Dodge as an employee of Trees for the Planet, and when Trees for the Planet combined forces with Appalachian Voices, Sprouse continued working as field coordinator, taking on the work of organizing the CRMW. This first meeting was attended by residents of Marsh Fork and Clear Fork, as well as by members of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) and the West Virginia Organizing Project (WVOP).