West Virginia
State Park leaders tell lawmakers investments are paying off – WV MetroNews
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state in recent years has sunk a lot of money into the West Virginia State Park system and officials say its beginning to pay off.
Millions of dollars have been spent to catch up on long deferred maintenance projects as well as capital improvements. State Park officials detailed some of those expenditures to lawmakers during the recent interim committee meetings in Charleston.
“So far we’re at $87.1 million in special appropriation, grant funded, and parks bond and repair projects,” said Matt Yeager, deputy chief of Planning Engineering and Maintenance for the State Park system.
Most of the projects entail infrastructure repairs like sewer work, new roofs on park buildings, ADA compliance, and HVAC systems which have been in disrepair for a long time, but due to a lack of funding the work was delayed. Those kinds of projects don’t make for a big splash for promotion, but they are critical to the operations.
Interspersed were a few projects which will draw interest like a world-class mountain bike trail at Cacapon Resort State Park and the addition of new cabins at several parks along with creation of more campsites.
According to Yeager, those campsites are golden.
“Campground business is good. Throughout the State Parks the point is to get as many campsites in a park as you can because you’re going to fill them up on the weekend and that’s when you make your money,” he told members of the interim committee.
There have been times every cabin and campsite in the state were filled during the summer months.
Paul Redford, the deputy chief of operations, said those improvements are being noticed.
“Our customers who provide to us comments about their experience and their stay, overwhelmingly rate us ‘excellent.’” he said.
He added West Virginia State Parks ranked high in a number of categories nationally. For lodging revenue, ski slopes, and swimming pools West Virginia State Parks ranked #2 and for full service restaurants they ranked #4 in the country according to Redford’s comments to the Legislature.
He added, the return on the state’s investments into the parks was huge.
“In Fiscal Year 2023 visitors to West Virginia State Parks spent about $483 million in the state, of that a little over 57%, or $279 million was generated from out-of-state visitation,” he said. “For every one dollar of general tax revenue provided to the State Parks, $18.54 on average was generated in fresh money that likely would not have been there if it were not for our West Virginia State Park system.”
No. 21 West Virginia and Colorado face off in Boulder on Sunday at 3:0 p.m. EST. The Mountaineers are 2-1 in Big 12 play, while the Buffaloes are 0-3 in league play.
Computer models such as BartTorvik, BPI, and KenPom predict the matchup between both teams.
BPI — ESPN BPI gives West Virginia a 59.3 percent chance to win on Sunday. The Mountaineers are expected to win by 2.4 points. The Mountaineers are No. 44 in the BPI rankings while Colorado is No. 86.
BartTorvik — BartTorvik gives the Mountaineers a 65 percent chance to win the game. The projected final score is 67-63 in favor of West Virginia. WVU is No. 25 in the T-Rankings, and Colorado is No. 84.
KenPom — KenPom gives West Virginia a slight edge at a 51 percent chance to win the game. The projected final score is 67-66 in favor of the Mountaineers. WVU is ranked No. 47 by KenPom, while Colorado is ranked No. 81.
Tip-off is set for 3:00 p.m. on Sunday and the game will be televised on ESPN+.
West Virginia has added another commitment from Wyoming defensive end transfer Braden Siders.
Siders, 6-foot-3, 252-pounds, spent four years with the Cowboys although he redshirted in his first with the football program. Over the past three seasons Siders appeared in 33 games and started a total of 26 of those.
The Colorado native is coming off a season where he recorded 21 tackles, 5 tackles for loss and 3 sacks but appeared in only a total of eight games. In 2022, Siders had 44 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss and 7 sacks.
Over the course of his three years on the field, Siders has 91 tackles, 23.5 tackles for loss and 14 sacks.
Siders entered the transfer portal Dec. 6 and reported offers from UAB, Louisiana-Monroe, Tulsa, James Madison and Bowling Green.
Siders becomes the first defensive lineman to commit to West Virginia from the transfer portal and has one year of eligibility remaining in his career.
WVSports.com will have more with Siders in the near future.
West Virginia Mountaineers: Commitment 101: Daveon Walker
West Virginia continues to add pieces to the roster and the latest was from the junior college ranks with a commitment from Butler C.C. Daveon Walker.
Walker, 6-foot-2, 200-pounds, grabbed an offer from the Mountaineers Jan. 4 and then took an official visit to Morgantown where he saw enough to commit to the program a few days later.
The talented wide receiver held offers from North Carolina, Samford and a number of others.
This past season at Butler he recorded a total of 19 catches for 331 yards.
Prior to that Walker was at Vanderbilt where he spent two seasons and played in just one game before transferring to Butler. The Georgia native played at Warer Robins High school where he caught 60 passes for 1,154 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Walker is the latest addition to the wide receiver room this off season joining four transfers in Jacksonville State transfer Cam Vaughn, Eastern Michgan transfer Oran Singleton, Youngstown State wide receiver Cyrus Traugh and Jacksonville State wide receiver Jarod Bowie.
WVSports.com breaks down the commitment of Walker and what it means to the West Virginia Mountaineers football program both now and in the future.
Skill set:
Walker is a wide receiver with good size that understands body positioning as well as how to go up and get the football when it’s in the air. He has the right combination of size to win in contested catch situations and the ability to win down the field.
Displays good body control to adjust to the football and is used primarily as an outside wide receiver during his lone season at Butler and there is likely where he ends up in Morgantown. Given his size, Walker also is a tough tackle once he catches the football and shows the ability to make people miss.
The Mountaineers have added a nice mixture of different skill sets for the wide receiver room so far this off-season and Walker has the versatility to fit several roles.
Fitting the program:
West Virginia offered Walker and was able to close the deal in a rather quick fashion. The Mountaineers will have 12 other scholarship wide receivers on the roster outside of Walker and he will have the chance to carve out a role given his experience throughout his career.
The Mountaineers needed to increase the talent level there and Walker certainly does that.
Walker has been to campus and should be able to adjust given his comfort level with the school as well as how the coaching staff prioritized him in his recruitment. He should have at least two years remaining as well which gives him time to make an impact.
Recruiting the position:
West Virginia is still in pursuit of wide receivers to add to the roster with Anderson (S.C.) Westside 2025 athlete Armoni Weaver and Fort Myers (Fla.) 2025 athlete Madrid Tucker being two high school prospecrs that the new coaching staff has extended offers to. Both plan to visit.
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