Trail grant received

GRAVETTE — A $72,000 grant has been awarded the city of Gravette to upgrade and expand the walking trail in Pop Allum Park. The award comes from the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

According to Allyson Ransom, who wrote the grant request, bids will be taken soon for construction of the trail. This will involve improving the present 737-foot unpaved trail and creation of a new 940-foot joining loop.

The combined trail will start at the southeast side of the large baseball field in the park. It will extend southward along the existing trail, then northwest and finally eastward to the point of beginning.

Both trails will be 10 feet wide, paved and handicap-accessible, with parking and ramp at the trailhead.

Access to the trailhead will be from Eighth Ave.S.W., south of the ball field.

Additional park benches will be added, along with other landscaping features, including large boulders, bird boxes, native flowers and interpretive signs. It will travel through wooded areas and grassland, ideal for bird and wildlife watchers.

“We are encouraging schools and civic groups to help sponsor our bluebird boxes and three informational signs thatwill be installed,” Ransom said. (Contact her at City Hall, 787-5368.)

The trail design allows for extension as funds become available, the grant writer added.

Ransom, who is the city’s director of communications and resource efficiency and who directs the summer farmer’s market, said “The ‘Wildlife Trail’ is expected to be completed and ready for a grandopening festival by Earth Day next April.”