Westside Walk

BIRDS, WILDFLOWERS ABUNDANT ALONG NEW PATH

Steve Huckreide, from left, Terry Stanfill and Allyson Ransom walk the new Gravette Wildlife Observation Trail on July 6.
Steve Huckreide, from left, Terry Stanfill and Allyson Ransom walk the new Gravette Wildlife Observation Trail on July 6.

— The buzz word in cities from one corner of Northwest Arkansas to the next is trails.

We’re building bike and pedestrian trails, nature trails, bird-watching trails and trails that connect cities.

Bigger towns in our little corner of the Ozarks are leading the trail-building parade, but smaller ones are following suit.

An example is the new Gravette Wildlife Observation Trail that winds through woods and meadows in this pretty little town of 5,000.

The first phase of the trail was finished last spring, thanks in part to a $72,000 grant from the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. There’s an asphalt oval for exercisers and dirt paths that meander through woods and meadows.

Three-fourths of a mile have been built so far, but Allyson Ransom, Gravette’s communications director, said that’s only a start. She hopes two miles or more of trail can be built.

That will give nature lovers an array of wildflowers and birds to enjoy. Trails will help residents get around town - on foot.

“We want to link schools and parks with a system of trails and sidewalks. That’s the long-term plan, to make this more of a pedestrian community,” Ransom said.

The path is a hit with Gravette folk, but Ransom hopes people from all over will come to see one of the area’s newest trails.

To show it off, Ransom guided a tour of the path on July 6.

WOODS, MEADOWS

Our band of six trail trekkers met at Pop Allum Park where the trail begins. The asphalt walking path starts here. It’s nice, but we were more interested in a wilder walk.

Nature photographers Terry Stanfill of Decatur and Steve Huckreide of Gravette joined Ransom. Kristen DeWitt, Shyanne Nichols and your faithful outdoors reporter rounded out our group.

Before heading into the woods, we admired a butterfl y garden Ransom planted, where asphalt meets single-track dirt trail. Bees and butterfl ies fl itted about the purple conefl owers, black-eyed Susans and other blossoms.

Walking through a grove of hardwoods, Ransom noted the trail was a community project.

Shop classes at Gravette High School built bluebird houses installed around the trail, Ransom said. Bluebirds nested and fl edged young at each house.

Ransom wears more than one hat at the city. She also manages the farmers market and is Gravette’s resource eft ciency expert. Not only that, she built a rest bench or two for relaxing reflection beside the trail.

She has always enjoyed the exercise and fresh air trailsprovide, and was glad to see the city’s new trail take shape.

We walked through oak trees, hickories and pines. Pretty soon the whistle of a Kansas City Southern train stopped our conversation. Part of the trail expansion will involve going underneath a trestle near the existing trail. Ransom said she hopes to secure a permit from the railroad for a trail easement.

BIRDS OF FEATHER

Walking was easy with little worries about ticks or chiggers hitching a ride on our socks. City workers do a good job of mowing the vegetation along the trail to create a wide corridor, she said.

Stanfill and Huckreide both create amazing nature and wildlife images. They brought their cameras on our hike and clicked away at flowers and birds.

There are forests and meadows in the trail area. That makes the path ideal for birding, Stanfill said. Forest birds, such as woodpeckers, and meadowspecies, such as the unusual Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, can be seen and photographed.

If it’s flora you seek, there’s lots to see on the Gravette Wildlife Observation Trail. Stanfi ll admired the scenery of a trailside meadow

“This is a perfect prairie for native grasses and wildfl owers,” he said, setting up his camera for a photograph.

Ransom said she wants to sow more native plants along the trail.

Stanfill and Huckreide rattled off a long list of birds they’ve seen on their trail walks here. Species include orioles, Cedar Waxwings, Yellow-billed Cuckoos, mocking birds, Red-tailed Hawks and Killdeer.

Ransom said she’s seen deer and foxes on her walks. One person reported seeing a bobcat.

A few miles south on Arkansas 59, Gentry has a nature trail that’s a feather in the town’s cap. It leads to Swepco Lake and is one of the top birding destinations in the region.

We’ll visit that trail next week.

Outdoor, Pages 6 on 08/02/2012

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