UALR has received a $202,000 grant from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council to complete work on the Trail of Tears Park on the south end of the Coleman Creek Greenway.

Once a concrete eyesore of asphalt, concrete, and cinderblock buildings, the 4.5-acre park will mark a spot on the Old Southwest Trail where struggling overland travelers stopped for water at the creek. The trail was a route taken by thousands of members of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations during their forced removal to the West.

The $650,000 donor-financed park project will restore the area back to a natural state with native trees, rocks, and grasses.

The park project is the first in a plan to create the Coleman Creek Greenway that will reach the full length of campus.

Described in UALR’s Master Plan, “On the Move,” the Coleman Creek project calls for the creation of a 47-acre greenway with lush vegetation, bicycle and walking trails, benches, and bridges.

The restoration project will provide an outdoor laboratory for biologists, earth scientists, and hydrologists for teaching and research activities. It also will unite the campus and tie Coleman Creek to a regional open space system that includes the Fourche Creek Wetlands and War Memorial Park.

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