If you’ve entered the campus from Asher Avenue in the last few weeks, you’ve noticed the winding walkway, the gushing sprinklers and the increase in green in UALR’s Trail of Tears Park. The park, which is the first section of the plan to create a greenway from UALR to War Memorial Park, is on track for substantial completion by the end of this month.

As the 4.5 acre haven emerges with life and energy, it’s hard to believe its asphalt and cinderblock-filled past.

Long before it was a home to concrete, the area was a trekking ground for American Indians on their force migration to Indian territory. A part of the Old Southwest Trail, one might imagine that the displaced tribes could get a cool drink from the creek and a much needed rest on the land. The Trail of Tears park is rich with history.

UALR Vice Chancellor of Facilities Management David Millay and planners of the Coleman Creek Greenway Project are working to capture that history and rejuvenate the natural beauty for a new generation of trekkers. The park includes a 1,000-foot walking, biking or running trail that will soon be marked with interpretive signs and plaques describing the area’s significance. The “Circle of Life” segment, a nod to the American Indian culture, can already be seen to the right of the campus’s gated south entrance.

As part of the eyesore-to-eye candy makeover, the park is being restored with native plants, rocks, trees and grasses, with the help of some industrial sprinklers.

Grow, baby, grow!

But a field of green isn’t the end of the enhancement for UALR. The Coleman Creek Greenway Project hopes to extend the trail through campus to 32nd street.

For now, the campus community awaits the soon-approaching day when the sprinklers can rest, the abundant green is freckled with reds and yellows, and we can rejuvenate our weary minds right in our own backyard.

For more information on the complete enhancement, visit the Coleman Creek Greenway Project website.