Groups still envisioning Heron Trail

Work still to be done after receipt of $340,000 grant

MOSES LAKE — When Moses Lake's newest trail is completed in 2007, walkers will have the chance to view the city's flora and fauna from a boardwalk perched above the lake's waters.

That trail won't be complete for a few morre years, but Heron Trail organizers and visionaries received formal word last month of more than $340,000 in matching grant funding for the project. They are now still raising the city's side of the matching funds for the trail that will soon connect a number of trails and parks throughout the city.

"The location of it creates a hub for the entire trail system," said Curt Carpenter, a city engineer who has long been working on the trail project along with the city's Trails Planning Team, one of three aspects of the Healthy Communities Project.

The project started in 2003 and began as a concept of volunteers and members of the Trails Planning Team. One of the project's highlights will be a 1,500-foot boardwalk at the northern end of Pelican Horn, still allowing for canoes and kayaks to travel underneath the viewing platform.

The trail will bring together existing trails and follow the north shore of Moses Lake's Pelican Horn, connecting to the city's Japanese Gardens, Frontier Middle School, the downtown area and other trail heads.

Once completed, the 1.2 to 1.4 mile trail will also connect with an existing Department of Transportation platform. The trail will also fork off and combine with a trail head near the corner of Fifth Avenue and Beech Street. Trail planners also have intended for a Division Street crossing between Seventh and Eighth avenues.

Educational opportunities are another aspect of the trail that gives passers by a unique opportunity to learn about the area's flora and fauna through interpretive signs and a pavilion for groups to gather.

"I think it's going to be phenomenal," Carpenter said, "I think it's going to be a monument that's going to last for a long time."

The city of Moses Lake beat out approximately 30 other trails throughout the state when it received the grant funding for the trail. Now that the city has received notification of the funds, Carpenter said the formal grant process will start. In addition to beginning the formal process for the grant, organizers must also raise an additional $30,000 in matching funds for the project.

Construction of the trail project is scheduled to start in the fall of 2006, and must be scheduled when water levels are down due to the construction of the boardwalk, Carpenter said. The trail should be complete and open to the public in 2007.

"It's a very unique project," Carpenter said, "being able to hover a boardwalk across the water."