CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Children in Montgomery County will soon get the chance to explore Rotary Park and get active in a whole new way. The Clarksville-Montgomery County Community Health Foundation recently awarded a $331,000 grant to the Friends of Rotary Park and Montgomery County Parks and Recreation for a Nature Adventure Trail.
“We’re trying to get kids to fall in love with nature,” said Sally Burchett, Playground Crew Chief for Montgomery County Parks and Recreation.
Burchett played a critical role in the writing and development of the grant and worked closely with Friends of Rotary Park to make it all happen.
The site will feature a quarter-mile trail leading from the new Wade Bourne Nature Center to a ‘secret garden’ style playground. The playground area will be engineered concrete created to resemble trees and fallen logs in the forest. Kids will be able to climb, jump, and explore through the trail and the playground.
“We want this to be a destination spot for our school system,” said Burchett. “This will be a way to take what they’re learning [in the classroom] and in the Nature Center, and really get to explore hands-on.”
Burchett emphasized it was a primary goal to make the space somewhere accessible for kids, interactive, and above all promote physical activity. “With childhood obesity a growing problem in Tennessee, we wanted to offer something to engage children in a fun and physical way.”
The grant will completely cover the first phase of the Nature Adventure Trail, which includes grading and preparing the trail, as well as creating the playground.
Per the grant guidelines, completion of the project must be one year. Burchett projects the job to be completed in July 2020, which is the same time frame for the Wade Bourne Nature Center.