125 acres of ugly receive face-lift
Nature can quickly overrun a 125-acre park that’s left fallow for a couple of years, and Westwood Park in southwest Little Rock shows the neglect.
“Mother Nature’s been the only gardener on the property for probably a decade now,” says Steve Johnson, chairman of the Western Hills Neighborhood Association’s park committee.
The golf course closed in 2007 and was bought by the city three years later, but this is the first year that the city and the Western Hills neighborhood have made an attempt to turn it into a park.
On March 3, as a tuneup for Keep Little Rock Beautiful — most of whose cleanup events were scheduled for Saturday — dozens of volunteers and a contingent of workers from the state Department of Community Correction converged on the park to trim and clean overgrown and littered sections of the park.
Fergus Finnell, whose house is directly across the street from the park, brought several chain saws to the cleanup and was sawing away at overgrown shrubs alongside Western Hills Avenue.
“I’d rather be doing this than anything else in the world,” Finnell said.
When they were done, cart paths reemerged, as did views of the lake. The park’s numerous mature trees regained their stately shapes as workers hacked away and hauled off undergrowth and broken limbs.
“We got almost everything cleaned up, except for some random pockets of leaves and branch cuttings,” Johnson said. “We’re planning on convening a smaller group of committee members [this] weekend to finish up.”
The miles of paths are in surprisingly good shape, as are the bridges that span the park’s waterways. Norm Berner, of the adjacent Meadowcliff/brookwood Neighborhood Association, says clearing the paths has been a priority to encourage walkers and joggers. Recently, children from Western Hills Elementary School have started
using the paths as part of a walking program.
Johnson said the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s cross-country team is looking into using the paths to train, and perhaps for a race.
Berner helped the Western Hills group organize the cleanup, and he’s a believer that when residents use public areas, unsavory elements move out. Recently, as he was reconnoitering in the park, Berner noticed a door on a maintenance building was closed. He remembered that the last time he had been by, it was ajar. He checked and found a motorcycle parked inside, which the police determined had been stolen a few days earlier.
In Berner’s ramblings around the park, he came across a gravestone at the base of an aged hickory tree. The flat stone marker is broken and faded, but information on the stone suggests a burial took place there in 1856.
“I would really like to keep the park as natural as possible, considering the magnificence of the trees and other flora and fauna. I don’t know of any other place in central Arkansas where you can see such huge pine, cypress and oak trees in such a natural setting. However, it’s the city’s land, so ultimately they will decide,” Johnson said.
Johnson said it is uncertain if the city can save the clubhouse on the hill because of mold and asbestos problems, and the plan is to raze it. Johnson hopes a large pavilion can be built on the site, which has a sweeping view of the park.
He’s excited about the city’s plans for the park, which should take shape within the next two to five years. A conceptual drawing provided by Truman Tolefree, Little Rock Parks and Recreation director, shows four soccer fields and a ballpark complex, with six ballfields in a star pattern that all back up to a common concession area.
Also on the drawing are fishing areas with piers, a playground, a championship disc golf course and conversion of the cart paths for pedestrian and bicycle use.
Johnson said that a bridge across Fourche Creek could connect Westwood Park with Hindman Park, and the nine-hole disc golf course at Hindman could link to a new nine-hole layout in Westwood Park. He says work on the paths and fishing areas can go forward quickly.
“We’re planning on getting the community gardens up and running this summer, the lake stocked with fish and converting the old cart paths to fitness trails,” he said.
To divert park traffic away from narrow Western Hills Avenue, Berner says a new entrance will likely be built off South University Avenue.
A Facebook page has been set up for people interested in keeping up with park improvements: facebook.com/westwoodparklittlerock.
Keep Little Rock Beautiful is affiliated with Keep America Beautiful, and cleanup activities associated with the umbrella agency will take place around Arkansas all through the spring. For information on volunteer opportunities in your area, see keeparkansasbeautiful.com.