Visitors to Greenville's Sherling Lake Park soon will be noticing some differences since park and city officials were notified

they had been approved to receive a grant to extend the park's current walking trail.

In August, the Greenville City Council approved a motion to apply for a $50,000 grant to be used for the purpose of extending the current walking trail. An announcement made by Gov. Don Siegleman indicated that the park had been approved for the requested Recreational Trails Program grant.

The funds will assist in the construction of a half-mile, ten-foot-wide gravel walking trail with a 600-foot wooden bridge.

Currently, there is a one and a quarter mile trail which wraps around the upper side of what is called Upper Lake. Park Manager Phillip Herring said the vision is for an addition to the trail that will extend over the lake.

"We want to have a bridge there that will cross the lake and circle around to meet the current trail," Herring said.

He said by extending the trail over the lake, patrons of the park could enjoy more of the beautiful scenery available and it would also provide the city with a great fishing area.

"Extending the trail

over the lake would serve two purposes, first of all it would make the trail longer for our walkers and it would open up

that area of the lake for fishing. The way it is now you can not do much fishing up there because it is just wilderness and it is hard to get to. The only way to fish there now is to have a boat and most of the people that come here fish off the bank," he said.

The current trail, along with the office building and campgrounds, was rebuilt at Sherling Lake in 1994, when Cambrian Ridge Golf Course

moved into Greenville.

The cost of the project will be determined after architects come in and draw up plans, said Herring. Once a plan is produced

the work can be bid out.

Herring said this is a project that they have been hoping to begin for some time and the grant, which the city will have to match by 20 percent, offers them the opportunity to begin.

"We had been thinking about doing this for a long time, we just have not had this good an offer," he said.

Governor Don Siegleman

praised the city for their work to improve the quality of life for

its citizens.

"I commend the leadership of Greenville for their vision to provide recreational facilities and enhance the quality of life for their citizens and visitors," Siegleman said.

This trail will be located on the southeast side of the Upper Lake in Sherling Lake Park. Sherling Lake Park has two lakes, a fishing pier, picnic shelters and tables, restrooms, a playground, a camping area and a one and a quarter mile walking trail. This mulit-use recreational facility is located adjacent to Cambrian Ridge, a Robert Trent Jones Retirement Systems of Alabama Golf Course.

Recreational Trails Program grants are provided to the state through the

U.S. Department of Transportation. The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, directed by Dewayne Freeman, administers the grant.