Horn Lake 500-acre park
Thursday, 09 December 2010 17:31 | Written by Administrator | 
HL planning for 500-acre ecotourism park
http://www.desototimes.com/articles/2009/12/09/news/local/doc4b205203df59d648506472.txt
MSU class helping with project
By CYNTHIA BULLION
Times-Tribune News Staff
HORN LAKE - A group of Mississippi State University students have signed on to help design what Horn Lake officials hope will one day become a 500-acre park attractive to residents and tourists alike.
Bettie Pruitt, the city's urban forester, said she sees the heavily wooded acreage - north of Goodman between Hurt and Horn Lake roads - as the future home of a lake for fishing and canoeing and surrounded by bicycle, equestrian and hiking trails tied into the county's greenway system.
Additional ideas for the site include a museum that would focus on Horn Lake's early history as a cotton-farming community whose growth was stimulated by the railroad construction and later became known for dairy operations at Gayoso Farms.
Pruitt said a village with a working blacksmith shop, general store and cotton and sorghum gins "like what you would see in an old town" also could be among plans for the park.
If and where such attractions would be located on the proposed park property is up for determination, she said.
"We have all these ideas and they are trying to hone them in," Pruitt said about a graduate landscape architecture class from MSU. "They will figure out what the theme of the park should be and the best marketing strategy."
MSU professor Wayne Wilkerson said his class has been tasked with coming up with a conceptual plan for the park using data from a Geographic Information Survey that is scheduled to begin next month.
The "skeleton" of the park, he said, would depend on what the property will allow.
Donated to the city by the Dancy family, the property lies primarily in a floodplain and has a swampy area and mature trees that would need preserving.
"The forest there is probably 50 to 100 years old," Pruitt said about one environmental aspect of the property that makes it appropriate for an ecotourism park.
She said an ecotourism park is typically one with elements that promote tourism yet have a low impact on the surrounding environment. One example is the Tunica RiverPark with its wildlife museum, aquariums, nature trails, Mississippi River observation deck and riverboat excursions.
Horn Lake's ecotourism park is in its preliminary phase with completion estimated at five to 10 years.
Pruitt said the city would seek grants to fund the park's construction, which could cost $5 million.
The amount would be higher, she said, if not for free services from the MSU class.
Horn Lake officials earlier this month voted to give the class $3,168 to cover travel and other physical expenses during the planning process that should be complete early next year.
"They are buying quite a bit of expertise for that," Wilkerson said about the city's expenditure.
Cynthia Bullion: 429-6397, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Bettie Pruitt, the city's urban forester, said she sees the heavily wooded acreage - north of Goodman between Hurt and Horn Lake roads - as the future home of a lake for fishing and canoeing and surrounded by bicycle, equestrian and hiking trails tied into the county's greenway system.
Additional ideas for the site include a museum that would focus on Horn Lake's early history as a cotton-farming community whose growth was stimulated by the railroad construction and later became known for dairy operations at Gayoso Farms.
Pruitt said a village with a working blacksmith shop, general store and cotton and sorghum gins "like what you would see in an old town" also could be among plans for the park.
If and where such attractions would be located on the proposed park property is up for determination, she said.
"We have all these ideas and they are trying to hone them in," Pruitt said about a graduate landscape architecture class from MSU. "They will figure out what the theme of the park should be and the best marketing strategy."
MSU professor Wayne Wilkerson said his class has been tasked with coming up with a conceptual plan for the park using data from a Geographic Information Survey that is scheduled to begin next month.
The "skeleton" of the park, he said, would depend on what the property will allow.
Donated to the city by the Dancy family, the property lies primarily in a floodplain and has a swampy area and mature trees that would need preserving.
"The forest there is probably 50 to 100 years old," Pruitt said about one environmental aspect of the property that makes it appropriate for an ecotourism park.
She said an ecotourism park is typically one with elements that promote tourism yet have a low impact on the surrounding environment. One example is the Tunica RiverPark with its wildlife museum, aquariums, nature trails, Mississippi River observation deck and riverboat excursions.
Horn Lake's ecotourism park is in its preliminary phase with completion estimated at five to 10 years.
Pruitt said the city would seek grants to fund the park's construction, which could cost $5 million.
The amount would be higher, she said, if not for free services from the MSU class.
Horn Lake officials earlier this month voted to give the class $3,168 to cover travel and other physical expenses during the planning process that should be complete early next year.
"They are buying quite a bit of expertise for that," Wilkerson said about the city's expenditure.
Cynthia Bullion: 429-6397, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it