OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford Revitalize Dunkirk has completed a new trail at Point Gratiot. It’s “a work in progress,” as the banner points out, with the community group continuing to plan and make improvements.

Revitalize Dunkirk has gradually built a trail at Point Gratiot and continues to seek improvements to it.

Representatives of the non-profit community group discussed the trail at a recent meeting of the Dunkirk Common Council’s Department of Public Works Committee.

Revitalize Dunkirk built the trail, approved by the Common Council in May 2024, with help from Dunkirk High School kids. The trail is partially on land owned by the city’s Point Gratiot Park and partially on the adjacent New York Department of Environmental Conservation property.

The group has met with Kravitz Tree Service about removing some potentially hazardous trees along the trail, along with adding some wood chips to its surface. Donations would fund the effort.

The trail recently got a formal property survey and work has begun with the Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation on conceptual drawings for improvements, said Marybeth Muldowney, who chairs the Revitalize Dunkirk subcommittee responsible for the project.

“The trail is in a state that’s really ready to go,” she said. A new banner welcomes people to the trail at its entrance — while noting that it’s still “a work in progress.”

Muldowney added that Revitalize Dunkirk allowed DHS students to construct and place nine bird houses along the trail.

A project to name the trail is coming soon, Muldowney continued. “It would be fun to have community buy-in, and spread the word more (about the trail,)” she said.

Revitalize Dunkirk failed to get a grant for the project from the Ralph Wilson Foundation, unsuccessfully applying last year. However, Revitalize members said they have now applied for funding from the KaBOOM! Foundation.

The Maryland-based foundation mostly focuses on helping to build play spaces for kids, according to its website. KaBOOM! “would provide leadership and money” to the trail project, Muldowney said. “We also want to show them we’re making progress on our own.”

The final version is envisioned as “a nature trail with some play spaces,” she said.

DPW Director Randy Woodbury said he is “super excited” about the project, speaking highly of Revitalize Dunkirk.