A Paw Park on the Prairie

When the mayor of CUT BANK, MONTANA (population 3,046) asked Kim Winchell to fill a vacant seat on the city council in 2021, she asked if he had confused her for another Kim. “I didn’t even

know where City Hall was,” Winchell says. But she accepted the offer. Among its duties, the council is responsible for the city’s parks, including, Winchell learned, a dilapidated dog park.

BOW WOW! Students working in the metal shop at Cut Bank High School made the dog park signs. Courtesy Cut Bank City Bark Park “It wasn’t grassy. It had gopher holes everywhere, so you

couldn’t walk without potentially twisting your ankle. The dog park upgrades were on no one’s radar. It was merely a conversation of, _‘Oh, we've got a dog park, but there's

nothing out there and nobody uses it,’_ she explains. “It was a no brainer that our community as a whole would benefit from an upgraded dog park.” In 2021, Winchell applied for an AARP

Community Challenge grant, requesting funds to create a walking path, to fence in an area for small dogs, and add shade pavilions and plant trees. Cut Bank was not chosen for a grant, but

the application process proved pivotal. “Applying for the first grant sparked an interest in the community of like-minded folks who really wanted to see something better for the dog park,”

says Winchell. “Since part of the grant asked about community involvement and volunteers, we started to raise money.” She created a Facebook page for the Friends of City Bark Park and funds

starting coming in. The city was soon able to fence off a small dog area within the dog park and plant 14 spruce trees. Winchell says the space for small dogs is a game changer. “We have a

senior apartment complex here in town, and they're allowed to have small dogs,” says Winchell. “But the complex itself isn't fenced in, so the small dog area will give the

residents, some of whom have a hard time walking their dogs, a space where they can sit in the shade and let their little guys run without being around the giant dogs.” In 2022, Winchell

applied to the AARP Community Challenge again. The second attempt worked. AARP funds have been used to create a walking path, add ADA-compliant benches and build two shade pavilions.