An access road to a popular recreation area in Calloway County is open to the public again after lease negotiations prompted its closure for about a month.
The lease between a private landowner and the Kentucky Department for Fish and Wildlife Resources allowed the public to use the short walking trail along the Clarks River just outside of Murray.
Western District Fisheries Program Coordinator Adam Martin said the lease expired last summer and the new agreement took up until last week to negotiate.
He said the lengthy negotiations were due to "paperwork getting backed up in Frankfort" and said the closure was to limit the private landowner’s liability.
"When it closed we got calls probably about once a day asking why it was closed and when it was going to reopen," Martin said. "A lot more people were using it than what we thought,"
The public access area reopened last week and is open to the public during daylight hours.
