OGDENSBURG — Fort La Presentation is looking to connect itself to the city with a walking trail.

This week, the Fort La Presentation Association will submit a grant application to build a trail that will loop the park and connect into the Maple City Trail. The grant is for $200,000 from the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

"We came up with a proposal that meets the needs of Ogdensburg and the park," association President Barbara J. O'Keefe said at the City Council meeting Nov. 24.

The trail will be almost a mile long and open to pedestrians and bicyclists year-round, Mrs. O'Keefe said.

Beginning at the Albany Avenue entrance and reaching to the lighthouse, the trail will make a loop around the British Encampment Area and the Battlefield Re-enactment Area.

"It'll give people a chance to look at the fort property and when the fort is built people will be able to look at the fort itself," said Timothy W. Cryderman, vice president of the Fort La Presentation Association.

The trail project will include extra parking, picnic facilities along the western river shore and interpretive signs pointing out both the natural and historical elements of the site.

The trail will connect with the city's Maple City Trail on the east side of the park.

"This will tie the downtown into the work that they are doing with the fort," said J. Justin Woods, the city's planning and development director.

The trail will further enhance traffic at the city's tourism venues.

"You can park your boat and get to the downtown or the Remington," Mrs. O'Keefe said. "And recreational trails are so popular right now."

The city recently applied for a grant to extend the 2.2-mile Maple City Trail along Route 812 and County Route 6 to increase tourism along the marina district.

The proposed trail was not part of the original plans for the Fort La Presentation project.

The City Council and Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority proposed the connective trail several years ago, Mr. Cryderman said.

"At that point we weren't ready," he said. "Now we have an architect and general plan. We can do this now."