People taking advantage of the scenic trail at Mayo’s Bar Lock & Dam Park will have to be careful.

The Rome-Floyd Parks and Recreation Authority’s Parks Division has put up signs and caution tape warning walkers and cyclists to stay clear of an approximately 300-foot long section of the trail along the Coosa River.

The large amounts of rain Floyd County received on two separate occasions since the first of the year helped escalate the erosion of the bank along the trail.

Todd Wofford, RFPRA parks superintendent, said the portion of the bank that collapsed was about 20 feet wide.

“I don’t think any more damage will be done but we’ve been advised not tot try and do anything to the area right now because it is still unstable,” Wofford said.

The topic of the trail was brought up during the monthly RFPRA board meeting Monday.

RFPRA Executive Director Richard Garland said the high waters combined with the lock mechanism and caused a swift current to swamp section.

All of the campsites and pavilions near the trail are fine.

“There isn’t anything we can do at this point,” Wofford said. “We’ll take a look at it when water level goes down and see what we can do then.”

The board also discussed the possibility of reviving the Citizens for Better Parks group that has been inactive for at least four years, according to Garland.

The nonprofit committee is a corporation comprised of citizens nominated by the RFPRA to serve as a branch of the organization specifically designated to preserve the parks in Floyd County and raise money to help that cause.

“We really need to get that organization active again,” RFPRA board chairman Jerry Lee said. “They have done a lot in the past and made significant contributions to the parks in the area.”

The board asked that anyone interested in serving on the Citizens for Better Parks groups to contact the RFPRA at 706-291-0766 or email at rfpra@rfpra.com.

One of the ways the group would be asked to contribute almost immediately would be to see if funds collected by the board would be able to be utilized for some signage that the RFPRA has been waiting to complete.

This includes changing signs and placing plaques at the former Cave Spring Park in order to dedicate it as E.S. Brown Park and to dedicate the baseball field as Kenneth Kelley Field. Kelley, a former city councilman, died in 2011 and was a promoter of youth sports.

The RFPRA board also approved the adoption of a sexual harassment policy that was introduced in a first reading at the February meeting.