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Pt. Pelee getting 'new look' July 19th, 2010:
$3 million in improvements announced
LEAMINGTON Point Pelee National Park will get a new look under a 15-year management plan.
To start with, the park is getting about $3 million worth of improvements including: a welcome orientation exhibit just inside the gates to help visitors plan their visit; new sections for the marsh boardwalk; updated displays, and a new shuttle to take visitors to the southernmost tip of mainland Canada.
Those should be complete by the spring and don't even begin to cover some of the changes that could take place under the plan, which lays out strategies for the next 15 years.
"We'll be getting a new look," park superintendent Marian Stranak said.
When it comes to being a tourist destination, the park was described as "lacking" and near or at the end of its product life cycle in a 2007 State of the Park report.
"Our infrastructure and our basic things that we had for visitors needed renewal, needed a fresh approach," Stranak said.
The plan has five key strategies or priorities that will guide decisions for the park, which was established in 1918. The national park known for its birdwatching will try to increase visitation and the diversity of people visiting. Stranak said the park could attract new Canadians or more families on summer vacations.
The number of visitors has been dropping since 1996, although last year's almost 240,000 visits was a 20 per cent increase from 2008. One of the plan's strategies is to restore Carolinian habitat at the park and on Middle Island, where the park is on year three of a five-year plan that includes culling cormorants.
At the mainland park, Stranak said the Lake Erie Sand Spit Savannah, which supports species at risk such as the Eastern prickly pear cactus, is in "pretty serious trouble." The plan to restore the open grassy areas could include controlled burns and pulling out invasive species.
Another strategy will see the park work more with the Caldwell First Nation and the Walpole Island First Nation.
A First Nations advisory committee will be formed, staff will receive cultural training, one or more business opportunities with the First Nations could be created and the park will be a venue for the First Nations to raise public awareness of their culture and their connection with Point Pelee.
The park also wants to better tell its history with people from First Nations to cottagers.
Point Pelee's history with human beings goes back at least 6,000 years and includes native peoples, French explorers, the British military, settlers, fishermen, farmers, hunters, loggers, cottagers and park visitors.
Stranak said the park is looking at renewing its DeLaurier homestead display.
Another strategy is collaboration. That could include the park being used more as a venue for community events, renewing the park website, development of a public education outreach strategy and participating in land use discussions outside the park.
Stranak said there's a shift in how the park will reach out to the public.
"For many, many years we focused on protecting our national parks," she said. "We're protecting the national parks, but it's not in the context of for Canadians, it's with Canadians now."
Article Credit:
SHARON HILL
The Windsor Star
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