ALMA, N.B. – The federal government announced the biggest investment ever in Fundy National Park’s history on Friday.
The government will be spending $28.2 million dollars over the next two years on intensive upgrades to the park.
Last year, Fundy National park welcomed more than a quarter of a million visitors, drawn to the park for its natural beauty.
But some areas of the park have grown shabby after years of deferred maintenance. So the infrastructure investments will incorporate new technology, like using cement blocks on the soon-to-be rebuilt service buildings, to cut down on future maintenance costs.
The planned upgrades include:
- Phase three restoration of Highway 114 through the park, which is already under construction, at a cost of $9.1 million.
- Replacing the Fundy saltwater pool, which was built in 1949 and is in poor condition at a cost of $1.6 million. The pool uses water pumped in from the Bay of Fundy.
- Replacing several campground service buildings at Point Wolfe Campground at a cost of $1.8 million.
- Replacing all of the in-park wayfinding signs at a cost of $693,000.
“With this amount, it’s not just a nip and tuck, it’s a major facelift,” Alma Mayor Kirstin Shortt joked during the press conference. “After 65 years, I think everybody’s entitled to a facelift.”
The upgrades will allow the park to target new visitors, Geri Syroteuk, Field Unit Superintendent for New Brunswick South at Parks Canada said.
“We will be better set-up to offer programs like Learn to Camp, which brings in new Canadians to provide them with a very Canadian icon experience of camping,” she said. “These upgrades to all our campgrounds and other facilities will very much help us in doing these things.”
Rob Moore, Regional Minister for New Brunswick said that the parks are important for tourism and the communities around them.
“They’re anchors for economic activity in their regions and if you do not invest in them, like anything else there’s decline,” Moore said.
Meanwhile, Mayor Shortt said the money is good news for the Village.
“It’s the impression that counts,” she said. “When people come into the park, they see the beauty and they take that with them when they come into the village.”
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