$4 daily fee to use provincial parks

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This article was published 02/01/2012 (5411 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — It’s going to cost you a couple of toonies to get you and your vehicle into a provincial park on a day pass starting May 1.

The new daily fee was announced Friday by Conservation Minister Dave Chomiak and will end a three-year run in which entry to Manitoba’s 86 parks was free.

Other fees will be $8 for three days and $30 for a yearly pass.

“Four dollars a day is a pretty modest price to pay to enjoy a day in one of our many parks, be it Grand Beach or Birds Hill or Clearwater,” Chomiak said “We’re still going to have lower rates than the provinces to either side of us. Both Ontario and Saskatchewan have higher daily fees.”

Chomiak also said there will be modest increases in seasonal camping and rental rates, such as at Camp Morton and Hecla, over the next two years.

Revenue from the new fees, up to $3 million a year, will go toward capital improvements in some parks, he said.

“We have a very aggressive capital program, $100 million over five years,” Chomiak said. “The capital improvements in Grand Beach alone will be $11.5 million over the next five years.”

Improvements at Grand Beach include the rebuilding of the beach boardwalk that was damaged in an October 2010 storm.

For the past three years, entry to Manitoba’s provincial parks has been free to increase traffic and use of the parks. The province recorded more than five million visits to parks during 2011.

“We’re trying to keep it reasonable for Manitobans to enjoy our parks, and at the same time we know there is a need to improve some of the capital structures and facilities in our parks,” Chomiak said of the reinstated fees.

New and recent capital improvements to Manitoba parks include the recently opened campground at Winnipeg Beach; several new campground expansions including one at Birds Hill Provincial Park, new snow-trail grooming equipment in the South Whiteshell and water and wastewater facilities in several parks.

“We’re going to try to put in Wi-Fi at Winnipeg Beach,” Chomiak added. “There’s a lot of little things that make a big difference to people when they’re camping that we have to do.”

Chomiak said the province lost “several million dollars” by waiving park fees, but wasn’t treating it as a loss.

“I wouldn’t say we lost the money,” he said. “It was the kind of investment at a time when the economy wasn’t the greatest and people weren’t travelling as far. There was an incentive to maybe stay home and spend some time in our own parks.”

Meanwhile, user fees at national parks, such as Riding Mountain, and historic sites remain frozen until 2013. Those fees cover everything from entry to national parks and historic sites to permits for fishing and camp fires.

» Winnipeg Free Press