News from John Winters (Park Superintendent)

There's some very encouraging news from Algonquin Park Superintendent John Winters. In his "From The Park Superintendent" article on page two of the 2009 Algonquin Park tabloid, comes an announcement of the park's exploration of options for a "skills centre", which he describes as a two-pronged project. As well as teaching outdoor recreational skills, it would also promote the importance of the park's ecological integrity and "walking softly on the environment" of the park.



The Algonquin Backcountry Recreationalists are very enthused about this initiative. Such a "Skills Centre" would effectively promote the ABR's own first two objectives ...

Objective 1 - Minimize backcountry recreationalists' impact on Algonquin Park's campsites, portages and hiking trails. (Program 1.1 - Educate backcountry recreationalists about low-impact practices.)

Objective 2 - Minimize backcountry recreationalists' impact on Algonquin Park's environment .. its forest and lakes. (Program 2.1 - Educate backcountry recreationalists about reducing their impact on the environment.)

The ABR asks both its individual members and the general public to express their support of this concept. Please share your enthusiasm for, as well as your comments and questions about it, on the ABR forum at http://www.network54.com/Forum/612132/ .

Also, as John Winters indicated in his article, he himself is "very interested in your thoughts on such a project". Input can be sent directly to John Winters (Park Superintendent), Algonquin Provincial Park, P.O. Box 219, Whitney, Ontario, K0J 2M0 ... also c/o info@algonquinpark.on.ca .

Barry Bridgeford
Executive Committee
Algonquin Backcountry Recreationalists
http://www.ABRweb.ca