Manitoba spending $1.1M to improve accessibility at provincial parks

The Manitoba government says it will spend $1.1 million from its parks endowment fund to improve accessibility at several provincial parks.

"Manitobans love and treasure our provincial parks.... [They] areenjoying every single minute they can in all our provincial parks," Environment, Climate and Parks Minister Jeff Wharton said Friday at a news conference in Birds Hill Provincial Park, which will see many of the accessibility improvements.

Projects at Birds Hill will include paving the pathway to the washroom at the west beachand paving the Bur Oak parking lot.

Whiteshell Provincial Park will also see improvements, with eight new accessible camping sitesandupgrades to 17 existing ones. Button door openers will be added to public buildings in the park, such as the camp offices, washrooms and shower facilities.

Grand Beach Provincial Park will get three new accessible camp sites.

At Nopiming Provincial Park, picnic tables, campfire pits, and boat launches will be upgraded, while a new viewing telescope, walkway maintenance and a new amphitheatre will be coming to Hecla-Grindstone Provincial Park.

Several yurts at locations across the province will also be getting improvements.

Wharton says the projects were determined, in part, byfeedback the province received from public engagement.

Results from the EngageMB survey, which was conducted earlier this year,were released on Friday. Itfound that trail improvements, habitat restoration, and upgrades to campsites and recreation facilities were the top priorities for Manitobans, the province says.

In total, he province received 2,232 survey responses.