P.E.I. National Park’s facilities are open to the public today, and visitors will see a number of changes to the park since last summer.
Jessica Foster, manager of visitor experience for the park, said post-tropical storm Fiona left Parks Canada with a lot of work — but also an opportunity to expand some of the services.
“We saw a lot of erosion and damage to the coastline, as well as a lot of trees that were downed, so there was a lot of cleanup to do,” she said.
Some of the changes include a completed multi-use trail from Brackley Beach to Robinsons Island, a new playground in Stanhope located further away from the coastline, and new automated entry gates at the Brackley and Graham’s Lane, Cavendish entrances, where holders can scan park passes for entry.
There will also be a large, accessible boardwalk structure leading to Stanhope’s main beach.
Miles MacPhee, the technical services coordinator for P.E.I. National Park, said the boardwalk and ramp structure were built to replace the previous structure, destroyed by Fiona. It’s designed to be adaptable to severe weather.
“The first 20 sections of the structure leading down to the beach are completely removable,” he said.
“So in anticipation of a strong weather event, we can … remove up to 20 sections just to help preserve the structure.”
