Every year, dozens of volunteers contribute hundreds of hours to help make a difference in Parks Canada’s environmental stewardship and visitor experience in Jasper National Park. This winter, together with Parks Canada staff, our volunteers participated in a number of new opportunities:
Spring cleaning at Cold Sulphur
A small scale shoreline cleanup at Cold Sulphur had park steward, Helga Wilkinson, remove more than 20 kg of water-logged paper, plastic, beer cases and other trash from this unusual natural attraction on Highway 16 East. Shoreline cleanups in the park are usually reserved for the summer months when lakes and creeks are ice free, but the warm January weather enabled volunteers to get windblown refuse out of the creek. These casual Park Steward activities provide a hands-on opportunity for volunteers to contribute to the ecological integrity of Jasper National Park.
Friendly greetings for Decoigne users
On Saturdays throughout January, Laurisa Orich acted as the first-ever volunteer cross country ski host at Decoigne. The newest of Jasper National Park’s track set trail locations has a warming hut and a group fire pit, which many visitors had not experienced until recently. Thanks to Orich’s friendly face and a toasty campfire, new skiers were steered in the direction of a warm welcome in this pilot offer.
Sharing the Park’s historic past
The Jasper-Yellowhead Museum and Archive’s collections volunteer, JoAnn Black, has been helping to catalogue and organize many of Jasper’s most important cultural resources for years. With this intimate knowledge, Black and museum collections manager, Dee Dee Bartlett, have begun selecting an “artifact of the month” to feature on Jasper National Park’s Facebook page (facebook.com/jaspernp). This project will help raise awareness of the park’s history and the museum’s important role in preserving that heritage.
Together with our volunteers and partners, such as Friends of Jasper and the Jasper Museum, Parks Canada helps to protect and present our protected places so generations of Canadians can continue to connect with nature. A few hours a month from a few dedicated people makes a significant difference to Jasper National Park. For more information about volunteer opportunities, or to contribute your own unique idea for a park volunteer project, email [email protected] today.
Parks Canada
Special to the Fitzhugh
