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Paul Bickford Northern News Services Published Wednesday, March 18, 2009
The Town of Fort Smith and Wood Buffalo National Park have agreed to work on a partnering agreement under which their separate visitor information centres will be combined at the park headquarters.
Fort Smith Mayor Peter Martselos likes the idea. "The town and the park, we're doing the same thing," he said, adding visitor information under one umbrella makes sense and is unanimously supported by council. "It's an excellent thing for the Town of Fort Smith," the mayor added. The idea is being proposed by the park, which made a presentation to town council on March 10. "We're going to be working closer together with the Town of Fort Smith," said Mike Keizer, the park's manager of communications and visitor services. Currently, the park offers a year-round visitor information centre at its headquarters. The town's visitor information centre only operates during the tourist season at the Rec Centre. Under the proposal, students now hired by the town would work at the park office and town material would become available there. E-mail service for visitors now offered by the town would also move to the park headquarters. The combined service would be offered year round. Keizer said the change would be part of a nationwide initiative by Parks Canada to enhance visitor experiences and external relations at national parks. Another change will be the creation of new positions called manager of visitor experience for Wood Buffalo and Nahanni National Park Reserve. Those positions, are currently being advertised. Keizer will assume a new title of manager of external relations for both Wood Buffalo and Nahanni, covering such duties as media relations, park awareness and school outreach programs. The organizational changes are expected to take effect on April 1.
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