LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - Increasing staff numbers and organizing capital projects have been the top priorities the Nahanni National Park Reserve over the last year.

On Aug. 2, the park office in Fort Simpson held a barbecue to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the park's expansion. The bill to increase the park's size to 30,000 square kilometres from 4,766 received royal assent in Ottawa on June 18, 2009.

Lorayne Menicoche-Moses poses with Parks Canada's mascot Boomer the Beaver during a barbecue on Aug. 2 in Fort Simpson, held to celebrate one year since the expansion of the Nahanni National Park Reserve. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

"It's been a very busy last six months staffing and getting capital projects in place," said Chuck Blyth, the park's superintendent.

With the expansion, the park received 20 new staff positions including eight full-time and 12 seasonal jobs. The new employees are paid and outfitted with equipment from the $1.4-million increase in the park's goods and services budget. The park had 16 employees before the expansion - nine full time and seven seasonal.

Originally scheduled to be finished by this summer, the hiring process is 80 per cent complete, said Blyth. The remaining positions are expected to be filled by the fall.

Some of the newly filled positions include three interpretation officer co-ordinators who supervise the interpreters and summer students as well as four interpreters and a project development officer. For each position, preference has been given to aboriginal people living in the Deh Cho, Blyth said.

In addition to increasing staff levels, the park has been working on capital projects. The expansion came with slightly more than $5 million for the projects over five years.

To accommodate the new staff, the park is renting two MATCO trailers from Liidlii Kue First Nation (LKFN). The trailers arrived on July 27 and are being tied together and attached to the main office. The trailers are just a temporary solution until an office is constructed.

Although nothing has been put in writing, the park plans to partner with LKFN and become the primary tenant if the first nation constructs an office building and interpretation centre. Parks Canada has had success with similar ventures in B.C. and the Yukon, said Blyth.

A similar scenario is planned for Nahanni Butte. The park is currently renting part of the band office to create a temporary office for three new staff. Negotiations set to begin between the local First Nation and the park to construct a permanent office.

Other planned capital projects include a staff cabin at Glacier Lake and kiosks and signs along the routes such as the Alaska Highway that could draw in visitors to the park.

Being part of the park at this time of expansion and growth is very exciting for the staff, said Blyth.

"Everyone's pretty pumped," he said.

The park's next steps include hiring a training development officer to work with the new staff, particularly local hires, to develop their careers with Parks Canada. The park will also be examining whether there are any contaminated sites within the expanded border that need to be cleaned up.

The park is also providing input into the environmental assessment of the Prairie Creek mine site, particularly in reference to the road that runs through the park. The intention is to make sure the road won't negatively impact the park, Blyth said.

This fall will also see a major change in park staffing. After 33 years with Parks Canada, 14 of them at Nahanni National Park Reserve, Blyth is retiring. Eric Betsaka, the associate superintendent, is being trained to take on the position.

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