Friday, March 29, 2024

Goldstream Nature House opens its doors for first time in three years

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The Goldstream Provincial Park Nature House will reopen for the first time in three years and will try to reassert itself as a pillar of environmental education in the Greater VIctoria area.

Through the latter part of the COVID-19 pandemic they were unable to operate and underfunded to the point of shutting down, but now the province has contributed $10 million to the BC Parks Foundation which will allow the Nature House and similar initiatives to be reinstated. 

In 2022, the Nature House was able to be open one day a week only and even still faced staffing problems in finding and training volunteers. 

With the newly allocated funds, they will be able to offer more than one day a week and educate park visitors about the importance and diversity of Goldstream’s ecosystems as well as the yearly salmon run.

A press conference was held at Goldstream Provincial Park’s Nature House on Thursday, June 1st to announce the new funding.

“Today, the Province is making sure that British Columbians will always have a place to come together in the spirit of gratitude and celebration to support parks and protected areas, so that they flourish forever,” said Andy Day, CEO of the BC Parks Foundation. 

“Nothing else provides so many benefits for so many people over time, whether by improving your mental and physical health, reducing climate change impacts, protecting other species, contributing to our economy or creating wonderful experiences with friends and family.”

The BC Parks Foundation is actually a non-government organization which was established through a grant from the province in 2017 and they serve as BC Parks official charitable partner. Because of the way they operate, they are able to raise support and funds beyond BC Parks core funding. 

The new hours of operation for the Nature House have not yet been determined.

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Curtis Blandy
curtis@victoriabuzz.com

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