Campgrounds open next week, which has managers working to make sure they fulfill health requirements. (file photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Josh Ryan

Outdoors in moderation

Campgrounds prepare for opening day next week

May 25, 2020 | 3:00 PM

To meet the demand for an outdoor escape from being cooped up due to COVID-19, campgrounds and parks are working quickly to prepare their sites for summer.

Long-term seasonal, overnight stay and limited-term campers are permitted on all campgrounds, so long as reservations are accepted in advance.

Park Manager Angie Carver for Battlefords Provincial Park, said they’ve received waves of calls.

“In regards to campsites, booking, cottage and cabin use for sure,” she said.

“People just want to get away from the house,” Eiling Kramer Campground Manager Joe Mills said.

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Campgrounds will operate at 50 per cent capacity and are not allowing double site bookings. Amenities are also bare bones, meaning services like showering and laundry will be off limits.

“Everyone will have to have their own toilet water and sink,” Mills said.

The staff at Kramer, comprised primarily of students, are undergoing extensive training ahead of the open date.

“If it was a normal year, it would be maybe a week, week-and-a-half of training,” Mills said. “This year, we’re in the neighbourhood of two to three weeks.”

Campgrounds are spending significantly higher resources on cleaning materials due to pandemic concerns.

“We’re gonna lose some revenue, but it’s very little,” Mills said.

“It won’t be much different than others years for opening in the spring,” Carver said. “It’ll just be the daily [task] of making sure we are at every facility we have opened at the required number of times for Health Canada.”

Campers are being advised by the province to still refrain from making long trips within the province, despite the reopening of campgrounds and parks.

“In the future, there will be the opportunity to go golfing, go for hiking or cycling provincial parks and camping,” the province’s Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said. “[But] it is important to stay as close to home as you can.”

In the meantime before visitors, campgrounds have been undergoing some renovations.

“We do have a lot of projects on the go that we would like all of our staff back to be able to work on,” Carver said. “While there are less people in the park.”

Despite the extra time spent in training, Mills said his staff can’t wait to get to work.

“They’re happy to be back to make some money for the fall,” he said.

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josh.ryan@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JoshRyanSports