The proposed million-dollar John E. Poole interpretive boardwalk is a fantastic idea that will help spur eco-tourism in the area, especially in Lois Hole Centennial Park. Only one small item remains outstanding — there’s really no way to get there.
The province proclaimed Lois Hole Centennial Park more than four years ago, yet nothing has been done in that time to actually make it accessible to the public. In its present form, the only way to get to the park is on foot or by bike, along the Red Willow Park trail, following a path that curls underneath the Ray Gibbon Drive bridge. Unfortunately for many, that portion of the trail is usually flooded in the spring and iced over in the winter. And if the province and city ever get around to expanding Ray Gibbon Drive to more than two lanes, that access will likely be temporarily closed, just like it was during the bridge’s original construction.
For those who want to park and hike, there is little to offer. Access to the Big Lake Environmental Support Society (BLESS) picnic shelter via Rodeo Drive is blocked due to roadwork, leaving only the St. Albert Soccer Association parking lot as an alternative, followed by a 15-minute hike to the BLESS viewing platform. Some intrepid individuals have stamped out a path through the brush west of Riel Drive at Renault Crescent, but getting to the platform involves a dangerous dash across Ray Gibbon Drive.
The city has resurrected a business case to build a pedway from the future site of Hole’s Greenhouse across Ray Gibbon Drive, which will make it easier for people to get to Big Lake, but that plan, assuming it’s approved, likely won’t come to fruition for another year or two. While it would make the viewing platform more accessible, the city should not be responsible for providing the only real access to a provincial park.
The website for Lois Hole Centennial Park lists a single feature — the viewing platform. It trumpets the natural features of the park, but there is no way to enjoy them. The park itself is identified by a bulletin board mounted on a wooden frame, with a proclamation of its founding and a satellite map of its boundaries. One prominent feature missing — the bronze statue of Lois Hole unveiled last month — looks good in front of St. Albert Place, but was always intended to greet visitors to the park named in her honour.
The province has been negotiating a land purchase with Beaverbrook for land west of Ray Gibbon Drive and southeast of Big Lake to improve access, but those negotiations have been years in the making and have yielded nothing. It’s unfortunate a park named in honour of our late lieutenant-governor, a devoted nature enthusiast and a beloved former St. Albert citizen has been so blatantly and repeatedly ignored.
Developing parks might be low on the province’s to-do list during a recession, but if the city is willing to pay out a minimum $2 million for a pedway, the province should at least be able to secure a deal with Beaverbrook so that more people, including local residents, students and tourists who might not know how to get to our park, can enjoy what it does have to offer. John E. Poole, a successful businessman in his time, recognized the value of our wetlands — why should a private businessman’s estate planners have to step in to do the government’s job?
The park is a hidden gem and a potential tourist draw that will benefit the city. It will remain hidden until the Tory government gets its act together.
