A change at the Peace River Regional District has left the Tumbler Ridge Geopark looking for operational funding for 2022.
According to mayor Keith Bertrand—who represents the District of Tumbler Ridge on the PRRD board—the funding the Geopark received in the past came from the Economic Development Function. “But the original paperwork to describe the function didn’t support the way it was used, so that function was dissolved,” says Bertrand. That means that, until the PRRD gets a new function in place, the Geopark is scrambling. But those plans, he says, are already underway. “One of the things that will be going to referendum later this year is a function for funding for the Museum and the Geopark.”
But that doesn’t help the Geopark for the upcoming year. “We have gone to as many sources as possible to look for funding,” says Geopark Executive Director Manda Maggs. “Most of the grants out there are for projects and events; none of it is operational, so we’re just not eligible.”
Operational funding is money that goes towards wages, insurance, etc.
What happens if the Geopark doesn’t get the funding?
“It means us shutting down,” says Geopark board member Al Kangas. “It means our staff is not being employed. We would have to shut down completely for a period of time. Yes, the VIC will continue to run, but the Geopark would have to shut down.”
Kangas points out that last year, the number of people who checked in at the VIC was over 8000 people, of which 6000 were from out of town. He says that NBC Tourism has done some research that says that visitors who travel in the North tend to stay in a place for three days on average, and spend about $100 a day, again, on average. “How much does that bring into the town?” he asks. (Answer, $1.8 million.)
And, says Maggs, those numbers are expected to go up. “We haven’t had events in the last two years. That’s just people coming for the trails, to ice climb, to go snowshoeing,” says Maggs.
She says this bucks the trend that other communities are seeing. “People are exploring their own backyard. We’re seeing people come up here from the Okanagan and Lower Mainland. We saw a 12 percent downturn early in the summer, because of the Monkman park closure.”
And, she says, those are just the number of people at the VIC. “When we send our summer students out to trailheads, only about one in 12 were visiting the Visitor Centre.”
She points out these are just snapshots and can’t be applied to visitor numbers, but they bode well for the future of tourism in Tumbler Ridge.
Councillor Howe, however, is worried that tourism hasn’t proven itself in Tumbler Ridge. “There are small operators, but not enough to make an argument that it’s viable. The trouble is that it is $120,000 this year, $150,000 next year. We need to come up with a way to fund these sort of organizations.”
He’s worried that the cost will continue to go up. “This is only going to increase in cost. I’m sure this $120,000 is going to pass. But at what point do we say enough is enough? For Grizfest, we had to say ‘enough is enough. It’s too big. We need to scale it back.’ If the mines shut down, there’s going to be hard conversations. I’m still hoping to see something out of tourism.”
Kangas says if he could build three gates on the roads into Tumbler Ridge, he could show the impact tourism has. “From a Geopark standpoint, it is difficult to create revenue,” he says. “It is much easier for us to bring people in to create revenue for businesses.”
Councillor Kirby says tourism is growing in Tumbler Ridge. “The future is looking good. The Geopark enhances all the things we have in town. Tourism is more than just the Geopark. It’s a way for people to get out and explore. We should be going above and beyond. I was talking to Clint [Fraser at Northern BC Tourism] who says environmental tourism has been big since Covid, and that’s where we excel. It’s going to keep getting bigger and better. We now have fishing derbies, Santa in the Geopark…the Geopark is providing things that keep locals engaged. We need to look at this as an investment. I think this is a group that we need to get behind and find ways to provide operational funding.” She moves that the District add Geopark funding to 2022-23 budget discussions, which passed.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
