Reporting Program

At the February 29th meeting with Algonquin Park management in Barrie, and from continued phone conversations during the following week, it appears that the ABR's promotion of combining a campsite numbering system with a maintenance-need reporting process will be supported by the park's own "campsite maintenance database", which is close to being completed this year.

Over the past couple of years, the park has established a database combining their old system of "long-worded position descriptions by lake" (example: "second site south of Chipmunk Creek") with precise GPS co-ordinates for almost all of the campsites.

The park is also preparing a five character designation for each campsite (example: "DIC-11 for Dickson Lake campsite number eleven"). These identifiers will appear on special copies of park "values maps", to be kept at each access point office, so that campers can identify where they had camped when they report a maintenance need or a complaint upon leaving the park.

The ABR has recommended that to best utilize the involvement of campers in reporting maintenance requirements (example: a tree fallen across a campsite or a damaged thunderbox) it is preferable to also have an on-site indication of its actual "maintenance number". This will eliminate any confusion at to exact location and will allow a camper to drop-off a detailed report should they leave the park after-hours or away from an access office.

The park hopes to have their campsite numbering system completed sometime this year.

Volunteer Maintenance Program

At the February 29th meeting with Algonquin Park management in Barrie, it was explained that they weren't prepared to deal with groups comprised of just high school student volunteers. However, management weren't negative to the concept of "parent-student" couples, because each parent would be responsible for their own child/student. Likewise, the concept of all-adult volunteer groups were well received.

Three factors determine the kind of work with which volunteers can be involved. Monday - Friday (or week long time-frames), union job protection and workplace safety issues limit volunteers to the "no-power-tools" duties of clearing cut bush, moving building supplies, shovel and rake type work.

Park management informed us that they already have established volunteer insurance coverage.

The point was made that a limited small trial program would be preferable over having too many participants for the first season. A late season (August) time slot appears more practical .. when crisis-response projects were finished and the park had time to prepare for a trial volunteer project.

With the ABR probably not getting registered and insured this season, a trial "student-parent" pilot project in late summer of 2009 may be worth considering and eventually proposing to the park.

Also, it may be worth considering that a small group of the ABR Steering Committee and general-member volunteer for a week's such volunteer work .. in order to "experience it" and to be in a better position to consider it on a larger scale in future years. Then, that group would have "walked-the-walk" and would have 1st hand experience (and photos) to base any future planning and promotions on.