Parks Canada has opened a temporary visitor center for Newfoundland's Gros Morne National Park on the waterfront in Rocky Harbour.
The accessible center with on-site car and RV parking, at 31 Main St. North, will be in use while a new $10-million ($7.8-million USD) visitor center is being constructed. Highway signs have now been put up to direct motorists.
The temporary location isn’t big enough to accommodate large commercial groups, so they should go to the Discovery Centre in Woody Point or Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse in Rocky Harbour for interpretive exhibits and washrooms.
The visitor center will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily until Oct. 10. It includes a gift shop operated by the Gros Morne Co-operating Association, and it’s near other gift shops and eateries in the ocean-side town.
Gros Morne’s mobile visitor information vehicle will be offering visitor services throughout the park during the upcoming peak season. Visitors can still get information in person at the entrance kiosk in Wiltondale and the Discovery Centre.
Established in 1973, Gros Morne National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because it shows the process of continental drift, where deep ocean crust and the rocks of the earth's mantle lie exposed. Glacial action has created coastal lowlands, alpine plateaus, fjords, valleys, sheer cliffs, waterfalls and lakes. The park’s 1,805 square kilometres (697 square miles) include lively coastal villages and “wet” boreal forests dominated by Balsam firs.
Last August, Ottawa announced a $10-million federal infrastructure investment to fully renew the visitor center, noting that the park welcomes tens of thousands of visitors annually from around the globe. The investment will support a major renovation and expansion of the facility, resulting in improved visitor experiences, new interpretive designs and expanded and accessible infrastructure. The project is one of the last major pieces of infrastructure in Gros Morne to be revitalized as part of federal infrastructure investments.
“To enhance the sense of arrival to Gros Morne National Park, Parks Canada will fully upgrade the visitor centre with a design that meets the viewscape and historical interpretation requirements of this UNESCO World Heritage Site, while supporting a safer, inclusive and barrier-free environment for visitors,” the federal agency promised in a news release.
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