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GNWT looks to expand North Arm park

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A new design will expand this and run adjacent to the proposed Dinaga Wek’ehodi protected area on the North Arm. photo sourced from goodfreephotos.com

Bids closed Oct. 31 for the design of an expanded North Arm Territorial Park.

“The idea stems from a need for more parks infrastructure to support the traveling public and to support tourism in the region,” stated Drew Williams, spokesperson for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, in an email to News/North.

“The North Arm Park is already an established Recreation Park that is very popular with the Tlicho people and has not been developed beyond the day use area that exists there today.”

Currently, the park consists of a small rest stop area by Highway 3 near Behchoko, with a picnic site and access to Great Slave Lake. The new design will expand this and run adjacent to the proposed Dinaga Wek’ehodi protected area on the North Arm, which itself may be established within the next two years.

“Establishing a campground with a kitchen shelter for events provides a great opportunity for the Tlicho and tour operators in the region to develop tourism products that are high in demand,” stated Williams, adding that the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment has been working with the Tlicho Government to determine what amenities are needed in the park.

The first pieces of infrastructure for the upgraded park – a new entrance road and day use area – are in the GNWT’s 2019-2020 capital plan, which is yet to be passed by the Legislative Assembly, according to Williams.

“The timeline is to have draft concept plans for the park planning to be complete by winter to send out to the public for comment,” he wrote of the project that is being tendered out right now.

Once the design is finalized, individual park infrastructure items will be designed and tendered out.

In its 2030 NWT Climate Change Strategic Framework, the GNWT noted the timeline to establish the Dinaga Wek’ehodi protected area in 2019-2020. The area was proposed in 2010 by the Tlicho Government.