Katepwa Provincial Park opens accessibility dock to visitors

A new accessibility dock has been installed at Katepwa Point Provincial Park.

The dock allows people with accessibility needs to gain easier access to the lake, as well as the ability to board boats, kayaks and other vessels more independently.

"Accessibility in our provincial parks is a critical feature that we're working on to steadily improve, and make more access for all people whatever their physical challenges are,” said MLA for Last Mountain-Touchwood Travis Keisig, at the grand opening event.

In partnership with the Government of Saskatchewan, Trans Canada Trail and Saskatchewan Trail Association, Keisig said all three groups were able to fund the $88,000 project.

“We’re always taking feedback from all of the visitors from all our wonderful provincial parks all across Saskatchewan, and some of the feedback we’ve been getting is that we need more accessibility features,” Keisig explained, referring to how the idea for the project started.

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Shelley MacLean, Park Manager for Echo Valley Provincial Park and Katepwa Point Provincial Park, said there is a significant number of people who live in the area that will benefit from the new service.

“Accessibility is a huge challenge to folks. We do have aging population and we want to make sure experiences at our provincial park network is still accessible,” MacLean pointed out.

“It is something that does come up. We hear about [accessibility] from boat docks, we hear about boat launches from an accessibility [point], trail systems. As a provincial park system we are always looking for new technology or different designs that we can incorporate to just make experiencing our parks easier and enjoyable for all.”

The park has already received a few visitors who have utilized the dock, MacLean added.

“We had a lady visit us last week. She was in a wheelchair and was able to come from her camper van through our accessible trail system,” she explained.

“She made her way out on the dock and was able to independently load herself into a kayak. She had her first independent paddle and was able to share that experience with us.”

"That was a pretty magical day at the office."