Nova Scotia provincial parks work better with staff, campers say

People who use provincial parks are weighing in on self-registration.

Earlier this week, Natural Resources Minister Zack Churchill said he thought changes at seven provincial parks are working well, according to increased occupancy and park surveys.

• NSGEU opposes 58 seasonal job cuts at parks, visitor centres

• Nova Scotia cuts provincial park spending by $1M, costing 58 jobs

Not all campers agree.

Robert Lingley and his family are camping at Laurie Park outside Halifax this week. Itis one of the parks where people check in via machine rather than with park staff.

"It's like the same thing as going into a hotel. You have hosts and hostesses thatmake your stay wonderful, and before the self-serve that's what I felt here. The people thatworked here made it feel like a wonderful place," Lingley said.

He said part of the reason he has such affection for Laurie Park is because of the kind park stafferwho kept an eye on him as a young camper.

Avisitor to Islands Park in Shelburnecomplained thatthe cuts are hurting the park because no one isthere late at night to deal with problem campers.

Hannah Kent and her spouse are experienced campers visiting from Ottawa who came to Laurie Park this week.

They found there was more garbage on their camp site than what they were used to and they had trouble getting entry through the automatic gate, Kent said.

They arrived on Monday as planned but discovered they were given a pass code forWednesday.

"We talked to the person behind us and we asked him for his code and then we eventually gotin that way," Kent said.

A natural resources spokesman says despite the concerns, reaction to the changes has beenmostly positive.