Saskatchewan parks saw high numbers all summer long despite smoke

Campfire smoke is a smell we’re all too familiar with in Saskatchewan, but the blanket of wildfire smoke that covered much of the province didn’t stop people from camping in provincial parks.

Robin Campese, the executive director of visitor experiences for Sask. Parks, said the smoke had little to no effect on camper turnout over the summer.

“Given what our occupancy looked like and our visitation, we didn’t experience any noticeable effects of the smoke or the fire restrictions and bans,” she said.

“It obviously plays a little bit of a role in terms of people’s decision-making, but we didn’t see any abnormal cancellation rates or anything like that.”

The Labour Day long weekend saw extremely high Air Quality Health Index values, but they didn’t have any impact on everyone’s last hurrah of summer.

“We were actually up occupancy over last year,” Campese said about the long weekend.

She gave credit for that to the tough attitude of Saskatchewan campers.

“Here in Saskatchewan we tend to have really hardy campers and they tend to head out no matter the conditions and we definitely saw that over this past long weekend,” she said.

Looking at the numbers, Campese said this could be one of the best years for Sask. Parks.

“We had a great summer; it was over and above what we experienced last summer,” she said. “Last summer was our second-highest summer. The best visitation we saw was during the pandemic.”

As for fall, she expects numbers to remain high despite the smoke that is still lingering.

All provincial parks remain open with full services until Sept. 30.

“Don’t put your trailer away. There’s lots of great weekends to still enjoy,” said Campese.

There are numerous events happening all over the province in September like:

• Diamonds in the rough: Hike the Gem Lakes at Narrow Hills Provincial Park this Saturday;
• Take fall guided hikes at Echo Valley on Sept. 16;
• Doggy dips at Buffalo Pound, Cypress Hills and Pike Lake on Sept. 23; online registration and vaccination records are required.

Pools in parks remain open for September.

In October, more parks will still be open, but with reduced services. Water is shut off. From Nov. 1 to March 15, winter camping and winter programming is available. Very few parks are open during this time.