October 11, 2011
Parc national de Frontenac inaugurates its brand-new discovery and visitors centre
Sainte-Praxète - In the company of Laurent Lessard, MNA for Frontenac and Quebec’s Minister of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Land Occupancy, the President and CEO of the Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (Sépaq), Raymond Desjardins, and the Vice-President of Operations for Parcs Québec, Martin Soucy, inaugurated today the discovery and visitors centre at Parc national de Frontenac. This marked the conclusion of a series of essential construction projects at the park, all part and parcel of the second phase of development of our national parks. Mr. Desjardins and Mr. Soucy also took advantage of the occasion to launch the brand-new Park Path Explorer approach, underlining the beginning of an entirely different way of visiting and discovering the protected territories of the Parcs Québec network. This launching at Parc national de Frontenac is the third such event across the network, after those at Parc national de la Jacques-Cartier and Parc national du Mont-Saint-Bruno. A number of other parks will follow in their footsteps over the next 15 months.
Discovery and visitors centres - at the heart of our national parks
The discovery and visitors centres found in most parks of the Parcs Québec network are products of various initiatives designed to develop and showcase our national parks. Presenting the special features and main attractions of their home territories, the centres also offer a vast array of customer services. “Seven new discovery and visitors centres will be built in the near future. However, this construction work was preceded by a period of in-depth reflection concerning Sépaq’s operations, especially in the areas of education and sustainable development,” Raymond Desjardins explains.
Building according to the principles of sustainable development
The first priority when planning, designing and building a discovery and visitors centre is to take into account the spirit of the place itself, both as regards the choice of location and the architectural approach and construction materials selected. The discovery and visitors centre at Parc national de Frontenac respects this philosophy in all its aspects. The new centre is perfectly incorporated into the landscape, and its construction was guided by environmental concerns, as reflected in the following measures:
- reduction of water consumption through the use of low-flow equipment;
- reduction of energy consumption through the construction of a high-performance building shell;
- recovery of stones available on site for purposes of landscaping (tree wells, drainage ditches, etc.);
- restoration of surfaces disturbed by the construction process through a choice of various indigenous plants representative of the park environment;
- many more.
“In keeping with its mission, Sépaq is firmly committed to following the path of sustainable development. The construction of the discovery and visitors centre at Parc national de Frontenac speaks volumes in this regard,” asserts Raymond Desjardins, at the same time congratulating the Sépaq teams that participated in developing the project.
Rethinking how we do things: Park Path Explorer
Sépaq also assembled a multi-disciplinary team of professionals to rethink its educational package, especially so as to make education a more integral part of all facets of a visit to our national parks. For the last 12 years, Parcs Québec has been presenting high quality indoor thematic exhibits. However, “with time, we have realized that the traditional exhibit no long meets the needs of a new park clientele, which prefers direct contact with the territory itself,” points out Martin Soucy. "During the reflection process, a new approach quickly emerged: Park Path Explorer, which enhances the experience of discovering our parks and maintains the visibility of our network,” affirms Raymond Desjardins, proudly speaking of this innovative approach, the product of extensive teamwork at Sépaq.
Park Path Explorer
Park Path Explorer was developed by taking into account the need to highlight certain key attributes, natural or historical, of our national parks. First of all, we will connect with visitors where they naturally end up on arrival, in the common living area of the discovery and visitors centre, the launching pad for their discovery. The Park Path Explorer, which is also available on the Parcs Québec website, will initially lead people to discover what there is To See and To Do in the national park that they are visiting. This tool will also enable people to customize their visit by choosing among proposed walking, cycling or navigable paths, and “will serve to support the excellent work done by our reception team in the national parks,” Martin Soucy adds, by way of conclusion.