For the past several weeks, many campers illegal are installed on the gaspesian beaches.
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29 July 2020 14: 25
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Wild Camping in Gaspé : Grande-Rivière establishes a camping overflow
Simon Carmichael
Initiative of journalism-local – The Sun
In order to avoid seeing the crisis camping in the wilderness, it worse, the Town of Grande-Rivière has decided to turn a vacant lot as a camping overflow. The City wants to act upstream in order not to lose the control of its beaches and municipal land.
Located on the edge of a sports field, with the field laid out for the campers, has a capacity of 30 tents or small recreational vehicles. “There was a demand with the explosion of tourism in Gaspésie this year,” says the director general of the city, Kent Moreau. We want to give an alternative to campers who could not make reservation”.
If the site falls to the point this summer, so that the Gaspé peninsula is more popular than ever, the campground overflow of the municipality is not here to stay. Grande-Rivière wants to use the place only during the high-tourist season, and only if, private campgrounds nearby are at the maximum of their ability. “It is a site of overflow. It is absolutely not there to come into unfair competition with our campsites that have been there for years,” says Mr. Moreau.
Each morning, the municipality ensures that private campgrounds on its territory does not have space available for campers before accepting visitors on the site overflow. “If there is a place in a “real” camping, we are going to send people there. It is much more pleasant than here where there is no service”, note the director-general.
To avoid the inconvenience of camping in the wild, the fire service of Large-River patrol the different places that are more likely to serve campgrounds improvised, like the beaches or the shores of the river. Travellers who find themselves without a place to sleep or which were hailed on the beaches are, therefore, invited to go on the ground and arranged to spend the night for fifteen dollars. All the money raised will be redistributed to The Manufactures of Great-River, a community-based organization.
With the local
For many years, the Town of Grande-Rivière can count on the support of some owners who accept that the tourists roam some parts of their land, for example the beaches, during the day.
Seeing that this collaboration was more fragile, in particular because of a few unfortunate events over the years, the City has decided to redouble its effort to ensure that everything goes well between travelers and local. “We want to minimize the chances of slip-ups, especially when it is in an individual who has the kindness to lend his ground,” said Mr. Moreau.
To do this, each spring, the local team installs signage as well as some elements of resort — benches, tables and toilets — on this prime space. The city also organizes a day of drudgery, where the city employees to remove the wood from the beaches lent to discourage visitors to spend the evening around a fire. “It works quite well, the people are friendly, and when there is a problem, we can quickly adjust,” says Kent Moreau.
“We have many tourists this year, we had never seen it coming. It should be seen as an opportunity, not a problem,” concluded Mr. Moreau.
