The Battlefords Wildlife Federation Nature Centre location near Highway 4 is changing hands and broadening its focus.
The Battlefords River Valley Steering Committee announced the purchase of the assets of the building from the Battlefords Wildlife Federation. The plan is to transform the centre into the Battlefords River Valley Visitor Centre, with the intention to turn it into a destination for tourists and visitors.
While the Battlefords River Valley Authority will take over the assets of the building, it will be Battlefords Tourism and Convention Association that will be assuming management of it.
Battlefords Tourism will locate its offices there and use the facility to provide the tourist information function that had previously been offered by the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce at their location on the junction of Highways 16 and 40.
The city had opted not to renew the contract with the Chamber for tourism information services in November of last year, and the visitor information centre at that location ceased operations at the end of April.
In its place, Battlefords Tourism was approached to take over the tourism information function. The announcement Tuesday settles the question of where that will be located.
As part of the deal, the Nature Centre and its displays of birds and animals will remain. Battlefords Wildlife Federation has agreed to maintain the displays at that location, and will continue to offer programming as well.
An operations agreement to that effect between Battlefords Tourism and Battlefords Wildlife Federation was signed between tourism chair Malcolm Anderson and BWF director Brad Dahl Tuesday.
Also at the announcement were Mayor Ian Hamilton of North Battleford and Mayor Derek Mahon of Battleford, as well as several other councillors and other officials.
The announcement put to rest not only the issue of where to house the new tourist information centre, but also what was an emerging issue about the future of the Centre.
Battlefords Wildlife Federation had informed the City they would be going to discontinue the lease on the property, prompting officials to search for a solution to the situation.
BWF had been leasing the property from the City since the 1990s, when the City took over ownership after a former waterslide park closed at the location.
An issue that will need to be dealt with is making the building operational year round. The building currently is only able to operate during warm-weather months and needs proper wall insulation to stay open through the winter.
Battlefords Tourism intends to add staff and move in by the May long weekend and pledges to develop the building so that it can operate as a year-round facility. "Insulation is critical," said Anderson.
Until the new location can be made habitable during the winter months, their offices will also continue to operate at the RBC building downtown.
Anderson called it "a great show of how partnerships can come together and work together and come out with a positive end result."
Donna Challis, chair of the Battlefords River Valley Steering Committee, said, "It's complicated because it's a partnership between a lot of different individuals including the Wildlife Federation, but I think it's really a step in the right direction to fulfill what we wanted to see in the master plan years ago, and to bring more people into the river valley both from the Battlefords but also as tourists."
Dahl sees the centre continuing to expand its importance in the future under the new arrangement.
"All it can do is grow," said Dahl, "and that was always in our mandate to promote education, conservation and it fits. It's a win-win situation for everybody. It's a good thing."
