Bye-bye mesh, hello canvas!

By Breonna Rowan

Out with the old and in with the new! Join Ontario’s only wilderness national park in protecting Lake Superior’s ecological integrity! This season, visitors will be able to purchase a high-quality, reusable canvas firewood carrier and ditch single-use polypropylene firewood bags.

At Pukaskwa National Park, we pride ourselves in protecting, presenting and preserving the rugged natural and undeveloped boreal biome characteristic to Lake Superior. That’s why this year our team has decided to swap plastic mesh firewood bags for reusable canvas carriers. With average monthly lows ranging from 0^oC to 12^oC throughout the May to October operating season, campfires are a staple of an enjoyable night in Hattie Cove campground. Offering loose firewood to visitors for $10 per cubic foot, we see thousands of visitors walk or bike their firewood back to their sites using the free UV-resistant polypropylene bags available at the Kiosk.

While we ask visitors to help us reuse these bags by returning them, we’ve lost hundreds seasonally, creating a considerable amount of plastic waste annually throughout the six months of operations. To reduce the presence of microplastics inside and outside of the park, we have decided to completely replace these bags and offer an alternative made of high-quality, durable canvas for a small fee instead. We hope that this approach will inspire visitors to consider practical ways to reduce waste and protect the natural environment that makes Parks Canada sites so special.

This season you can help Pukaskwa’s efforts to preserve the ecological integrity of Lake Superior’s boreal biome by purchasing a canvas firewood carrier from the Kiosk or Visitor Centre!

To learn more about what Pukaskwa is doing to protect Canada’s natural heritage, visit our Nature and Science webpage here.

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