Representatives of the Cliffs of Fundy Global Geopark came to Advocate Harbour recently to talk to residents about their work as well as their plans for the former centre in Eatonville that’s located within the Cape Chignecto Provincial Park’s day-use area.
“We lease the building from the province and recently completed some repairs, that included straightening an exterior wall that was the cause of a chronic leak that originally led to the building’s closure many years ago,” interim executive director Devin Trefry said. “We have a small group of volunteers striving to make the building usable again.”
Trefry said part of the night’s session was dedicated to gaining community input on how the building might be used and developing a plan for its sustainable operation.
When it opened in 2012, the interpretive centre and day-use park at Eatonville was supposed to complement the provincial park and celebrate the nearby Three Sisters geological formation as well as the rugged Fundy coastline.
It is located on a rise of land with amazing views of the Bay of Fundy, including the Three Sisters, Squally Point and Anderson Cove, and is immediately adjacent to the Eatonville Trail loop and the tidal viewing platforms.
Several dozen people attended an open meeting in Advocate Harbour in early November that was hosted by representatives from the Cliffs of Fundy Global Geopark.
Trefry said the meeting also sought input on other strategic priorities for the Geopark such as education and programming, conservation initiatives, tourism and sustainable development, and community partnerships.
“We also had a ‘wild ideas’ wall, where residents could be creative, dream big, and share more grand ideas for the Geopark,” he said. “Among those included a zip line, a Nordic Spa, and establishing a Dark Sky preserve.”
Trefry said the evening generated a lot of great ideas and was a wonderful opportunity to bring folks together to discuss how the UNESCO Global Geopark designation can be a catalyst for growth in the community and the entire region.
“As we develop our strategic plan over the next few months, we’ll continue to host other community engagement sessions,” he said.
The next session is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 25 at the Economy Recreation Centre at 6:30pm.
The past year has been a very busy one for the Cliffs of Fundy.
In July, UNESCO representatives Dr. Artur Sa from Portugal and Dr. Sigurdur Sigursveinsson from Iceland visited the park for its second revalidation mission.
They travelled from one end of the Cliffs of Fundy to the other over a five-day period as Cliffs of Fundy representatives and municipal leaders shared the landscapes, culture and fantastic community of our geopark.
That effort was rewarded in September when the park, first designated in 2020, re-earned a green card approval from the UNESCO Global Geoparks Council. The Council will present its report to the UNESCO Executive Board for formal endorsement in the first half of 2026. An assessment in 2023 determined the site needed to make improvements, moving its status from green to yellow.
In early October, the organization celebrated International Geodiversity Day with a series of events in Cumberland and Colchester counties, including a sunrise event at Spencer’s Island near Advocate Harbour as well as other events near Truro and Five Islands.
UNESCO Global Geoparks are sites of both geological and cultural significance.