Fort Langley National Historic Site is shutting its doors amidst the COVID-19 closures as Parks Canada have ordered all parks and historic sites to help limit the spread of coronavirus.
Parks Canada released a statement on Tuesday afternoon, saying they will temporarily suspend all visitor services in all national parks, national historic sites and national marine conservation areas across the country at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, March 19.
The statement also explained that some critical functions, including highway management and snow removal, fire response, dam operations and water management on historic waterways, as well as avalanche forecasting and control, will continue.
Parks Canada will cease taking new reservations until April 30.
All existing reservations for this period will be refunded in full.
In addition, the Agency is currently developing an approach to honour passes, in light of travel restrictions and closures related to COVID-19.
Details will be communicated in due course.
Fort Langley National Historic Site is Langley’s only attraction operated by Parks Canada, and was anticipating a busy spring break with specialized children’s programming and a Kwantlen First Nation’s performance Th’owxiya: The Hungry Feast Dish.
Megan Damini, media relations at FLNHS, said many staff members will continue to work from home.
“During this time, phone calls received at Fort Langley National Historic Site will be forwarded to a team member who will be working off-site. In addition, team members from Parks Canada’s National Information Centre will continue to be available to answer the public’s questions. They can be reached by phoning 1-888-773-8888 or emailing pc.information.pc@canada.ca.”
Damnini said a small team will remain to maintain the site. All group and interpretive activities, including The Hungry Feast Dish, will be postponed until further notice.
Additionally, The Township of Langley announced that they will be closing all of their facilities as of 8 p.m. Tuesday night, which includes the Langley Centennial Museum.
The BC Farm Museum, which was set to open its doors on April 1st, released a statement on their Facebook page on Tuesday afternoon.
“Taking the advice of the Mayors statement, we have reviewed the current issues with the COVID-19 and we have decided that for the best of our volunteers and visitors to the museum we will be postponing our clean up on March 28th and our museum opening on April 1st until further notice.”
READ MORE: National parks closing visitor services tomorrow
More information is available at www.canada.ca/en/parks-canada/news.
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Email: ryan.uytdewilligen@langleyadvancetimes.com
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