Replacing a wooden boardwalk in a popular walking trail in Gros Morne National Park with a packed gravel path was a bad move for accessibility, says an advocacy group.

Parks Canada replaced the wooden plank walkway as part of a two-year upgrade, saying the packed-gravel path would make the park more accessible.

It's just an unfortunate miss that this particular opportunity wasn't caught in time. - Nancy Reid

"It's disappointing for me," says Nancy Reid, a manager with the Coalition of Persons with Disabilities Newfoundland and Labrador who also uses a wheelchair.

"What's really disappointing for me … is the missed opportunity for park officials to reach out to the disability community and get a better understanding of what was best practice, what would really work for people who knew that experience."

According to Reid, Parks Canada didn't consult with COD-NL in the planning process for replacing a boardwalk.

Nancy Reid says the previous wooden boardwalk was a discussion point for people who said it was accessible. (John Pike/CBC)

If they had input, Reid said they wouldn't have recommended the gravel walkway.

"That loose surface, that loose gravel, is very difficult to navigate, and it's certainly very difficult to navigate independently. The boardwalk surface that existed was a much better opportunity for many users," she told CBC's Corner Brook Morning Show.

"Obviously, I certainly understand any concerns around the slip hazard around wood, especially when it's wet, but there are other opportunities to do things slightly differently that would enable wheelchair users and users of other mobility devices."

Featured in talks on universal design

The boardwalk that was there before was actually a bright spot for people who have mobility issues and who wanted to get into Western Brook Pond, Reid said.

"This boardwalk had been talked about so many times over the last couple of years by people in the province just commenting on the accessibility it created. We actually featured it in many of our talks in the last couple of years around universal design," she said.

"The fine gravel and the fine silt … you have to consider the environmental conditions that are going to be impacting that area, we're gonna have hard rain at certain times; this is Newfoundland and Labrador."

The original boardwalk for the Western Brook Pond trail, while esthetically beautiful, sometimes posed a hazard to park visitors. (Kim Fisher/Submitted )

Reid said it's also a personal loss for herself and her husband, who are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary this year. When they married, they drove across Newfoundland and visited Western Brook Pond. At the time, she didn't use a wheelchair or have mobility issues, and now she's not sure they'll be able to retrace their steps for their anniversary.

"Now my husband and I are going to have to try something different to do because we won't be able to do that."

The MP for Long Range Mountains took to her Facebook page late Tuesday to publish a post defending the changes at Western Brook Pond.

Gudie Hutchings said the wooden boardwalk could no longer accommodate the roughly 40,000 people visiting the site each year, especially as 60 per cent of park visitors are 55 years or older and park officials worried about accessibility to the pond.

She also said this year's changes are part of a larger, multi-year upgrade to the trail, but it will at no point be a paved pathway.

Hutchings said Parks Canada invited people from nearby communities to open house forums in May 2017 to discuss the changes to Western Brook Pond.

She said while the new gravel path may look intrusive on the landscape, it will mean less of an environmental impact in the long run.

Hutchings said she based her post on information she got from the park's website and a bulletin it had published.

Meanwhile, Reid said she and COD-NL will be writing to Parks Canada about what to do now to make Western Brook Pond accessible again to more people.

They're working with L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site right now, for example, to ensure that the Viking site is accessible to everyone.

"We'll certainly be there to have conversations about where we can go from here, but it really is too bad," Reid said.

"Of course there's been a lot of money put in to taking that piece out … so we would have a lot of factors to consider, but there's certainly opportunities. There always are."

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