Leslie shuts down Butter Pot park for the year
The most-visited provincial park in Newfoundland and Labrador is closing for the rest of the year.
Located near St. John's, Butter Pot Provincial Park sustained so much damage from Leslie that shutting down for the season is the only option.
Park manager Keith Brown has been turning away campers since Tuesday when wind ripped down hundreds of trees, blocking off roadways and restricting access to campsites.
"We had to cut our way down into the park to check on campers that were down there," said Brown. "When we checked on them we actually then had to cut our way back to get back up out of the park. It was amazing."
Meanwhile, crews at Butter Pot are working to first clear the trees on the ground, then they'll start dealing with trees that Brown says could become even more dangerous if they get wet.
"This storm was by far one of the worst storms we've had ever to my knowledge at this time of the year in Butter Pot Park," said Brown.
Butter Pot wasn't the only park torn apart during the storm. A blanket of damage laid out by Leslie also caused headaches for people within the city trying to enjoy the nice weather.
Parts of the trails at Rotary Sunshine Park are almost completely blocked while the Grand Concourse and Long Pond Trail also had to be closed temporarily.
According to officials, the cleanup is nothing compared to Igor which caused much more flooding and damage to walkways.
"This time it's just trees and thank God that's it," said Addison Bown, executive officer of the Grand Concourse Authority.
"But as you look around at the trees, a lot of them are dry-rotted, there's a lot of new growth coming out. So there is good in all bad so maybe it’s a good thing for us that we don't have to cut down all the dry rotted trees that are falling down."
When Igor hit Memorial University's Botanical Garden, fallen trees were used to create what they call the Igor Archway, an arched gateway set in a wooded area.
Now, they're thinking about what to create with Leslie's damage.
"Because we're resourceful, we re-use, recycle, reduce," said Anne Madden, education coordinator at the botanical garden.
