Whale Rescue Centre proposed for Head Harbour Lighthouse

    On Wednesday July 12th the New Brunswick Lighthouse Preservation Society(NBLPS) held it's first public meeting at the Lorneville Community Centre near Saint John. Since March of this year a group of lighthouse enthusiasts has been diligently working on getting a preservation society up and running in our province. New Brunswick has around 70 lighthouses still standing, some in better condition than others. Although the Coast Guard has been decommissioning our lighthouses for many years, it has only been since 1996 that the pace of disposal has increased due to funding cutbacks by the federal government and redundancy due to the advent of modern electronics and the GPS(Global Positioning Satellite) system.

The past year has been an exciting time for lighthouse preservation in the Atlantic region as a whole. All four Atlantic provinces now have lighthouse preservation groups in place in addition to the regional Atlantic Lighthouse Council, itself just formed in the past year. Three NBLPS board members are on the ATC council; Charlie Hope, Dan Warzecha and Kelly Anne Loughery giving New Brunswick a strong voice in terms of lighthouse policy for the Atlantic region. This past week saw the announcement of a proposed Whale Rescue Centre at Head Harbour lighthouse by Larry Wilson, Regional Director for the Coast Guard based out of Halifax. He hopes a group of Campobello island residents can get together and form an organization to help build and look after a Marine Mammal Rescue Centre proposed for the Head Harbour light. The lighthouse itself was built in 1829 making it the oldest in the province. It is located on a small islet near the northeast corner of the island, is 51 feet tall, octagonal in shape, white in colour and features a red St. George Cross daymark on one side. The cross has been on the light since the time of Confederation. It was de-staffed and automated in 1986 leaving only Machais Seal island as the last staffed light in the province. There are numerous outbuildings on the island as well where the proposed Rescue Centre would be tentatively set up and run from. You can hike out to the lighthouse only during the low tide but one has to be mindful of the fact that the Bay of Fundy is home to the world’s highest tides. Over the years numerous people have been “trapped” out on the island ending up having to be rescued by local fishermen.
Head Harbour is perhaps the most famous and most spectacular lighthouse in the Atlantic Region, only after Nova Scotia’s Peggy’s Cove light. It has even been featured in several New Brunswick Tourism commercials on Television as well as on the cover of printed tourism "Adventure" brochures. Although not as badly deteriorated as other lighthouses in the province, such as at Gannet Rock, it still needs to have some repairs done to it regardless of whether the Whale Rescue Centre goes ahead or not.

A bit of good news announced earlier this year concerned changes in the way the Coast Guard disposes of excess or redundant properties. Once a property, such as a lighthouse, is considered redundant it is first offered to another federal agency. If there are no takers it is then offered to the province. Again if it there are no takers the local municipality is offered the lighthouse. The final step in the process used to be that it then went up for auction before the public. Now with the new process in place nonprofit groups can get a crack at acquiring a lighthouse before it goes up for auction. Keeping the lighthouses in the public domain is now of prime importance for the Coast Guard.

Larry Wilson was the guest speaker at the NBLPS meeting in Lorneville. He talked about his vision for the restoration of the historic Head Harbour lighthouse, one of the most photographed lighthouses in the province. He presented several sample mockup's of what the lighthouse may look like in the future. One was a logo for the site consisting of a whale flipper in front of the red St. George Cross daymark alongside a picture of the lighthouse and outbuildings. An artist's rendition of what the lighthouse and islands with the two bridges in place would look like was also shown. Head Harbour has the potential of becoming a world class tourism site alongside a Rescue Centre for whales, in effect combining eco-tourism, lighthouse preservation with saving marine mammals.

In his lecture Wilson showed a real interest in helping local nonprofit organizations take over their local lighthouses. Whatever he could do within the constrains of Coast Guard regulations he was willing to look at. One recent example he gave was that of the Cape Forchu lighthouse near Yarmouth NS. The Coast Guard sold this light to the municipality of Yarmouth for one dollar. In return they have to clean up the soil around the light which is heavily contaminated with lead paint and other volatile substances like mercury. In order for the lighthouse grounds to be open to the public this has to be done. Many lighthouses have had environmental testing of the surrounding soil done over the course of the past few years. Almost all have come back with unacceptable levels of lead paint contamination that have to be cleaned up. The Coast Guard has little money to do this type of cleanup. They would hate to fence off lighthouses to the public and would rather assist local organizations in helping keeping public access open.

The proposal and business plan put forth by Mr. Wilson would see Head Harbour given to a local community group on Campobello who would also run the Marine Mammal Rescue Centre. A July 11th meeting was held on Campobello to judge how much interest there was in the community regarding his proposed project. About 80 people attended this information meeting held at the Herring Cove Restaurant on Campobello to hear what he had to say. In terms of financing the group would have to raise the several hundred thousand dollars necessary to build the two proposed pedestrian bridges out to the small island. One of the proposed walking bridges was of the suspension design while the other was of the beam support variety. Upkeep of the lighthouse and it's outbuildings would also have to be taken into consideration by the group. The time frame for completion of this project was expected to be at least 2 and 4 years down the road but may be longer depending on how quickly and how much money could be raised. Sources of funding could include acquiring contributions from all government levels, corporate sponsorship and even getting financial support from groups such as the World Wildlife Fund. The final draft of the business plan is expected to be finalized within the month. At that time more details should become know.

Wilson hopes this will become an excellent example of lighthouse protection, promotion and preservation for other groups to follow down the road. A tried and true template for future lighthouse restoration/preservation projects in other words. Each lighthouse is special in it's own way and it's up to each local group to find out what it is to exploit and market it. Eco-Tourism and saving lighthouses can go hand in hand or even combining lighthouse preservation with saving various bird or mammal species in the process. There are many different options available to each local community that could be used to help save their lights. In the end it's up to the Coast Guard, the NBLPS and the local citizens themselves to come together to help facilitate an outcome in the best interests of heritage preservation and community interests. Where there's a will there's a way. As a sign of gratitude for coming to talk at the inaugural NBLPS meeting Mr. Wilson was presented with a metal bird feeder in the shape of a lighthouse.

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