Three years into a $100-million upgrade of facilities at provincial parks, the improvements are visible: the expansion of the beach at Birds Hill, new washrooms at Watchorn and walk-in tent sites at Tulabi Falls.

About $44 million has been spent on the Selinger government’s planned upgrades and five more years of improvements are on the books.

But outdoor advocates and the Opposition Tories say Manitoba’s parks have been hurt by years of budget cuts to the Conservation and Water Stewardship Department.

"The work being done on our provincial parks, it seems like window dressing for the long weekend," Eric Reder of the Wilderness Committee said Friday.

"The reductions go back as far as 2011. It is routine to have a three to five per cent decline in budget numbers."

Reder said it’s strange the province trumpets the work at Watchorn Provincial Park, which he said his grandfather originally constructed, as part of the park upgrades.

"It was completely flooded out by Lake Manitoba flooding," he said. "It is mostly fixing what was there.

"It’s one more where it sounds great, but it’s not like a big push to work on something like our environment."

The high-water mark for the Conservation and Water Stewardship budget was almost a decade ago, in 2006, when the two departments were allotted $163 million.

The budget forecasts bobbed up and down from $156 to $161 million for a few years, but since 2011, when it was $161 million, it has steadily decreased. Proposed spending for this year is $138 million.

Paul Turenne, executive director of the Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters Association, said the department’s capital budget plunged 23 per cent this year alone, from $30.5 million to $23.5 million.

Turenne said not only was the overall Conservation and Water Stewardship Department cut this year, but the newly combined wildlife and fisheries branch has lost $270,000 from last year’s $6.9 million in funding.

Turenne said the NDP should be putting more money into the department.

"Obviously, the face of the Conservation Department is the provincial parks, but they also do hazardous waste programs, fish and biology, water quality," he said.

"Fish and wildlife contribute nearly $470 million to the provincial economy annually. It’s a bigger economic impact than hydro exports to the United States.

"This department has the ability to generate revenue. Why would you cut it?"

Rob Olson, managing director of the Manitoba Wildlife Federation, agrees.

"The move to have stiffer penalties on poachers, that’s great," Olson said.

"But you need to catch the poachers so you have to increase enforcement or we won’t have moose anywhere there are roads.

"We want good infrastructure in our parks, but fish and wildlife are real important — maybe more than we think."

Newly appointed Conservation and Water Stewardship Minister Tom Nevakshonoff could not be reached for comment.

But in a statement about the park improvements, Nevakshonoff said the province "continues to upgrade our facilities.

"I know people are excited to get out and enjoy provincial parks, and we’re ready to host them all across the province."

A provincial spokesman issued a statement late Friday, saying "the province is continually working to find ways to do things more efficiently by streamlining administration, reducing red tape, combining management positions and working closely with other departments to reduce overlap and duplication. Core services have been protected, and front-line services will be maintained. There are no plans for layoffs.

"Capital costs go up and down, depending on when projects start and end. Last year, a major project was completed (the fire centre in Lac du Bonnet). Notwithstanding the fluctuations in capital costs, in the end the province has committed to spend $100 million on capital in parks by 2020.

"(And) $44 million has been spent already. Plans for the balance will be based on the priorities people told us were important… better washrooms, better waste treatment, better roads, safe drinking water."

Tory critic Shannon Martin said during a time of deficit, his party would cut the budget in different areas.

"It’s where your money goes," Martin said.

"That’s the argument we have with this government. They don’t have a revenue problem, they have a spending problem. They can find money for a political payoff (to former staffers in the premier’s office), but they’ll cut the wildlife and fisheries branch.

"It all comes down to priorities and we have different priorities than them."

Martin pointed to old mattresses and televisions strewn in a wildlife management area near Lac du Bonnet as a sign there are not enough conservation officers to deal with problems.

"NDP waste is threatening essential front-line services."

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Photo Credit: Birds Hill Park, Manitoba (Robert Linsdell via Flickr)