Group hoping to see progress soon to preserve Caribou lighthouse
The winds of change are slow for a community group wanting to take control of the Caribou lighthouse.
Corey Matheson, a summer resident on Caribou Island, said he and Caribou Island resident Dane Grant are hoping the lighthouse can eventually be turned over to their group, but right now they would be thankful just to see it painted.
“It is a slow process, I know that,” said Matheson. “People are getting antsy about the whole things because it seems nothing has been done. Initially we had hoped to have it painted for July 1, but I don’t think that is going to happen.”
The Caribou Island Lighthouse, still used as a navigational aid, is under the control of the federal government while the Canadian Coast Guard takes care of the light.
In 2010 the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act came in to effect after being passed by the federal government two years earlier. On that same day, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans made a public list of surplus lighthouses that included Caribou Island.
Matheson and Grant, who formed Friends of the Caribou Lighthouse, had made a pitch to the Municipality of the County of Pictou about taking over control with the thought that the group would eventually operate it as a park area.
Typically, Matheson said, he
has been told that the coast guard prefers to divest lighthouses to municipalities rather than community groups because there is always a chance that a group will run low on volunteers and disband.
“We would like to see it go to the municipality and have our group look after it,” he said, adding if this happened the group
would look into grant money and fundraise to help make the site more attractive to visitors.
“The ultimate goal is to fix up the lighthouse, plant some grass and maybe have some picnic tables there. We want to turn the spot around. There has been no money spent on the site (in years) and we want to bring it back up.”