Off-grid conversion of lighthouse buildings on Saddle Island

Saddle Island is a key part of the interpretation offered at Red Bay National Historic Site which is also a designated World Heritage site. The site and in particular Saddle Island protects many examples of early industrial-scale 16th century Basque whaling and associated evidence of early European settlement and resource exploitation in North America. Department of Fisheries and Oceans/Canadian Coast Guard operates a lightstation on the island, with an MOU giving them access to the light tower and equipment building. The proposed project looks to convert these facilities to an off-grid power source (solar with a back-up gasoline generator). Conversion to off-grid will provide reliable power to facilitate a manned lighthouse station while also enabling the removal of a powerline that runs the length of the island. Subsequently, these infrastructure upgrades are the first steps in improving the cultural landscape of the site. Given the extent of the proposed work (i.e. building infrastructure work), the location of the work (i.e. away from culturally sensitive areas and known locations of rare plants), it was determined that a basic impact assessment is the appropriate pathway for this project.

Latest update

May 17, 2023 – The public comment period on the project is closed. Parks Canada is considering comments received to help inform its determination on whether the carrying out of the project is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.

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Key documents

Key documents
Document Number Document Title File Date
1 New project being assessed by Parks Canada - Public comments invited from April 17 to May 17, 2023 - April 17, 2023

Contacts

Red Bay National Historic Site
P.O. Box 103
Red Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador A0K 4K0
Telephone: 709-920-2142
Email: redbay@pc.gc.ca


  • Location

    • Red Bay National Historic Site of Canada (Newfoundland and Labrador)

  • Nature of Activity

    • Building and Property Development

  • Assessment Status

    In progress

  • Start Date

    2023-04-17

  • Proponent

    Parks Canada

  • Authorities

    • Parks Canada Agency

  • Assessment Type

    Project on federal lands

  • Reference Number

    84517
Disclaimer

This map is for illustrative purposes. The markers represent the approximate locations based on available data. More than one marker may be identified for a given assessment.

 

Nearby assessments

...within 200 kilometres
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