The opening ceremonies of the Thundering Ahead news conference. Photo courtesy Tara Janzen, Wanuskewin Heritage Park.
On Thursday, Wanuskewin Heritage Park partners and representatives announced a capital fundraising campaign called “Thundering Ahead,” which is aiming to raise $40 million over the next two to three years.
The campaign is meant to follow a master plan master plan that will transform Wanuskewin by spending $15 million on land acquisitions and $25 million for renovating the park’s existing buildings, expanding the buildings, and preserving the ecology and biodiversity of Opimihaw Valley.
Part of that money will also go towards reintroducing bison in Wanuskewin.
“These bison are not only important to our people, but they are important to our environment because they bring back insects, they bring back plants, they bring back birds, they bring back other animals all by them just being on the land. So there’s a bigger connection to the land, the people, and the bison than most people recognize,” said Wanusekwin CEO Dana Soonias.
He said they’re making their master plan public after raising two-thirds of the money nationally through corporate and private funding.
“Now we’re hoping that the Saskatchewan community will be as proud and as supportive of this project here at Wanuskewin; that they will want to be involved in it and contribute in any way they can,” Soonias said.
Part of the money raised will go towards getting world heritage designation for the site through the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) certification process.
Soonias said they filed for UNESCO designation just last month. He said they already have the cultural, scientific, and environmental resources, and now need to document them.
“That will go through the system so hopefully over the next year or two years will be able to work our way through that whole application process,” he said.
“At the core of it, it’s really saying that we believe we have outstanding universal value at this level and we want to say that to the whole world.”
Soonias says they won’t proceed with the upgrades until they’ve raised the entire $40 million.
There is now a website people can access to get more information on the capital campaign. It can be accessed here.