Campsites are filling up in provincial parks as restrictions are lifted and the august long weekend approaches.

Moose Mountain Provincial Park often sees campers lining up to stay in the park, and are seeing even more attendees this year.

That's according to Kim Brown, the Park Manager of Moose Mountain.

She says that the amount of people they've seen coming in has been huge.

"With the restrictions lifted, we've had one of the busiest summers we've ever had before," said Brown, "So it's nice to see lots of people out and about."

One of the reasons for the increased visitorship is the recently-rescinded fire ban that had been put on all provincial land, as the warm and dry weather swept across the prairies.

"The fire restriction is currently lifted at Moose Mountain on the 21st, due to a little bit of rain we received," said Brown, "Once the fire restriction was rescinded we had campers lined up at the woodpile with smiles on their faces."

Since the current weather is still dry and hot, Brown stressed that everyone should remain extra careful when lighting a fire, and mentioned the possibility of another fire ban.

"in the interim, with the hot and dry weather, we just ask that people be responsible," said Brown, "When lighting a fire, campers shouldn't leave the fire unattended, should make sure they start a fire in a closed fire pit and make sure the fire is completely out before leaving."

"Fire bans are put in place for the safety of the park and the park patrons, and we'll continue to monitor the environment on an ongoing basis."

One of the things that Brown has also noticed is an increased amount of first-time visitors, which she attributes to the pandemic.

"A lot more people are, you know, even though restrictions have lifted are still traveling within their province so we've seen a lot more first-timers that have come out and seen what our province has to offer, but we've also seen our locals come back too. It's nice to see a busy park and it's good for everybody."