Cultural Routes and Heritage Trails - Tourism and Trails: Cultural, Ecological and Management Issues - page 39

Great Lakes navigable from west to east, and toward the Atlantic Ocean.
Although the canal itself has not been an important transport corridor for
tourists, its heritage value has emerged during the past half century, and
efforts have been devoted to utilizing it as a corridor for parks and trails. It
has become an important linear heritage attraction in the Niagara region of
Southern Ontario (Shipley & Beaudet, 1996).
Since the 1830s, the Rideau Canal has connected Kingston, Ontario
(Canada), with Ottawa, Canada's capital city, by bypassing elevation differ-
ences and waterfalls on the Rideau and Ottawa Rivers. Although it was built
nearly two centuries ago as a precaution against war with the US limiting
access to parts of Canada, the waterway today is managed by Parks Canada
and is used only for recreational boating (including canal cruises), skating
during winter and as a venue for major festivals (Ballinger, 1994; Donohoe,
2012). The Rideau Canal is one of Ontario's most significant heritage tourist
attractions and the oldest operating canal system in North America, win-
ning it a coveted inscription on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2007. In
addition to its salience for winter activities, summertime boating and mega-
events, the Rideau Waterway is also considered an important greenway with
walking trails and parks along its length.
Similar conditions exist in the US along the Erie Canal and other human-
built waterways of the New York Canal System that have evolved from
commercial shipping passageways to tourist destinations (Tang & Jang,
2010). In 2000, the US government designated the Erie Canal a National
Heritage Corridor to commemorate the role of the waterway in settling the
midwestern and western US and its importance as one of the earliest feats
of civil engineering. Various sections have been designated heritage sites by
various counties and municipalities in the state of New York, while newer
sections that have not collapsed or been infilled are still used for tourist
cruises. As well, many of the original towpaths of the Erie Canal are now
utilized as multi-use trails, including the longest: the Erie Canalway Trail.
One of the most impressive human-made waterways in Europe is the
Saimaa Canal, which begins in Finland at Lake Saimaa and exits into the Gulf
of Finland near Vyborg, Russia (Pitkänen & Vepsäläinen, 2006). The water-
way was opened in 1856, at which time it was completely in Finland. During
World War II, however, Finland lost a great deal of its southeastern territory
to the Soviet Union, so that today, the canal traverses Finland and Russia. It
was built to connect Finland's densest lake area with the Baltic Sea and is
43 km in length, and between 34 and 55 meters wide. At Lake Nuijamaa, the
Saimaa Canal enters Russia. While the entire canal is Russian territory on
the Russian side of the border, Finland leases the canal and a narrow strip of
land along its length, which is largely treated like Finnish territory. While
Russian visas are unnecessary for passing through the canal, passports are
required and recorded at the border crossing (Finnish Transport Agency,
2013). For Finns, the Saimaa Canal has special historical meaning as an