John Sylvester

Prince Edward Island

  • In 2013-2014, we were instrumental in helping the Province of PEI to acquire 75 acres at Deroche Pond.

 

  • Stewardship Volunteers
  • 28

So many people signed up for our first ever beach clean-up of the Conway Sandhills that we had to book extra boats to get them all there!

 

All aboard for conservation!

An enthusiastic group of 25 volunteers joined us at Milligan’s Wharf in western Prince Edward Island for the inaugural beach clean-up at the Conway Sandhills.

Extra boats were required to transport people who showed up wanting to lend a helping hand. With the volunteers’ time and elbow grease, we managed to remove several old, derelict shacks from newly acquired lands and install NCC property signs.

NCC has been actively approaching willing landowners in this section of the province over the past three years in efforts to conserve a 50-kilometre sand dune and salt marsh area.

Andrea Drake

Three new sites for plovers to peep about

In August 2013, we celebrated the protection of four new sites by NCC in western Prince Edward Island.

Three of them, located in the Conway Sandhills, provide important nesting habitat for the endangered piping plover.

The other property is in Egmont Bay. Joining NCC were Federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea and Provincial Environment Minister Janice Sherry, along with local supporters and generous donors. In all, over 118 acres (48 hectares) are being conserved through land purchases. The Conway Sandhills properties (more than 113 acres/46 hectares) include substantial salt marsh and are dominated by sand dunes.

This brings NCC’s protected area in the Conway Sandhills to over 350 acres (142 hectares), which is half of the sandhills’ landbase. Work is continuing here, with several new landowners being contacted.

 
NCC/CNC

Conservation blooming in PEI

St. Peters Harbour was historically the most populated township in PEI after the arrival of the French Europeans.

There are families who have owned land in the area for almost 200 years.

In the spring of 2014, we announced our plans to work with a local family to conserve lands in the Blooming Point-St. Peters Harbour areas in the northeastern corner of the province, adjacent to other NCC protected lands.

We also completed an agreement to acquire a site in Blooming Point. This 75-acre (30-hectare) property is a long-sought piece by both private land trusts and the Government of Prince Edward Island. The successful conservation of these lands sealed a natural area around Deroche Pond.

The coast, dunes and surrounding wetlands provide crucial habitat to shorebirds. Nationally endangered piping plovers use the area for nesting.

Other species that live here include semipalmated plover, greater yellowlegs, black-bellied plover, ruddy turnstone, semipalmated sandpiper and sanderling — all of which use the sandy beach for feeding during migration.

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