New reserve to protect 49 hectares of woodland near St. Peters Bay
Treed areas can serve as carbon sinks, and along with wetlands offer ‘safe haven’
The Nature Conservancy of Canada has bought two parcels of land near St. Peters Bay on Prince Edward Island's North Shore, creating the Five Houses Woodland Nature Reserve to protect valuable forests, wetlands and wildlife.
Lanna Campbell, the group's program co-ordinator for P.E.I., says the 49 hectares of land is now being safeguarded under P.E.I.'s Natural Areas Protection Act.
"In perpetuity, nothing can ever happen to this property," she told CBC News. "So there will be no infringement of agriculture, no infringement of development, no cottages, no roads, no transmission lines."
The land was bought from a private landowner using a combination of donations from individuals and private charities, and funding from various levels of government.
Campbell said there are signs the area would have been harvested for domestic timber in the past, but there's also evidence of older trees.
"It's really common on P.E.I. — and anywhere in the Maritimes — that a lot of landscapes will have been affected by hundreds of years of settlers accessing wood.
"We still have to dive a bit deeper, but we think we have some birch in there and some really big magnificent trees that are maybe over 200 years old."
Conservation combats climate change
The new conservation area brings Canada a step closer to achieving the federal government's 30 by '30 goal, to protect 30 per cent of the country's lands and waters by the year 2030.
Campbell said conservation areas like this one can help P.E.I. achieve "really ambitious targets" moving the Island closer to net zero.
For example, the trees at Five Houses Woodland Nature Reserve can serve as a carbon sink, counteracting how much carbon is released elsewhere on P.E.I.
Forests help moderate climate change by absorbing carbon that has been released by human activities such as burning fossil fuels.
"They help us handle storms better," Campbell added. "They absorb water when we receive really high-intensity rainfall."
The new P.E.I. nature reserve will also foster at-risk species such as the threatened Canada warbler and olive-sided flycatcher, as well as the rare black-backed woodpecker.
"That wildlife can have a larger space to roam and to exist and to sort of hide away from the sounds of cars and people," Campbell said. "They have the opportunity to find safe haven there."
Campbell said the Nature Conservancy hopes to expand the St. Peters Bay reserve in the near future, raising money to acquire another 14 hectares nearby.
"The more habitat that we can conserve, the better chances they have at survival."