Nature group takes action to protect large chunk of coastal forest in Murray River area

A new campaign from the Nature Conservancy of Canada is aimed at raising $5 million to protect 202 hectares of land on the Point Pleasant peninsula near Murray River in eastern Prince Edward Island. 

The non-profit environmental protection group wants to buy and protect the coastal forest near Murray River on the southeastern tip of P.E.I., according to a news release timed for Earth Day. 

The land is currently known as Point Pleasant but the Mi'kmaq called it Kiwto'qitek, meaning "reverberating echo" or "surrounding" and pronounced "Geyou-dough-ed-deg."

The Nature Conservancy says this is the largest and most ambitious fundraising campaign it has ever pursued in P.E.I., aiming to become a steward of the intact Wabanaki or Acadian forest, bog and five kilometres of shoreline.  

"The property is over 200 hectares, so a little over 500 acres. Properties this size on P.E.I. are incredibly rare. If there is a property this size, it's likely a field of potatoes," Lann Campbell, the group's program director in P.E.I., told CBC's Mainstreet P.E.I. 

"So seeing a property this size that is intact and has a beautiful forest and a beautiful sort of bog wetland is really rare. So we feel really fortunate to be able to step in and conserve the property." 

According to Campbell, the land serves as a quiet haven for the diverse wildlife and native species that call it home. Those include ruffed grouse, great blue herons, American mink and harbour seals, as well as pink lady's slipper, the elusive orchid that is the province's floral emblem. 

The current owners of the property had been proposing that it become a cottage development called Water's Edge. 

"For many decades the land owners have been trying to sell it for development purposes. The land owners were known to the Nature Conservancy Canada; we have a bit of a relationship," said Campbell.

"We stepped up and said that we wanted to be the buyer and we thought that the property had incredible potential to stay as it is, as a natural landscape." 

The two parties negotiated a selling price of $5 million, and the NCC has already raised 80 per cent of that. The group is waiting to unlock the government funding it needs by confirming donations will also be coming from foundations, businesses and individuals. 

Campbell hopes the property will stay open and accessible to the public. Although plans have yet to be set in stone, she said they will invite the Islanders to visit and explore the property. 

"We need to have areas that we farm and live on, but it's also really important to set aside areas for nature and for wildlife to live on and to inhabit," she said. "And I think as Islanders, we can also cherish and love these spaces for us to enjoy."