The sale of native trees and shrubs from our nursery helps fund many programs, including a children's program, school tours and talks, guided walks, breeding bird survey and plantings at schools, on community land, for forest restoration, and within riparian zones.

Here are some of the major sections of the site, however, you may want to refer to the Sitemap page for a complete listing of all webpages on this site.

Forest Restoration
Prince Edward Island forests are some of the most heavily altered in North America. With over 560,000 hectares of total land area, PEI only contains approximately 9,000 scattered hectares of original forest that one time covered up to 98% of the island. The Macphail Woods contains examples of what's left of the original Acadian Forest on PEI. Read more in our Ecological Forestry area.

Native Tree and Shrub Nursery
Here you will find information on identification, collecting, and growing your own native trees and shrubs. The Macphail Woods nursery has become a major source of native plants for many habitat restoration projects around Prince Edward Island. We offer planting ideas and solutions for everyone, from woodlot owners wanting to restore native woodlands to the urban homeowners interested in attracting wildlife. Read more in our Native Nursery area.

Nature Trails
Four trails and a native plant garden have been created as well as an arboretum. The Wild flower, Streamside and Woodland Trails focus on different aspects of natural history, while the Rhododendron Trail features displays of rhododendrons plus a mix of native and non-native plants. Each trail has its own unique charm and are open year round to experience PEI woodlands. Read more in our Nature Trails area.

Public Forest Land Management
On December 13, 2005, Minister of Environment, Energy and Forestry Jamie Ballem announced today that the Province has reached an agreement with the Environmental Coalition of Prince Edward Island to manage 800 hectares of public land in southeastern PEI. Under the 10-year lease agreement, the Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project in Orwell will use the lands to demonstrate sustainable forest management and restoration of our native Acadian woodlands. Read more in our Public Forested Lands area.

Birds and Birding
We do a lot of birding activities here at the Macphail Woods. This birding tours such as our Owl prowl's, where we learn about owls then go into the woods and try to find them. Summer songbird breeding surveys, including the fourth year of Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) at the woodlot. Other resources you will find are birding checklists for PEI, as well as the Macphail Woods and links to identification sites. Read more in our Birds and Birding area.

Wildlife Enhancement
For many people, the opportunity to see, interact with or simply enjoy the company of wild things is an important part of life. These information sheets are written for those who wish to enhance their surroundings for wildlife. The principles that we recommend can work with big areas or small, from suburban lots to large woodlots. The keys to successful wildlife enhancement are planning, patience, the willingness to experiment and love for what you are doing. Read more in our Wildlife Enhancement area.

The project began in September of 1991 with a wildlife garden and native plant nursery. The sale of native trees and shrubs from our nursery helps fund many of our other programs, including nature trails, demonstrations of innovative windbreaks, forest restoration and erosion control. The nursery and wildlife garden attract special attention, show casing native trees, shrubs and wild flowers.

We offer regular workshops on a wide variety of natural history, silvicultural and related topics as well as tours of the property and our work. Check our Events Page for a listing of what's happening. Our Site Map page contains a complete listing of all the web pages on our site.

This site contains many of the publications and articles written by Gary Schneider . See the publications page for a complete list of available pamphlets and booklets. A lot of the illustrations are done by Kate Poole. Web development and maintenance by Chris Martin.

Environmental Coalition of Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island ECO-Net