About Us

The Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project is a joint effort of the Environmental Coalition of Prince Edward Island and the Sir Andrew Macphail Foundation. It combines protection of the natural area along the streams with wildlife enhancement, forest stewardship, watershed protection, environmental education and ecological research. The project began in September of 1991 with a wildlife garden and native plant nursery. It includes three nature trails and demonstrations of innovative windbreaks, forest restoration and erosion control. We offer regular workshops on a wide variety of natural history, silvicultural and related topics - birds, wildflowers, mushrooms, pruning, transplanting, papermaking, basketmaking - as well as tours of the property and our work. The nursery and wildlife garden attract special attention, showcasing native trees, shrubs and wildflowers.

The sale of native trees and shrubs from our nursery helps fund many of our other programs at Macphail Woods. Why not come out for a walk or a workshop and pick up some trees for your property? From mid-April to the end of October you can even call us at the nursery (902)651-2575 for information, hours, or a catalogue.

Helping Out

We're looking for volunteers to help with our work at Macphail Woods. It is a great place to spend some time and your help will ensure our continued success. Here are some of the things that volunteers could help out with:

• Nursery work - transplanting, weeding, seed collecting
• Photography - taking digital photos, organizing our collection
• Fundraising
• Children's program - helping with any of our children's activities
• School plantings - we can always use extra bodies on these very fun and inspiring days
• Carpentry work - there are always nursery beds and shade tables to be made, and we also need some work done around the Nature Centre as well
• Work on the 2,000 acres of Public Forest Land we are managing - everything from plantings to helping with a new trail we will be constructing in the fall

If you are interested in helping, please call Gary at 651-2575, or send an email to gary@macphailwoods.org

Financial contributions will help us continue our research and educational efforts. The Environmental Coalition is a registered charity and issues receipts for tax purposes for all donations. If your interested in making a donation, here is a handy form in Adobe Reader format. Please contact Gary Schneider for more information.

Also, would you be interested in contributing to this web site? If you have an interesting article on gardening, birding, or something else with an environmental theme, we would like to see it, and may even add it to this site, with your permission of course. Also, if you have any good quality photos of birds, we would be happy to use them giving you full credit for them. If you are interested in any of these ideas, contact the Webmaster of this site.