Macphail Woods Articles
Will the new buffer zone legislation be enough?

The new buffer zone legislation is now in place for both forested land and farmland, but will it result in a healthier environment for PEI? No question. Any buffer zone is better than what we have had up 'til now, which is nothing . People were free to plow down to the edge of the water and when pesticides washed off the land there was nothing to slow it down. The result? Dead fish and streams almost devoid of life. Are these buffer zones adequate? Not until water stops running downhill.

Section of an Island Stream.

The Round Table on Resource Land Use and Stewardship called for 20-30m buffers on all land. No row cropping would be allowed in this area. The Round Table stopped short of banning all forestry operations in these buffers, but it did recommend that cuttings could not detract from the buffer zone s ability to buffer. What the province legislated is a I Om farming buffer (which gets wider as the slope increases) in which you cannot row crop but can grow 'hay or grain. In the forested areas, it s even more open. You can extract 33% of the basal area every ten years, and though it s called selective harvesting, the clearcuts can be up to 'A acre.

A recent Guardian report show the seriousness of last summer's problems. While the total cost of the Valleyfield fishkill might never be known, the actual expenses incurred from the fish kill on that river last summer amount to almost $50,000. That's the estimate of Kelly MacDonald, an environmental economist based in Dartmouth with Environment Canada. She says ihat the financial losses associated with the incident, which shut down the entire recreational fishery in the river system, will likely continue into this year and next.

Officials estimated that 2,500 fish were killed in the Valleyfield incident, but that figure likely only represents about 25 per cent of the actual fish deaths. The replacement cost of 2,500 fish is about $1,800. "Some would say you could restock the river and it's only the cost of replacing the fish," she said. "But we underestimate and then multiply again to determine the overall impact. In this case it was more likely an $8,000 loss in the number of fish." MacDonald said the volunteer time cost $4,000, the public servant time cost about $8,000, the cost of materials rose to $15,000, and the loss to the recreational fishery - based on unsold licences - another $15,000 bare minimum.

Still, the province seems reluctant to take the necessary action. When the Department of Agriculture and Forestry, in conjunction with the Soil and Crop Improvement Association, holds its conference. on sustainable agriculture on April 7 and 8 at the Charlottetown Hotel, one of the topics is the PEI Brand - the relationship between agriculture, the environment and rural communities, sustainable production options and the branding of Island food products.

The development of a "PEI Brand" is a component of the new Food Strategy for the province, yet the province has failed to take the kind of positive action that would actually create a tremendous market for Island products. Good buffers, improved land management practices, increased hedgerows, mandatory crop rotation and many other actions together will give these products a brand they can be proud of. Until then, we will all cringe at the sound of thunder this summer - not from fear of getting hit by lightning, but from the fear of finding more dead fish.