Read more Research / Projects
Schoolground Naturalization Project
Most Prince Edward Island schools are situated on old fields - large brick buildings in the midst of grassland. At many schools, teachers and students have recognized that planting trees would help to make the school yards more interesting and attractive. A few schools have done outstanding work in improving their surroundings. The Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project is trying to encourage others to recognize the many benefits that plantings can bring to a school. Every year we help students plant trees and shrubs at schools and we have initiated a "Planting for Biodiversity" project through Environment Canada's Action 21 program that will allow us to assist more schools across the province.
More... - Schoolground Naturalization Project
School Planting.
Here you will find information on identification, collecting, and growing your own native trees and shrubs. The Macphail Woods nursery has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, and has become a major source of native plants for other habitat restoration projects around Prince Edward Island.
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This booklet provides information on how to restore healthy, productive forest communities and avoid potentially harmful practices. Information has been gleaned from writings by qualified foresters, research scientists, naturalists and woodlot owners. Until government and industry devote more resources to ecological forestry, most research will continue to be done on our own woodlots. Private landowners control 93% of forests in this province and our tax dollars fund government programs. It is up to individual woodlot owners to manage their woodlots well.
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The Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project, a member of the Island Sustainable Forest Partnership Cooperative with assistance from Natural Resources Canada, the Canadian Forest Service and the Model Forest Program have put together this series of information sheets concerning Wildlife Enhancement on Prince Edward Island.
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It is also the home of the Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project. Most of the homestead's 57 hectares (140 acres) are wooded and include a pond and several streams. These wood lands are a research and demonstration site for the restoration of native forests. Four trails and a native plant garden have been created and work has now begun on 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.
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Wildlife Trees - Snags
The number of wildlife trees left during silviculture operations and how to keep wildlife trees available on site at all times are problematic issues in sustainable forest management. Most contractors are not aware of the importance of snag trees to the 20 species of birds that cavity nest in this province, or the many small mammals such as flying squirrels and red squirrels that make extensive use of cavities. Wildlife trees also provide important habitat for red-backed salamanders, many perching birds such as hawks and flycatchers, and a wide variety of insects. When they finally fall to the ground, these trees create homes for a variety of wildlife species, in addition to adding coarse woody debris to the site. Wildlife trees must be planned over the complete forest cycle, so that they are always available.
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Let's take a small stretch of the Orwell River that runs through the Sir Andrew Macphail homestead. As a forest type, it is primarily large, older hemlock, white pine, yellow birch and balsam fir. Yet the diversity that makes up this ecosystem is very rich and interacts in ways that we do not understand. It includes other trees, soil bacteria, earthworms, flowers, ferns, shrubs, insects, fish, stream invertebrates, resident and migratory birds, rodents and other small mammals, amphibians,
moulds and fungi, and of course, humans. There are hundreds, if not thousands of different species interacting along the stream, and we know very little about how they work together. That they are connected, though, is very clear.
More... - Biodiversity Project
