The Macphail Woods
Ecological Forestry Project
Helping to Restore Prince Edward Island's Acadian Forests
Macphail Woods
What's New

Please note: This page is no longer being updated. I encourage you to check out our blog for the latest Macphail Woods news, as well as environmental news and information for Prince Edward Island

August 22, 2007
Property #327304 The latest forest management plan for Property #327304, located in Iona PEI.

August 18, 2007
Avian Productivity and Survivorship 2006 On Prince Edward Island our forests are very fragmented due mainly to our agricultural practices in this Province so the establishment of a MAPS station in Orwell area is a very worthwhile that collects valuable information on breeding birds in our geographic area. This is the fourth of the proposed five year study to look at avian productivity and survivorship within the Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project.

June 12, 2007
Nitrates demand action Nitrates were seen as a threat to the quality of Prince Edward Island's water and received attention in our 1997 report. Ten years later, the problem continues to get worse.

March 8, 2007
Property #333914 Forest Manamgement Plan for Property #333914, located in Valley PEI.

February 25, 2007
Property #333922 Forest Manamgement Plan for Property #333922, located in Valley PEI.

January 15, 2007
Added a new section to the site, Public Forest Lands Management. The Government of PEI has reached an agreement with Macphail Woods/Eco-PEI 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.

November 27, 2006
Acadian Forest Here is a page I wrote that describes the Acadian Forest of which PEI is a part of.

Sept 11, 2006
Forest Management Plan for Victoria Park in Charlottetown.

Sept 6, 2006
Added a new page about the annual workshop on the proper methods of pruning trees and shrubs. Added some pruning pics and links to more information.

Sept 2, 2006
Added a page on my favorite plant, the Indian Pipe. I added a number of pics, illustrating the various stages you will find this plant as well as a description and links to more information.

August 26, 2006
Added an article Gary wrote for the Guardian Newspaper, called We Need to Value Our Woodlands. It was part of an environmental series run in the Guardian Newpaper in August.

August 16, 2006
Added a Copyright and Privacy Policy Page. The privacy policy is very simple. We don't care who you are, just that you have an interest in the natural environment and it's resoration :). I use javascript on most pages and if you have it disabled, you may want to enable it for this site to get the best experience.

August 15, 2006
Added a javascript under the PEI Forest Policy Notes menu on the left hand side of the pages. If you don't see it, you have javascript disabled. The series of random notes are displayed from Gary's discussion paper on the PEI Forest Policy public meetings and discussions. The whote thing can be read here.

August 14, 2006
donors / sponsors page.

August 13, 2006
Added more pics to the Bald Eagle Wildlife Enhancement Page. Thanks to Beth Hoar from GreenThumb Photography.

August 11, 2006 changed around the amphibian pages. I had to update the links to the species accounts. The USGS sites are very good with many photos of each species. I still would like to get pics from here to add.

July 44, 2006
Added a page to highlight people, companies, organizations and others who have help us along the way with their donations and sponsorship. We also have a section on being a donor, which helps support our work..

July 44, 2006
Changed around the Maps and Mapping page. Added some new and better pics with some text.

July 44, 2006
The PEI Gov't Mapping website is a great resource. One of the things available is a series of aerial photos starting in 1935. I have taken the series and put them together to illustrate how PEI's abandoned farm land reverts back to forest.

June 15, 2006
Still On the ferns page, I have added a couple of great internet resources for more fern information.

Province Signs Land Management Agreement With The Environmental Coalition Of PEI.
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...

July 14, 2006
On the ferns page, there was a listing of just a few species of native ferns that can be found during a walk at Macphails. I have found a more complete list of native ferns of PEI and have added them to the fern page.

June 15, 2006
Added more information to the weather page. I changed the layout with all currrent conditions and forecasts listed together, then the radar and satellite imagery. There were some dead links i trimmed as well.

June 15, 2005
The Lady's Slipper page has been given some photos to go along with it. I have also added pictures to the Two woodland wildflowers page.

June 14, 2005
I am pleased to announce that PEI Photographer Beth Hoar has graciously agreed to share some of her wonderful photos for our site. You can check out Beth's website at http://www.greenthumbphoto.com

May 18, 2005 - Guestbook is no longer!
Guestbook. After a long absence, our guestbook is back. Started in 1997, the guestbook has many entries from all over the world. Feel free to add your own. It shows you care and support our island environment.

May 14, 2005
Mailing List. The Macphail Woods website has set up a mailing list so subscribers can keep up to date on happenings at the Macphail Woods. Follow the link, or simply send an email to Announcements-request@macphailwoods.org with the word subscribe in the body of the message.

May 11, 2005
Implemented a search script that enables you to do a search of the Macphail woods website.

Search our site:

May 8, 2005
Photo Gallery. The photo gallery has been expanded with new additions. One is a selection of photos of indian pipe, and the other is of mushroom and fungi.

April 28, 2005
Wildlife Trees - Snags Study. This is preliminary, but i have added a page to this project. Briefly, we have selected and mapped out 200 snag trees, with a description on species, size, condition, wildlife usage to date and surrounding forest habitat.

April 25, 2005
Articles. A Series of articles related to forestry and environmental topics on Prince Edward Island. This section has been updated with new articles.

April 23, 2005
The Wildlife Enhancement Sheets Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project a member of the Island Sustainable Forest Partnership Cooperative with assistance from Natural Resources Canada - Canadian Forest Service and the Model Forest Program have put together a series of Wildlife enhancement sheets on Prince Edward Island.

April 21, 2005
The Field Checklist of Birds of Prince Edward Island has been updated to match the latest 7th edition, updated in 2003.

April 15, 2005
Again, it's been a while since the site has seen many changes. The 2005 nursery pricelist is available as well as this years events calendar.

May 6, 2004
Added a new section to the website, Articles . This is a section where different people have submitted various opinion pieces on environmental issues on PEI. Also, I have included a section covering the news releases from the gov't of PEI concerning pesticides and fishkills that have occured on PEI.

March 6, 2004
Started a new design and layout for the site. Content is pretty much the same right now.

February 18, 2004
Macphail woods get it's own domain, macphailwoods.org

June 18, 2003
I was informed of a correction required in the amphibian section. I had the scientific name of the green frog mixed up with the spring peeper. To boot, the spring peeper scientific name was the old one ! Fixed.

April 13, 2003
The new Guestbook is operational. This script is much more powerful and secure than the last one. One problem is that i could not import my old guestbook entries into the new version, so i had to make it an archived page.

April 8, 2003
I have finished creating a number of new banner pictures at the top of each page. A javascript randomly selects from over 30 pictures to display.

April 5, 2003
Thanks to Xenu Link Sleuth, I can verify that at this moment, 99.99% of all links are working. This includes both internal and external links. Thank you Xenu !!!

April 2, 2003
I noticed on the Guide to Trees section that the external links I had to the various species were no longer correct. The Silvics of North America website changed locations. I have updated this.

April 1, 2003
The main home page has been trimmed down quite a bit, however, I'm also am trying to make the page more informative.

March 31, 2003
I have disabled the Guestbook, Discussion Board, and Search features until i figure out a more permanent solution. I hope to have these back up and running soon.

March 30, 2003
Wow, I can't believe that I haven't updated this page for so long. I have updated pages and stuff, but forgot to put it in here. Anyway, I'm going to try and update this from now on.

September 30, 2000
Native Trees of Prince Edward Island. This section is going thru an update. I'm not doing a complete guide, but rather linking to some excellent dendrology and silvics web sites. Also, added to link to the Account of PEI in 1806 forest products to be able to compare today's forests species with what was described in 1806. Currently the coniferous species are updated.

September 26, 2000
PEI Weather and Climate Page. Get weather and climate information for PEI from a number of sources. Forcasts, satellite photos as well as radar images are available.

September 3, 2000
The Photo Gallery is now open with it's first exhibition of aerial photos taken during a fly by of the Macphail Woods area.

August 29, 2000
The Macphail Woods Website has been updated with a slightly different interface, most noticable with a new series of rotating banners at the top of each page. Also, i have formatted the pages for 600 x 480 viewing, to fit most browsers.

August 26, 2000
The Macphail Woods Nature Centre is now open online. See the newly renovated barn turned into a natural history centre for teaching.

August 20, 2000
The PEI Checklist to the Birds has been updated.

Saturday April 1, 2000
And this is no April Fool's joke either !!! There has been a lot going on out at the Macphail woods, just that I have neglected to add it here. None the less, recent activites include,

  • The 2000 Tree and Shrub Nursery Pricelist is now available for online viewing !
  • Students at the University of Prince Edward Island Biology Department has done a Limnological study of the Orwell river that runs thru the woodlot. More to come.....
  • A new Email Mailing list for people interested in the natural environment including animal and plant life as well as the natural features of Prince Edward Island. We're hoping that this discussion group will enhance communication among naturalists and enthusiasts throughout the province. More to Come......

Monday May 24, 1999
I have made the Macphail Woods website searchable. You can now search the website for keyword(s).

Monday May 24, 1999
An Account of Prince Edward Island, In the Gulph of St. Lawrence, North America. By John Stewart in 1806. Check out this new addition to the Macphail Woods Website. This online book is an excellent view of the natural history of PEI during the early 1800's.

Sunday May 23, 1999
The 1999 Events Calendar for the Macphail Woods has been posted.

Friday March 18, 1999
The 1999 Native Tree and Shrub Pricelist is now available.

Monday March 15, 1999
Added a couple of pages with articles concerning biodiversity. One is an article written by Gary called Biodiversity - Why worry about it ? . The other is an overview of the role the Macphail Woods plays in biodiversity monitoring in conjunction with the Smithsonian Man in the Biosphere Program. I also have a collection of biodiversity related websites that i will be adding to the links page.

I have added a some more information to some tree species that was lacking. A number of species were listed, but did not contain much info. Now, most should at least contain pictures to help identify the various tree species.

Other than that, a few minor house keeping duties.... Will have the 1999 nursery catalogue online soon.

The nursery main page has also been updated with some supplemental information about the nursery.

Sunday February 21, 1999
There are a few updates to mention. The Guide to trees main page has been supplemented with additional information about the forest regions or ecozones PEI is in. Also, for the individual species accounts, i have finished adding links to the USDA Silvic manual for each species listed.

The nursery main page has also been updated with some supplemental information about the nursery.

Wednesday February 16, 1999
Welcome to the new and improved Macphail Woods Site.... I wouuld like to take a moment to thank javascript that made the maintenance of this site possible. Viewers will notice a consistent drop down box on every page to make navigation easier. This may result in some viewers experiencing problems with early brower versions. Unfortunately, all I can recommend is to update your browser.....

Here are some of the changes:

  • The birds and birding section has been updated.
  • The amphibian section has been updated.
  • More species of trees have been added to the native tree guide
  • Also, would like to point out that the message board and guestbook (hint!) are more accessible.
  • A bunch of little things, like the random logo image at the top of every screen

There are still a couple of remaining issues. I want to be able to search the site, so i am exploring ideas there. Also, the mapping and gis section still needs to be updated.

Thursday December 31, 1998
I haven't been adding to this recently, but then again there hasn't been much added. However, i would like to point out that the site has been going thru a refit. Hopefully, it will become more visually attractive, while maintaining a consistent look no matter how it is viewed.

Saturday April 25, 1998
The new Macphail Woods Nature Trails brochure has been placed online. It contains many photos and interactive links. Plus, lot's of information on natural history and ecology.

Sunday, March 15, 1998
Added a new resource for PEI called Environmental Resources for P.E.I. Although it is only starting out, this section should grow substantially in the next few weeks. Updated: I removed this section.

Saturday, March 7, 1998
Started a major update of the site, with a new format, look and lots of photos.

Saturday January 24, 1998
Well, as you can tell, not keeping up on this page :)

Sunday, November 16, 1997
The section on ecological forestry has been switched around, where each chapter is now in it's own page. It makes it easier to load and better format.

Tuesday, November 11, 1997
The Main page has been revamped. Now, with pictures and stuff. I hope you like it.

Tuesday, November 4, 1997
Added the link to the Natural History Center Fund Drive. we are looking for all kinds of kings and materials and assistance.

Thursday, October 21, 1997
Links page has been updated with new links and also removed dead links. Eventually, with time, like to add descriptive captions to the links, indicating what is on the other side of that click.

Thursday, August 21, 1997
Got a web site tracker, AXS working on the site. Thanks to Kris O'Brien for his assistance. The program will indicate where the user came from, and where they left too.

Monday, August 18, 1997
Went to the Macphail Woods and took many photos using a digital camera. Many thanks to Mark MacDonald for bring his camera and time.

Monday, August 11, 1997
The Macphail Site, with it's new and hopefully improved look, has been uploaded to my new server, www.onlinesupport.pe.ca.

Tuesday, April 22, 1997
The Events Calander has been added. It contains the upcoming events of both the Macphail Homestead and the Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project.

Monday, April 14, 1997
The Nursery Catalogue has been added. It contains the hours of operation, a price list of the plants being offered, and a online order form.

Wednesday, March 19, 1997
Added the Bird Watching Result Form. After a visit to the Macphail Woods, you can go to this page and enter the bird species observed and send us the results.

Thursday, March 13, 1997
Field Checklist to the Birds of PEI. This page is a checklist of the birds on PEI. I have added a birdnest gif to indicate which species nest on PEI.

Monday, February 24,1997
The guide to the wildflowers has been added. It is still under construction. Right now, there is a list of the common flowers that would be found along the Macphail trails.

Thursday, February 20, 1997
The guide to the amphibians has been added. It has a list the species presnet at the Macphail Woodlot and has a brief life history of each species.

Wenesday, February 12, 1997
I have changed the index page somewhat, with the addition of pics as links to major sections. Also, added the project's description to the index page, so folks will know what we are.

Tuesday, January 21, 1997
The page is moving along nicely !!! Special thanks go to Kent Villard for his help on setting up and configuring the counters and the search script.....

Monday, November 25, 1996
I retract what i had said on the 13th. I was not near completion, and i'm still not satified with the shrub section yet. However, i have removed the lcd sign from page when discovered it was causing an error in java script, sucking computer resources. I have added the red balls and increased font of links on main page. Finally, i have gotten most pages off main up and running.......

Wednesday, November 13, 1996
I have pretty much completed work on the online guide to the shrubs

Saturday, November 10, 1996
A co-worker, Mark MacDonald gave me and help set up my LED sign, cool no ?

Thursday, November 8, 1996
although mostly undone, the site was placed onto the web server

macphailwoods.org - Copyright and Privacy Policy