Courtesy INT
Map provides approximate location.
MapleCross Peacewood Natural Area
St. Charles, PE
Island Nature Trust – 2022
40 hectares
Property Description
The MapleCross-Peacewood Natural Area contains 40 hectares of landlocked, upland forest in the eastern forest block of Prince Edward Island. Due to Prince Edward Island’s size and population, there remains few continuous forest blocks across the landscape. The upland forest block in this region hosts a variety of species that benefit from this continuous forest habitat. The isolation of this forested parcel serves little recreational service today, outside of grounds for hunting and foraging to occur.
Although this natural area does not share its boundaries with other Island Nature Trust protected areas, it is bordered by the Bear River PEI Conservation Agreement area to the east and is less than 300 metres from INT’s 21-hectare Bear River Riparian Zone Natural Areas. Additionally, the MapleCross-Peacewood Natural Area is within seven kilometres of 11 other Island Nature Trust-owned protected areas. While they do not all border each other, these protect areas maintain high connectivity. Rare species that were observed during property visits includes: American beech, starry false Solomon’s seal, cucumber root, flat-branched tree clubmoss and pileated woodpecker. The parcel of land hosts upland forests primarily composed of deciduous dominated stands with some patchy balsam fir stands. The deciduous stands were mainly comprised of red maple and white birch, although yellow birch and American beech were also a common occurrence.
Similar to most parcels of land on the Island, this property has undergone disturbances over time. Unlike much of the land on Prince Edward Island it appears to have more minimal anthropogenic impacts than areas in the centre or western portions of the Island. The main disturbance on this landscape appears to be forestry. It is the goal of the Island Nature Trust to mitigate these disturbances and steward impacted areas towards a healthy Wabanaki forest.
Thanks to the generous donation from the MapleCross Fund and our federal and provincial funding partners, the 40.5-hectare MapleCross–Peacewood Natural Area is now protected in perpetuity through the PEI Natural Areas Protection Act.
Content and property pictures courtesy of Island Nature Trust.
