Beyond white spruce: Restoring forests in P.E.I. National Park

Some students from UPEIpitched in this weekend on Robinsons Island in P.E.I. National Park to help restore the forest there to a more natural state.

Twenty students enrolled in environmental studies and biology planted 400 trees as part of a restoration program with Parks Canada.

We're ... planting native species that are currently missing.- Jennifer Stewart, Parks Canada

Parks Canada spokeswoman Jennifer Stewart said the partnership with UPEI is part of an ongoing effort to restore the Acadian Forest on Robinsons Island.

"When P.E.I. National Park was created in 1937, much of the new parkland had been used for agriculture. So over the past 75 years, these former fields grew up in white spruce forests, with few other species typical of the Acadian forest," said Stewart.

"For the last few years, Parks Canada has been taking an active role in working to restore the Acadian forest, and one way we're doing this is by planting native species that are currently missing from the landscape."

Trees being added to the forest include sugar maple, yellow birch, eastern white pine, and hemlock.

Parks Canada and UPEI became official partners in 2015, and tree planting is just one of many projects UPEI students have been involved in.

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