Joined by members of the Tracadie Area Residents for Resource Protection (TARRP), Minister of Environment, Energy and Forestry Jamie Ballem today officially designated the Eagles Landing Tracadie Cross Bog Natural Area property as a protected Natural Area.
“Bogs are often underappreciated and seen as wastelands, or obstacles to development,” said Minister Ballem. “Yet these unique ecosystems are vital to our environment and, as TARRP plans to demonstrate, they can be unique places to visit and learn about nature.”
Chair Wayne Corrigan said TARRP will work in partnership with the Department of Environment, Energy and Forestry to manage the Tracadie site as an educational Natural Area.
“Our community sought this designation and is very pleased that this special place has now been formally protected. We have been and will continue to be actively involved in how it is managed and conserved,” said Mr. Corrigan. “The Eagles Landing Tracadie Cross Bog Natural Area will allow us to teach landowners and school children about this unique ecosystem and, hopefully, foster their sense of stewardship.”
The Eagles Landing Tracadie Cross Bog Natural Area includes two properties which total some 61 hectares (150 acres). Located north of Route #2 in Tracadie, the site is classified as a black spruce bog interspersed with white pine. It contains a representative mixture of species found in a typical Island bog and two provincially rare or uncommon plant species – the white-fringed orchid, one of the rarest plants in PEI, and the royal fern.
A bog is a self-contained wetland, usually covered with sphagnum moss and filled with decomposing sphagnum material called peat. In most cases, bogs are closed systems with rainfall and snow melt as their only source of new water. Compared to other wetlands, bogs tend to lack nutrients. However, they support many species that cannot live in other, more productive ecosystems. Some common bog plants, such as sun dews and pitcher plants, compensate for the lack of nutrients by trapping and digesting insects.
While many bogs are thousands of years old, climate change is predicted to have major impacts on these fragile ecosystems over the next 100 years.
“Protecting sites such as this one is critical if we are to decrease the existing pressures facing some Island bogs,” said Minister Ballem. “By working with community groups such as TARPP, we hope to increase the role public education can play in the protection of our native plant biodiversity.”
Prince Edward Island now has just over 9,000 hectares of lands designated as Natural Areas under the Natural Areas Protection Act. The act protects various types of natural habitats from development.