Forest management plans for 15 parcels of public land across PEI are now available online says Minister of Environment, Energy and Forestry, Richard Brown.

“A management plan is an important document that sets out long-term goals for the forest, and outlines what work will be done to get there,” said the minister. “Our public forests belong to the people of Prince Edward Island and it is important that we ensure this information is publically available.”

The Provincial Forest Policy commits the province to completing management plans before work is done on public forest land, and making these plans available to the public.

In addition to stating the management goals, the plans provide maps and descriptions of the properties; outline wetlands, watercourses and other sensitive sites; list the work done to date on the land; and propose work to be done for the coming and subsequent years.

“This is part of our ongoing commitment to ensure our public forests meet the highest standard of management,” said Mr. Brown. “To date, standards for forest management work have been updated; we no longer use herbicides or non-native species in public forests, work is paused during the critical bird nesting season, and the role for alternative management such as horse logging has grown.”

Management plans are available from Forests, Fish and Wildlife offices in Southampton, Charlottetown and Wellington, and are online at www.gov.pe.ca/go/pfplans. Additional plans will be posted as they become available.