By Cindy Chant

cindy@peicanada.com

Soggy celebrations will be held Feb 2, when wetlands around the world will be recognized during National Wetlands Day.

“Actually there are a lot of wetlands in western Prince County,” said Diane Griffin, PEI program manager with The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC).

According to Ms Griffin, many rivers and streams have been dammed by beavers, producing large wetlands that are beneficial wildlife habitats. 

“Some of the best salt marshes in PEI are in West Prince, particularly on the shore of Egmont Bay,” she said.

Many of these areas were diked for agricultural purposes by Acadian settlers, but have since reverted to their natural state as the dikes were opened up or removed. These marshes are suitable wildlife habitats for ducks and some shorebirds who may nest there like the Willet or Spotted Sandpiper. 

According to the NCC, West Prince has the largest and most biological diverse bogs in the province. Some, like Black Banks in Bideford and the Miscouche bogs have been heavily impacted by peat harvesting, but others have remained largely intact. These include the Black Marsh located south of the wind farm at North Cape, a large bog at Norway, Mossy Bog at West Point, and the large bog at the Brae. 

“Many of these bogs have rare plants (growing) in them, including orchids,” said Ms Griffin.

The Conway Sandhills, recently purchased by the NCC, is a large wetland-sand dune area. It has been featured on the front cover of the 2012 NCC calendar, which is mailed to donors and supporters of wetlands throughout Canada.

“It is a spectacular nature publication and gives national attention for the Island,” said Andrew Holland of NCC, who went on to explain “since there are 10 provinces across the country, each province is guaranteed a month.”

Images were either submitted from regions or selected from an image bank of archival pictures that NCC staff or photographers have taken.

“We prefer to use new species and/or property images but it really comes down to what is the best picture,” said Mr Holland. “We want a picture to tell a story about our natural areas and unique heritage.”

As for the choosing PEI as the cover, the NCC had 30 images and it was picked nationally as the favourite by a four-person panel. 

“We could all imagine ourselves on the beach or walking to see the bird species that visit and rest there.”

The “Grassy Place” picture submitted by Newfoundland was the runner-up.

NCC is a not-for-profit land trust who, as a charity, protect key habitats and ecologically sensitive areas across Canada.