Looking to spruce up your property? This P.E.I. tree planting program can help
CBC
Applications are now open for an initiative that aims to plant more trees around Prince Edward Island — including in your own backyard.
It’s called the PEI 2 Billion Trees program, and it’s run by the province’s forest, fish and wildlife team and administered by the P.E.I. Watershed Alliance.
Islanders can volunteer their property as a plot for seedlings grown in a provincial nursery in exchange for a revamp of their landscape. The manual labour is taken care of free of charge.
“It's for anyone who wants to create a canopy on their lawn,” said Kassidy Matheson, the 2 Billion Trees co-ordinator with the watershed alliance. “Everywhere on the Island is part of a watershed actually ... so you can apply anywhere on the Island."
The program began in 2022 with support from the federal government, which is picking up half of the $3.3-million cost over three years. It’s part of the federal iteration of the 2 Billion Trees program, meant to bring Canada closer to net zero emissions by 2050.
According to P.E.I.'s Environment Department, the program aims to help landowners plant native tree species in areas that are currently unforested, and to replant forested sites that were damaged by post-tropical storm Fiona in 2022.
The eligibility requirements are simple: own your own land (or have permission to alter it), and be willing to take in a minimum of 50 seedlings.
Matheson also asks that those who apply have a clear path for planters to have easy access to get the job done.
"With Fiona, there's definitely a lot of debris still down, so that would have to be cleared, for the most part, if we were to come in," she said.
Property owners can also take creative control over where the trees are planted — for the most part. Anyone hoping to get a luscious privacy fence, Matheson said they can make that happen, so long as owners opt for one that is a few rows deep.
“We ask them to plant them at least four lines thick because the program is more about creating forested patches rather than just, sort of privacy lines,
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