Prince Edward Island

Chapter President: Roland MacKinnon
Contact: rolliemack6474@gmail.com
Area of Interest

The coldwater streams of the Charlottetown area are the focus of the Prince Edward Island Chapter. Despite active urbanization of the area around Charlottetown, there are rich groundwater resources that have in part offset some of the negative impacts of urbanization. Some of these small streams, of which the largest stream is the North River, still contain Brook Trout.

The North River watershed is approximately 99 km2 in size with over 53 km of tributaries. The watershed has a rolling topography with extensive agriculture within the watershed. Some portions of the North River and some of its tributaries have reasonable buffers on either side of the streams.

Chapter Description

The Chapter is relatively small with an enthusiastic group of conservationists and anglers who wish to restore the health and productivity of the North River and its tributaries. Historically the river had abundant populations of both BrookTrout and Atlantic Salmon but over the last century was impacted by small power dams and intensive agricultural activities. In the late 1980s one of the major dams on the watershed burst releasing almost a century’s worth of sediment, sawdust and other materials down the systems. It was the degraded nature of the once productive North River that got the Chapter started.

Chapter History

The Prince Edward Island Chapter was formed in 2002 by a number of Islanders from the Charlottetown area that saw a need for a group to help better protect local coldwater streams in the Charlottetown area. The first projects done by the fledgling chapter under the direction of their President, Rollie MacKinnon, was on Coles Creek, a small tributary of the larger North River that flows into the estuary at the northwest corner of Charlottetown. Since this work, the Chapter has focused much of its activities on the remainder of the North River.

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