Stewardship 
     
    
   
   
    
     by Jackie Waddell & Fred Horne 
     
    
   
   
    
     Ninety percent, and perhaps more, of Prince Edward Island is privately 
     
     owned, while the remaining ten percent is owned by either the Federal or 
     
     Provincial Governments. In all other provinces the private ownership fraction 
     
     is smaller (seventy-five percent in Nova Scotia), and in the Territories this 
     
     ratio is completely reversed. 
     
    

    
     The remaining natural areas on P.E.I. are also largely in private hands. 
     
     Few natural areas are completely in government ownership (Murray River Pines, 
     
     Brudenell Pines, and Townshend Woodlot for example). The Island, therefore, 
     
     offers ideal conditions for a private stewardship program since vast tracts of 
     
     crown land cannot be set aside as natural areas or wilderness preserves. 
     
    

    
     The Island Nature Trust is currently operating a Landowner Contact Program 
     
     co-operatively funded by Wildlife Habitat Canada. Private Stewardship is the 
     
     main focus of this program since most landowners do not wish to give up 
     
     ownership of their property and acquisition of all natural areas is not a 
     
     feasible option. Individual interviews with over 200 private landowners on the 
     
     Island have been conducted. A tremendous exchange of information occurs in 
     
     each interview. Landowners are often the best source of information on the 
     
     natural history of their property, and the Nature Trust staff offers a variety 
     
     of protection tools to the owner. These tools can be permanent or temporary 
     
     and can be put in place through either the Trust or the Provincial Government. 
     
    

    
     The Natural Areas Protection Act now allows the Province to designate 
     
     private land (with the co-operation of the landowner) as a natural area once 
     
     long term or permanent protection has been voluntarily put in place by the 
     
     landowner. 
     
    

    
     Protection can take the form of a lease, landowner agreement or a 
     
     restrictive covenant. The latter is a permanent protection tool that has not 
     
     found wide use in Canada. In the United States the similar “conservation 
     
     easement" has been used to perpetually protect millions of acres of wilderness 
     
     preserves, natural areas, farmland and other open spaces. Differences in 
     
     common law practices make the application of perpetual protection for natural 
     
     areas more difficult in Canada. Legislation similar to the Natural Areas 
     
     Protection Act and the Museum Act is still needed in many provinces. 
     
    

    
     Acquisition has been the most popular and strongest form of protecting 
     
     special places in the past. Because fee simple acquisition brings with it the 
     
     entire bundle of rights to a property, it ensures control of the use of the 
     
     property. With the application of other forms of protection, only a portion of 
     
     these rights is under the control of the conservation agency or government and 
     
     only for the term specified in an agreement or management plan. 
     
    

    
     The values of private ownership are well recognized throughout Canada and 
     
     in our province. The Island Nature Trust believes private stewardship must go 
     
     hand in hand with private ownership. With the gradual acceptance of long term 
     
     or perpetual protection that relies on continued private stewardship, 
     
     landowners may rest assured that present natural areas will always be just that 
     
     - natural!