Special Places: Eco-lessons from the National Parks in Atlantic Canada

Student Information Sheet: Prince Edward Island National Park of Canada

People, the sea and the changing landscape

What’s in the park?

Prince Edward Island National Park of Canada, created in 1937, is famous for its sand dunes (huge piles of sand) and beaches that stretch for miles along the ocean shore. Here you can learn how wind and waves move the land! You can also learn about the special plants and animals that live on the sandy coast.

© Parks Canada / Don Pentz

The beaches are very popular for swimming but are also an important habitat (home) for wildlife. Migrating shorebirds find lots of food in the mud and sand. The endangered piping plover needs quiet areas of the beach for nesting.

The natural areas of the park are the result of wind, waves and time. Beach sand is made by waves pounding rocks into tiny bits. Sand is blown into piles called dunes. Dunes may stay in one place for a while if they become covered with a special grass called marram grass. This grass is one of the only plants that can grow in sand.

Dunes © Parks Canada / Don Pentz

Dunes are constantly being moved by the wind, one grain of sand at a time. Some of the park’s forests have been buried alive by moving dunes.

Moving sand dunes can block off bays from the rest of the ocean, forming ponds. These ponds are habitat for many plants and animals. Thousands of migrating ducks and geese stop here to rest and feed.

The park also has coastal headlands (cliffs), salt marshes (swamps) and small areas of what is called Acadian mixed forest.

The largest land mammal in the park is the coyote. It preys on snowshoe hare and other small mammals, amphibians and birds. Other common mammals are the red fox, beaver, mink, weasel, racoon, skunk, muskrat and red squirrel.

The park is also home to over 300 species of birds and is considered a great place to watch them. There are also about 400 different kinds of plants in the park.

Hiking, photography, cycling, swimming and camping are other popular activities. About 750,000 people visit the park each year.

Prince Edward Island National Park protects coastal landscapes including sand dunes ponds, salt marshes and cliffs. It protects a special part of Canada for our future.

Why is this park special?

Beaches, sand dunes, ponds and other coastal habitats make this park special. Wind and waves constantly change these habitats. This change is part of nature, and national parks allow nature to do what it is meant to do.

The beaches, bays and ponds are important feeding places for migrating shorebirds in the spring and fall. The beaches and ponds also provide habitat for the piping plover, an endangered shorebird.

The park is home to rare dunes that are known as “parabolic dunes” because they are shaped like the letter “U.” These dunes also have an unusual shape because of what are called “counter ridges,” which are very rare on our continent.

The park also has a very important history. Archaeologists have discovered that people lived here 10,000 years ago.

Today people come from all over the world to see Green Gables, which is in the park. It is the house in the story Anne of Green Gables. At Green Gables we learn the story of the famous author, Lucy Maud Montgomery. She had a special love for the natural beauty of Cavendish, which she describes in her book.

What is the park concerned about?

The park is concerned about protecting the beaches and dunes from trampling by visitors. Thousands of people use the beaches in the summer. They are a threat to the dune grass, which dies very easily when stepped on, and to the piping plovers, who lay their eggs right on the beach.

Piping Plover © Parks Canada / Don Pentz

The park is concerned about the loss of the Acadian forest. Early settlers in Prince Edward Island saw large forests of maple, beech, oak, balsam fir, hemlock and spruce. Most of these trees were cut down and now there is hardly any of the original forest left on the island.

The park is also concerned about the world’s changing climate (weather conditions) because of air pollution. If the world’s climate gets warmer, the polar ice caps (ice covering the north and south poles) could melt. If the ice caps melt, the sea level could rise. If the sea level rises, the beaches and dunes would be flooded and destroyed. Prince Edward Island is a very highrisk area for this.

References

• Parks Canada. Visitor Guide, Prince Edward Island National Park.
• Parks Canada Web site: www.parkscanada.gc.ca