Report provides snapshot of PEI’s wildlife trends

A new report shows most wild species in PEI are ranked as secure due in part to various provincial protection efforts. 

The State of Wildlife report contains data on wildlife from 2007 to 2020, providing benchmarks to inform future actions on habitat preservation, wildlife management, monitoring, policy and legislation.

“In this report, we see the critical link between land preservation and wildlife. The province has several programs underway to protect and enhance PEI’s wildlife habitat and biodiversity, such as funding for protected areas and watershed groups. Most land in Prince Edward Island is privately owned, so we are grateful for the partnership with local landowners, watershed groups and environmental groups that help us gather this data and participate in programs to preserve habitat.”

— Environment, Energy and Climate Action Minister Gilles Arsenault.

The first State of Wildlife report was in 2007. To align with the State of the Forest reporting timeline, this new report covers data up to 2020 and the next report will cover data up to 2030.

The report shows:

• 60 per cent of species covered in the report are listed as apparently secure or secure
• the report covers more species than the 2007 report, going from 2318 species to 5641 species
• results from harvest and species monitoring efforts suggest game and furbearer populations are healthy, stable and widespread on PEI
• wetland habitat availability remained stable between 2010 and 2020 due to protections afforded through provincial policy and legislation
• the Protected and Conserved Areas Network in PEI has grown by over 50 per cent since the 2007 report, reaching 26,340 hectares (ha), or 4.67 per cent of the province’s land area as of 2020.  By 2025, this figure has increased to 5.78 per cent of PEI’s total land. 

The report informs several key priorities for government, including:

• working towards protections for seven per cent of PEI’s total land area
• continuing to develop a wildlife monitoring framework to support future management objectives and State of Wildlife reporting efforts
• modernizing the wildlife policy for PEI
• continuing support for watershed groups by providing technical advice and training which emphasizes an ecosystem approach to stream restoration
• developing a trout management strategy with the objective of protecting and enhancing brook trout populations and the environmental conditions upon which they depend
• increasing public awareness, tolerance and knowledge of safe wildlife-human interactions.

The State of Wildlife report is available at PrinceEdwardIsland.ca/Wildlife

Media contact:
Katie Cudmore
Department of Environment, Energy, and Climate Action
katiecudmore@gov.pe.ca