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P.E.I. seeks industry insights on forest sector

Knowing more about the forest sector in P.E.I. will help government shape policies and programs that support the Island forests.

Forests, Fish and Wildlife staff will be meeting with local forestry companies to collect information on the impact of the sector throughout the province. P.E.I.’s forest sector includes a range of businesses from tree planting, forest management, and wood harvesting to trucking, sawmilling, and firewood production, among others.

“We often celebrate people or groups who plant hundreds of trees, and that is indeed great, but there are people in the forest industry who do jobs such as planting hundreds of trees on a daily basis. We need to recognize the people who do forestry work for a living and the importance of the impact they have on our way of life.” – Environment, Energy and Climate Action Minister Steven Myers

Through these two-way conversations, government will learn more about equipment, employment, challenges and ways to help support the industry and the workers. The information collected from individual businesses will remain confidential, with only combined statistics released to the public, including the total number of businesses in the sector, the number of people employed, the volume of products produced and the sector’s estimated economic impact. Work will be done over the winter, with a report expected later in 2024.

The importance of the Island’s forest sector has been highlighted like never before, as work to salvage downed wood and reduce fire risk continues. P.E.I. has nearly 246,000 hectares of forest, and 85 per cent is privately owned. Post-tropical storm Fiona heavily impacted an estimated 32,000 hectares of forest and had lesser impacts over an even wider area.