“This area could provide a green belt for Charlottetown,” Island Nature Trust

November 23, 2007 
 
 
To:
The Upton Farm Preservation Network
c/o Kirsten Connor
59 Queen Elizabeth Drive
Charlottetown, PE  C1A 3A8
 
 
 

Island Nature Trust is a land trust which has been protecting Prince Edward Island natural areas since the 1980s. Our vision is to create a network of representative protected areas, connected by corridors of natural vegetation across PEI. A part of this network will be open, undeveloped areas around cities and towns. This network can only be achieved through cooperative efforts by a number of organizations and government agencies, not by one organization.

Charlottetown is a city with too few green spaces. Green, open spaces in urban environments are essential elements of well being for residents. Losing green space in any city is a serious and permanent loss, a loss that negatively affects human health, human cultures and the environment.

The federally-owned land formerly used by the Agricultural Research Station in Charlottetown, at Upton Road – which has been declared surplus, is one such space that has been threatened with sale and residential development. This area could, if protected as such, provide the foundation for a green belt for Charlottetown, and be important parkland for the health and well-being of all Islanders and visitors.

Prince Edward Island has very little provincial or federally owned lands and currently has the least protected green space in the whole country. Upton Farm is best suited as parkland or restored in part to forest, not as yet another residential subdivision.

Island Nature Trust supports the efforts of the Friends of Upton Farm to protect and preserve the property as open space, and encourage all individuals, groups and governments to work to maintain the farm as part of a green belt for the City of Charlottetown.

Thank you for your consideration,

(sgd)

Ben Hoteling
Chair, Board of Directors, Island Nature Trust