Someone is butchering young trees along some of P.E.I.'s beloved trails

'We thought initially that it was people collecting boughs, but they didn’t take anything away,' says Bryson Guptill, director of trail maintenance with the non-profit group Island Trails, showing tops that have been cut from small trees along one of the Winter River hiking trails.  (Sheehan Desjardins/CBC - image credit)
'We thought initially that it was people collecting boughs, but they didn’t take anything away,' says Bryson Guptill, director of trail maintenance with the non-profit group Island Trails, showing tops that have been cut from small trees along one of the Winter River hiking trails. (Sheehan Desjardins/CBC - image credit)

Someone is cutting the limbs and tops off dozens of small coniferous trees along walking trails in Prince Edward Island.

Volunteers maintaining trails in Bonshaw, Strathgartney, Dunk River and Winter River have noticed small pine, spruce and fir trees with middle limbs or tops either cut or torn off. That's a concern for Island Trails, the non-profit group that works to promote, develop, and maintain P.E.I.'s network of hiking paths.

"It's very troubling, because it doesn't seem to make any sense," said Bryson Guptill, the group's director of trail maintenance.

At first, they thought people were cutting boughs to craft Christmas decor, but then they noticed the boughs and tree tops that were chopped off had been left behind, not removed.

"I think someone thinks that these trees are going to encroach on the trail eventually, and so they're trying to get ahead of the game," Guptill said.

"We don't need that yet… We need the new growth to hide some of that hurricane damage."

Island Trails then wondered if people were finding the trails too narrow, but that didn't make sense either.

"The trail is about five feet wide, so there's lots of room for new growth," said Guptill, as he stood on one of the trails in the Winter River trail network.

The group has a program to prune and thin out trees along the trail. Volunteers have been cutting down what remains of trees that have fallen in recent storms such as Fiona in 2022, to encourage them to rot faster and allow sunlight and moisture to reach new growth.

The trees that have been damaged are that new growth.

"It's not helping and it's not being of any use to anyone, so I would say, just stop. If they want to help us do maintenance, then come out and help… It spoils the look of the forest too," Guptill said.

"It's just discouraging to see someone destructively damaging the trees."

One of the damaged trees along the trail at Mooney's Pond is shown in a photo from a Facebook Post by the Morell River Management Cooperative.
One of the damaged trees along the trail at Mooney's Pond is shown in a photo from a Facebook Post by the Morell River Management Cooperative.

One of the damaged trees along the trail at Mooney's Pond is shown in a photo from a Facebook Post by the Morell River Management Cooperative. (Submitted by Morell River Management Cooperative)

The problem is cropping up in eastern P.E.I. too, the Morell River Management Co-op posted on Facebook Thursday.

We want to give these trees the best chance to thrive and diversify our riparian forest, especially after we lost so many trees during Fiona. — Morell River Management Co-op

"This week we noticed the tops and limbs cut off some young eastern hemlock, white pine and eastern white cedar trees that our crew planted along the trail at Mooney's Pond. We want to give these trees the best chance to thrive and diversify our riparian forest, especially after we lost so many trees during Fiona...

"If you'd like some boughs for holiday decor our crew would be happy to provide some fir boughs from areas that need to be thinned."

'Definitely hurts the trees'

Daniel McRae, who works for the MacPhail Woods Ecological Forestry Project in Orwell, is among those who saw the post by Island Trails.

"These are not good pruning cuts," McRae said of the photos showing what's being done, noting that taking the tops off trees or leaving several inches of branch extending from the trunk tree can allow rot to enter the tree and either kill it or cut its life span dramatically.

Daniel McRae with MacPhail Woods Ecoological Forestry Project in Orwell, P.E.I.
Daniel McRae with MacPhail Woods Ecoological Forestry Project in Orwell, P.E.I.

The way the trees have been cut 'could shorten the life of the tree dramatically,' says Daniel McRae with the MacPhail Woods Ecoological Forestry Project in Orwell, P.E.I. (CBC)

McRae calls pruning an undervalued silvicultural art, one that requires skill and precision.

"It's honestly sometimes one of the most powerful and least intrusive techniques and can have the greatest long-term benefits. But even in my travels in national parks in the United States, I generally see really bad pruning," he said.

The way these small new-growth trees on P.E.I. have been cut will be detrimental to the forest ecosystem, he said.

"These are not good pruning cuts... it definitely hurts the trees," says Daniel McRae with MacPhail Woods Ecological Forestry Project.
"These are not good pruning cuts... it definitely hurts the trees," says Daniel McRae with MacPhail Woods Ecological Forestry Project.

"These are not good pruning cuts... it definitely hurts the trees," says Daniel McRae with MacPhail Woods Ecological Forestry Project. (Sheehan Desjardins/CBC)

"It definitely hurts the trees… It's just never going to live as long, it won't have as much health, it won't do the same pollen and seed and flower production — all the different benefits that we get from these things won't happen in the same way," McRae said.

He said anyone interested in learning proper pruning techniques can get involved with a local watershed group, the Island Nature Trust, or MacPhail Woods, which offers workshops in pruning.