The conservancy held a reception to announce its acquisition of the southern third of the sandhills, hidden from view from the restaurant by Oulton’s Island.
The 150-acre property was donated to the group by Alberon native and Halifax resident, Ian Oulton.
The land had been in the Oulton family for more than 100 years.
Oulton’s great-grandfather helped pioneer Prince Edward Island’s silver fox industry on Outlon’s Island around the start of the 20th century. The family owned Oulton’s Island and some of the sandhills. Ian Oulton’s father was born on Oulton’s Island in 1911. But by the 1920’s the family had settled in Alberton, thus ending the rowboat trips to mainland P.E.I.
Ian Oulton, 74, gained ownership of some of the sandhills after his father died.
On Friday he admitted he always wanted to do something with the property but never found the time. He planned to camp there from time to time, but admits he might have spent all of two nights there.
Donating the property to the conservancy seemed like the right thing to do, he acknowledged. To sell it and have somebody develop it would ruin the natural area, he said.
“It’s something I can still feel good about. I can still go visit, if I ever find the time.”
The Nature Conservancy of Canada permits people to visit the property.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada’s program director for PE.I., Julie Vasseur, liked Oulton’s description of the process to transfer ownership of the property: lengthy and easy.
It’s the shifting nature of the sandhills that makes the transaction lengthy, she explained, as boundaries and deeds have to be researched and sometimes the landmarks that described the boundaries no longer exist.
Certainly, in the case of the portion of the sandhills that Oulton donated, the southern boundary was said to be the entrance to Goose Harbour. That entrance no longer exists as the opening is now completely closed over with sand dunes.
Although the land was donated, the Nature Conservancy of Canada relied on $47,000 in grants from the federal government through its Natural Areas Conservation Program and the Ecological Gifts Program to cover survey costs.
Vasseur said the conservancy will organize a cleanup of its sandhills property either this fall or next summer.
About the Cascumpec Sandhills
– How to get there: Sail out Alberton Harbour past the lighthouse and turn right.
– Cascumpec Sandhills and the neighbouring Conway Sandhills are part of a system of Island barrier beaches along the northwest shore of P.E.I.
– Protects Cascumpec Bay and Alberton Harbour from Gulf of St. Lawrence
– Safe haven for such shorebird species as: Yellowlegs, semipalmated plovers and sandpipers, sanderlings, ruddy turnstone and black-bellied plover, and a critical nesting area for the endangered piping plover
– A vital feeding area for Canada goose, green-winged teal and American black duck.
