Heather Laiskonis

Prince Edward Island is becoming greener once more. Recently, the provincial government launched the P.E.I. 2 Billion Trees program to help restore nature, create healthy forest ecosystems and increase carbon capture across the Island. Across the country, the federal government has set the goal of planting two billion trees in the next 10 years. Heather Laiskonis, executive director of the P.E.I. Watershed Alliance, which administers small landowner applicants of the provincial tree planting initiative, explained how it works in an interview with The Guardian. She said the watershed alliance group administers 2.5 acres or smaller sites. “The province recognizes the benefit of having the watershed groups and having those relationships with landowners,” Laiskonis said. For the next seven years, P.E.I. Watershed Alliance will plant approximately more than 100,000 trees each year. …red maple, white pine, yellow birch, white spruce, white birch, and eastern hemlock the tree-planting program, Laiskonis said.