New nature reserve named for 'fastest potato picker in King's County'

The Nature Conservancy of Canada has created a new nature reserve in eastern P.E.I., named for the woman who farmed the land on her own for decades in the early 20th century.

The Elizabeth Walsh Nature Reserveis 12.5 hectares (31 acres)of forest in Howe Bay, southwest of Souris. It features mature red maple and red spruce, along with 60- to 80-year-old aspen trees, some measuring more than two metres in circumference, which provide valuable nesting areas.

Elizabeth Walsh, known as Great Aunt Lizzie to her family, had to take over the family farm when her brothers died in the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918. She continued to manage it on her own for decades, using horses to plow the fields.

"She lived on the farm for nearly a century and at one time was known as the fastest potato picker in King's County," wrote the family Tom and Laurie Sullivan, and Mary Ellen and Ray Lennon in a news release.

"In later years, when she was elderly and frail (she spent her winters in a Souris nursing home) she insisted on returning to her trailer on the farm each summer, even when she could do little but sit and look out at her land. That still mattered; she knew the worth of that land. We hope her spirit will continue to keep watch over it, now that it's the Elizabeth Walsh Nature Reserve."

Many donors

The mature aspen trees are a particularly important part of the habitat, says the Nature Conservancy. They are preferred by woodpeckers, which are the only species able to create nesting cavities in the wood. Once the cavities are abandoned by woodpeckers, they provide habitat for many other types of wildlife, including flying squirrels.

The forest also supports a rich diversity of plants, such as the provincially-rare Christmas fern.

The land is a family donation, but the Nature Conservancy credited the Government of Canada, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the P.E.I. Wildlife Conservation Fund, American Friends of Canadian Nature and Cooke Insurance Group for assistance in creating the nature reserve.

The Nature Conservancy is looking to expand the reserve, and hopes to talk to other landowners in the Howe Bay area.

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