SUMMARY

The core of this report, which is bound as a separate volume (‘Part B: The Extracts’), consists of verbatim extracts from 172 historical documents from the British and post-Confederation periods in the history of Prince Edward Island (1758 - c.1900), all of which contain material of direct relevance to the forests of the island. The extracts have been selected for inclusion on the basis of containing any of the following: (1) descriptions of any aspect of the natural forest; (2) descriptions of the processes leading to its destruction (e.g. references to forest clearing, timber harvesting, and forest fires); (3) any mention of attitudes or opinions concerning various aspects of the forest, such as the benefits it bestowed, the disadvantages of its presence, and the need for its conservation.

Since it is only as a result of the analysis of the information contained in these early records that we will be able to attain a better understanding of the nature of the original forest, as well as of the factors leading to its destruction, a number of different analyses of the material are also included in this bound volume under the title of ‘Part A: The Analyses’. This comprises a main section, as well as six appendices.

In the main section all of the documents have been analysed from three points of view: (1) what they can tell us about the nature and state of the original forest, including the forest as a natural habitat; (2) the changes to this forest that occurred as a result of its exploitation and utilisation during the British period; and (3) the attitudes of the British and the new island residents to various aspects of the forest.

In Appendix 1 all references in the documents to specific tree species have been assembled and analysed with the aim of determining the relative contribution of each species to the overall forest composition, any ecological inter-relationships that are evident, as well as the utilisation of each of the tree species during the British colonial period.

In Appendix 2 all references to terrestrial forest mammals, as well as to forest game birds, have been analysed to determine the relationship of the animals with the vegetation and with each other, as well as their interaction with the new European population, and especially the effect of the European colonization on their continuing presence on the island.

Appendix 3 presents a tabular summary of background information on each of the recorders that is of

direct relevance to their descriptions, as well as a summary of the types of comments that they made on the forest.

Appendix 4 presents the results of a preliminary analysis of the changes in the types of wood that were used in ships built on Prince Edward Island between 1856 and 1876, based on the information recorded during the inspections carried out by the Lloyd’s Register of Shipping.

Appendix 5 contains a list of all of the primary historical sources from which the extracts included in ‘Part B: The Extracts‘ have come. For each a full reference is provided.

Appendix 6 contains four extracts additional to those contained in “Part B: The Extracts’. It was decided

to include these only after Part B had been printed, and so they have had to be included as a separate appendix in this volume.