“Last year, our government acted to change the Environmental Protection Act in order to improve the buffer zones that protect our waterways and wetlands. New requirements make the buffer zone system simpler to follow at the same time as they improve protection of our soil and water. Anyone who lives, works or builds on land near a watercourse should take the time to make sure they are following Prince Edward Island’s buffer zone requirements,” said the minister.

Copies of the Buffer Zones Fact Sheet - in English and French - will be available on the Environment, Energy and Forestry web page at www.gov.pe.ca/enveng. Under the new regulations, buffer zones 15 metres wide must be maintained next to all watercourses and wetlands.

The regulations also require the planting of 10-metre-wide grassed headlands at the end of all row of crop land that end within 200 metres of a watercourse or wetland.

“On Prince Edward Island we live and work in close proximity to our natural areas. Through protection measures such as our system of buffer zones, our government intends to make sure that the land can be worked at the same time as water resources are protected,” said Minister Brown.

Copies of the buffer zone fact sheet will be available at Access PEI service centres in the near future.