What to Know Before Planting Near a PEI Shoreline

Before planting near a PEI shoreline, find out what kind of shore it is, where the 15-metre buffer zone begins and whether the work needs a permit. Planting grass, trees or shrubs with hand tools inside the buffer does not need one, but disturbing the ground, using machinery, cutting live trees or shrubs, or applying pesticides there does.

What Kind of Shoreline Is on the Property?

PEI's coast is mostly cliffs and bluffs, with dunes, low plains and salt marsh making up the rest. The province's State of the Coast report puts the exposed coastline at 802 km, of which cliffs and bluffs are 53 percent, dunes 31 percent, low plains 11 percent and salt marsh 5 percent. Along estuaries the balance flips, and salt marsh makes up more than half of 2,477 km of shore.

The edge of the shore is not always where it looks to be. The provincial Shoreline Management Plans handbook places it at the vegetation line on low-lying coasts or at the top of a cliff or bank, and in a salt marsh at a change in vegetation type that can be hard to see without experience.

Where Does the Buffer Zone Start?

The buffer zone is a 15-metre (49.2-foot) strip of protected land along every stream, river, pond, bay, wetland and coastal water body in PEI. On a tidal shore it is measured inland from the top of the bank, or from the mean high-water mark where there is no clear bank. Wetlands carry the same 15-metre buffer.

Which Planting Work Needs a Permit?

Planting with hand tools is the main exception to the permit rule. The PEI Coastal Property Guide says no permit is needed to prune trees and shrubs, plant grass, trees and shrubs using hand tools, mow an existing lawn or remove a dead tree.

Most other work in the buffer needs a Watercourse, Wetland and Buffer Zone Activity Permit. The regulations list disturbing or excavating the ground, adding fill, operating heavy equipment, cutting down live trees or shrubs and applying pesticides among the activities that need one. The province lists landscaping as a $100 permit, asks for applications at least six weeks before work starts and can fine unpermitted work up to $50,000.

Are Dunes and Beaches Treated Differently?

Dunes and beaches have extra protection under PEI's Environmental Protection Act. Without the minister's written permission, no one may drive on a beach or dune or alter, remove or destroy the vegetation and other natural features that hold it in place.

Foot traffic alone can undo dune planting, and Parks Canada notes that as few as ten footsteps can destroy a colony of marram grass, the main plant on PEI's dunes. Below the ordinary high-water mark, the Coastal Property Guide adds, the beach is generally provincial land that the public has a right to use.

Does Fisheries and Oceans Canada Have a Say?

Work that could harm fish habitat also falls under the federal Fisheries Act, which prohibits the harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat. Fisheries and Oceans Canada's standard measures for work near water include keeping a functioning vegetated strip along the shore and replanting disturbed areas with native species suited to the site.

How Can You Find Out a Shoreline's Erosion Risk?

The Government of Prince Edward Island offers a free Coastal Hazard Assessment for any coastal property on the Island, and anyone can request one. It summarizes the property's potential erosion and flood hazards, and most are completed within five to seven business days.

Can Red Earth Help With a Shoreline Planting?

Shoreline and coastal planting is one of Red Earth Restoration's main areas of work, and each shore is reviewed individually. Recent photos of the bank, dune or marsh edge are the most useful thing to send with a project enquiry, along with the location.

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