Devil's Punchbowl

Every place has it's hidden treasure. Whether it's a special park, a look out, a museum or a fleeting thing like northern lights, those who live there value the spaces and places and wonder why everyone else doesn't know about them.  Well, I found one today.  I've driven by the old wooden sign on the Rattenbury Road in central PEI that says, "Devil's Punchbowl" lots of times and never bothered to drive in. I'm so glad I didn't drive by yet again today.

 I aimlessly headed down one of the many trails and was greeted with that ever-unique scent of a forest allowed to be itself without intervention.  You know that freshness, but dankness that fills you up and makes you take deeper, slower breaths.  And it wasn't just my sense of smell that was piqued; my eyes filled up on the greenness of the lush mosses, the texture of yellow birch's bark; my ears were alive with the sounds of song birds and trickling brooks; my fingers tickled by the prickly spruce needles, the damp softness of moss.  I even chewed on a fir needle at one point, letting myself dream of Christmas for a second.

As I was quietly taking it all in, I began to wonder if I could reap some bounty from this precious place; fiddleheads.  But alas, either I was too early, too late or didn't know what I was looking for.  I found a few varieties of fern that I know were NOT the ostrich fern (the yummy ones), but like searching for mayflowers with my dad, maybe I "couldn't see for looking". 

This is just a taste of what the Devil's Punchbowl has to offer in this too-fast, fossil fuel based world.  More pictures and history to follow.

And so it begins!

Ah, a fresh new page, akin to the newness of a blank scribbler on the first day of class. It won't take long for it to fill up with doodles and rips and eraser smears, but right now, in this moment, it's untarnished and perfect. Sort of like the rivers under the care of the Trout River Environmental Committee (TREC) so very many years ago. But over time, they too accumulated tears and smears and unwanted garbage. It is TREC's dream to restore and conserve the natural integrity of the rivers and watersheds, with the help of all stakeholders (fishers, farmers, tourism operators, cottage owners and citizens of the area).
"The Trout River Environmental Committee Inc. (TREC) is a volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan, community-based watershed improvement group that was originally formed in 1993. TREC was later incorporated on March 4th, 1999 with the stated purpose of restoring and conserving the natural integrity of the Trout River watershed and to promote good environmental stewardship in the drainage basin."

Each year TREC takes on specific projects, while maintaining that huge goal at the forefront. Agriculture has become a focus in the last few years, with significant effort going towards encouraging and aiding in environmental stewardship projects with farmers. A lot of trees have been planted, buffers increased and marginal land removed from production. This year, we hope to see more of the same and increased awareness as to what we can do for you, as stakeholders in our watersheds. This is not to mention the Devil's Punchbowl initiative or the tranquil Trout River Park (from which today's picture came) or many of the other projects that TREC has taken on.

So much has been done in the community, but there is still much to do, so this blog will begin to chronicle just a few things that have made a difference in the past and the ongoing initiatives which continue to contribute to the health and vibrancy of the river system in the Stanley Bridge area.

Check back often for more, and for a picture of the day/week!