Couple make generous gift to Land Trust

Gerald and Mary Cameron Morneau of Summerside have made a generous gift to the L.M. Montgomery Land Trust because they feel they have a duty as Islanders to protect our land, in whatever way they can.

“It’s the right thing to do,” says Mary Cameron Morneau, who grew up in Tignish and Summerside before marrying Gerald and moving off the Island in the mid 1960s. Gerald was an engineer and they moved 36 times to various large-scale construction sites before retiring and moving home to PEI.

“But almost every summer we came home here, back to the Island, and in 1978 we bought a farm out in Burlington. Because we were living in a construction site in northern Quebec, the children and I spent the summers here and that’s why the north shore area is so special to us. 

“We have three grown children, one daughter and two sons, and to them, that farm is their home. It was their only constant. They learned to appreciate land, and they learned to do things for themselves,” Mary said.

Like many Islanders, the Morneaus now see the landscape changing to cottage subdivisions and are unsure of the future of agriculture.  “I read about the Land Trust in the newspaper and we decided to help,” states Mary. “We all have a duty to protect this land in whatever way we are able.”

Their gift will be used by the Land Trust to help buy the development rights to 622 acres of spectacular seaside land between Park Corner and Seaview, to preserve it as farmland and protect it from intensive and irreversible cottage development. The 622 acres are currently held by 10 property owners, 5 of whom are American, one is British, with the remaining four being farm families who have belonged to that land for several generations.

The total value of the development rights is several millions of dollars. The Land Trust continues to raise funds toward that goal.