Welcome to...
Hillsborough River Eco-Centre

The story of the Hillsborough...

"The living Link to the Sea" The Hillsborough River has been call Prince Edward Island's "living link to the sea". For it is a place where natural forces meet and mix. The Hillsborough has been designated a Canadian Heritage River because it has also sustained the human inhabitants of its shores. It has been a major transportation route and source of food and materials for all of the culture groups who lived here over the centuries. Please visit our exhibit about a river that flows through time, telling a story about the Island's natural and human history.

View more here: "The living Link to the Sea" (PDF Format)

Nursery to the Sea...

The Hillsborough has ideal conditions for marine life to flourish. Powerful tides carry salt waters up three-quarters of its 45 kilometer length. The winds, tides and flowing streams help mix nutrients and in the river. The waters churn together in marshes which flank the river edges, creating a rich diversity of life.

Sunlight shines to the bottom of the Hillsborough's shallow waters. The waters of the river are rich in food for the shellfish living on its silt and sand bottoms and the fish swimming in its waters. Great blue heron stride along the shallows, feeding on fish, frogs and other aquatic life. When all these elements come together in a river it creates a nursery to the sea.

View more here: "Nursery to the Sea" (PDF Format)

Explore the Hillsborough...

The Hillsborough River is the Island's greatest estuary, the largest waterway in Canada's smallest province, arising from ground water springs in the heartland and running to the capital city of Charlottetown

View more here: "Explore the Hillsborough" (PDF Format)

• Map 1 of Hillsborough River System (East)
  
• Map 2 of Hillsborough River System (East)
  
• Map 3 of River Location
  

Riches of the River...

The waters of the Hillsborough River have provided a year-round source of food for Islanders from the time of the first people to the present.

View more here: "Riches of the River" (PDF Format)

Mount Stewart Wildlife Management Area......

Mount Stewart Wildlife Management Area consists of over 500 acres of wetlands and adjacent uplands that have been set aside by the Prince Edward Island government to conserve these habitats and the wildlife that depends on them. These protected lands lie within the upper reaches of the Hillsborough River in the area known as Mount Stewart Marsh.

View more here: "Mount Stewart Wildlife Management" (PDF Format)