P.E.I. is gearing up for its first post-Fiona tourism season. A lot has changed

This is part three in the CBC P.E.I. series Changed by Fiona, exploring the impact the post-tropical storm will have on the Island's people and industries moving forward. Read part one here and part two here.

Prince Edward Island's tourism operators have worked hard to get their shops, restaurants, accommodations and attractions ready for the 2023 season, but visitors will see a changed landscape compared to years past. 

It's been eight months since post-tropical storm Fiona tore across P.E.I.'s North Shore, where tourists flock by the hundreds of thousands in the summer months to take in sandy beaches, lush coastal landscapes and quaint seaside attractions. 

But the impact from the storm — including nearly bare fields where trees once stood and all-but-eradicated dune systems — cannot be hidden from visitors or fixed with a coat of paint. 

"They will see the devastation and hopefully understand that, you know, we're doing our best to try and get it cleaned up, but it's going to take some time," said David MacNeill, an ancestor of Lucy Maud Montgomery, whose novels set on the North Shore have helped turn the area into a tourism destination.

MacNeill now runs The Site of L.M. Montgomery's Cavendish Home on the grounds where the famed author grew up.

But the MacNeill's thicket, where Montgomery herself once walked and drew inspiration for her work, has been reduced to a few mighty trees.

"It's like losing a piece of history," MacNeill said.

"We've lost a lot of the old balm-of-Gilead trees. It's a type of poplar trees, they're quite old, quite large, and [Fiona] really opened up the whole property, basically clearing that property of the trees."

MacNeill said what was once 20 poplars has been reduced to just two, due to the destruction caused by both Fiona and post-tropical storm Dorian, which hit the area in 2019.

"I knew I was going to walk into the same situation, so it wasn't quite as shocking as the first time," he said. "But still, devastating."

MacNeill cleared the trees himself and repaired the roof of a building damaged in the storm because he couldn't find a contractor.

The site is ready and open for the year.

A building boom in recent years meant there was a shortage of skilled labour across the province, even before Fiona caused more than $279 million in damages.