Thousands of trees planted as project aims to make P.E.I. National Park more resilient to storms like Fiona
CBC
Fiona may have uprooted thousands of trees in P.E.I.'s National Park, but the people planting the park's future woodlands say they're getting a golden opportunity to make the forest more resilient.
A project is underway in the park to restore areas affected by the recent storms Fiona and Dorian while also adding more biodiversity to those areas.
It's called the Wabanaki-Acadian forest restoration project. Since 2019, more than 20,000 trees have been planted in the park, with 4,000 more expected this year.
"It's a big undertaking but it's very rewarding. Lots of those tree seedlings are doing very well," said Hailey Paynter, a landscape ecologist with the P.E.I. National Park.
"The opportunity is ripe now. We have lots of open forest space thanks to recent storms."
Post-tropical storms Dorian and Fiona left significant damage across the province's forested areas.
The Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project said more than a quarter of the trees in Charlottetown's Victoria Park fell down during Fiona last September.
Parks Canada reckons that about 80 per cent of the trees in the Cavendish area were lost during Dorian in 2019.
But despite all that damage, restoration is possible, Paynter said.
"Unfortunately it's a lot more complicated than just planting a tree and walking away," she said.
"But that being said, it is a good start."
Part of the project is taking place in what is now a forest in Cavendish.
Just 25 years ago, that same plot of land was used as a farm field, and had no trees whatsoever.
"It really highlights the fact that forest restoration doesn't happen overnight," Paynter said.