Fiona gave P.E.I. an opportunity to foster healthier forests

This story is from this week's episode of the new CBC podcast Good Question, P.E.I.

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There's no question many Islanders were shocked when they looked out their windows the morning after post-tropical storm Fiona on Sept. 24, 2022.

For some, it might seem like a distant memory. The brancheshave long been cleared from the roads, the roof shingles have been replaced, the fences have been mended. And the lights? They come on pretty much every time you flip the switch.

But it won't be that quick of a fix for the creatures that live in the forests. They lost hundreds of thousands of trees that can't be replaced by calling a handyman.

Ken Doiron of New Glasgowwonderedwhat the Island is doing to replenish the massive loss of trees caused by Fiona. So naturally, he sent the question to Nicola MacLeod, host of the CBC podcast Good Question, P.E.I.

What we found out is that the province is planting about 1.3 million seedlings this year. It's working with watershed groups, and since about 90 per cent of the land on P.E.I. is privately owned, the government is offering financial assistance to woodlot owners to help them clear their land and replenish their stock.

An aerial view of Fiona's path of destruction in P.E.I.

2 years ago

Duration 0:53

This drone footage gathered by CBC video producer Shane Hennessey on Sunday shows the extensive damage caused by post-tropical storm Fiona in parts of the Island.

Environment Minister Steven Myers said climate change and weather events like Fiona will be factored into reforestation plans.

"We're looking at all avenues to make sure that what we do is going to be a forest that gets planted that we can count on for the next 40 or 50 years," he said.

"But the fact that, you know, a hurricane like Fiona could come in and just wipe it out anywayis something that we're going to have to constantly worry about."

19:50What should we do to help our forests recover from Fiona?

It's hard to find any corner of the Island not touched by post-tropical storm Fiona. Especially in the woods. Replanting has started, but what should we be planting? And can the species we choose help P.E.I. build resiliency against climate change?

Gary Schneider is the co-manager of the Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project. He said many of the trees that came down during Fiona were destined to fall in the next few years anyway.

"And they're probably trees that weren't supposed to be here, certainly not in those numbers. And so you can predict pretty easily that bad things are gonna happen because we're going to get more wind."

Schneider gave the example of white spruce, which have shallow roots and were planted on old agricultural sites. For forests to be sustainable, he said, there needs to be a wide varietyof hardier trees such as red oak.

He said people can help the process along by planting trees and nature will do its own part.

"We were doing tree plantings in Victoria Park with kids and I saw a couple of little red maple seedlings popping up and it was like, 'Oh my God, this is exactly what's supposed to be happening.' We can take this trauma and rebuild better for us, right? Things can come back. So what we try to do is, again, be a little smarter."

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