CAVENDISH, P.E.I. — Rain or shine, the members of P.E.I. National Park's resource management team were determined to start phase one of their vegetation restoration at Cavendish Campground this week.
On Oct. 14 they ended up getting rain – and lots of it – but it certainly didn't stop them from planting over 1,000 trees and shrubs in response to the damage caused by last year's post-tropical storm Dorian.
"I think the rain probably motivated folks to work quickly," resource management officer Hailey Paynter said. "(And) I think we just had a group of very hard workers."
In reality, vegetation restoration had already been going on for several years at the campground before Dorian.
The area had a high concentration of white spruce trees, which the resource team had been gradually working to replace with a more diverse, more resilient range of Acadian forest tree species, Paynter said.
"And so Dorian, actually, in many cases did that step for us."
The storm, which swept through P.E.I. in September 2019, took down about 80 per cent of the campground's aging white spruces with it. It was decided to keep the campground closed for the 2020 season in order to focus on the extensive restoration needed, which is to take place in up to three phases.
AT A GLANCE:
Here are some of the tree species P.E.I. National Park's resource management team is planting in order to form an Acadian forest, which is more common across P.E.I.
• Sugar maple
• Yellow birch
• Red oak
• Red maple
• Eastern hemlock
• White pine
Much of the fallen tree cleanup work was done over the summer, so phase one was to address the campground sections that were left with next to nothing following Dorian. That includes the roughly four-acre section that Paynter and about 10 other employees focused on this week.
Louis Charron, another resource officer, said the heavy rain made for ideal planting conditions, despite leaving him and his colleagues drenched and covered in mud.
"The root system is what's sensitive right now," he said. "(So) it gives them a head start."
Planting took place on Oct. 13, and work ended at about noon on Oct. 14 – much sooner than expected.
"Things went really quick, so that was nice," resource technician Travis James said.
The second phase will see restoration work done at sites that maintained some, but not all, of their plant life. The third won't occur until the trees can form a canopy, at which point the resource team will make some final touches by filling the area with more trees and shrubs.
"When the conditions are right, and it will take some time for those conditions to be right," Paynter said.
Daniel Brown is a local journalism initiative reporter, a position funded by the federal government. Twitter.com/dnlbrown95
