Fiona ReLeaf: Islanders restoring urban trees in Charlottetown

Operation Releaf is underway in Charlottetown, months after thousands of trees were lost due to post-tropical storm Fiona. (Jack Morse/CTV Atlantic)

Charlottetown lost thousands of trees when post-tropical storm Fiona devastated Prince Edward Island last year, many of them more than 100 years old, fixtures in their neighbourhoods, and mourned after their loss.

One of the largest and oldest trees in the city once stood on the corner of Grafton and Rochford streets -- a small piece is all that’s left now.

However, the city is trying to get some of it back. Staff have teamed up with the Ellen’s and Wright’s Creek Watershed Groups to grow back some of the lost greenery.

“To try and get as many trees in the ground as we possibly can,” said Simon Wilmot, an environment and sustainability program coordinator. “Restore as much natural area as we can across the city.”

Part of that is Operation Releaf, a city program to plant 95 low-cost trees on private properties that lost trees during Fiona, and a street tree program.

In addition to older and larger trees on private property and on roadsides, small saplings are also being planted -- another effort to try and restore the urban canopy of the city.

The team started planting near the end of May.

“It’s kind of hard seeing so many dead tress everywhere before we get to work,” said Tianna Benoit, a watershed volunteer. “But I think that motivates us to work even harder.”

The team put about 100 trees in the ground in the first week of the program.

“It’s very sad that we’ve lost so many trees, but seeing it slowly be rebuilt over time has been so heartwarming,” said Benoit.

Wilmot said it's important to restore the trees that provide shade, store water, and are habitats for animals.

“They do all sorts of things for us, so if we lose a large chunk of that, we will have other knock on effects.”

It will be decades before many of the trees are full grown and the foliage will look different than it used to, but the goal is clear -- to rebuild one of the country’s lushest urban forests.

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