Plan B protesters return to P.E.I. highway site to plant trees

Three years after camping out in opposition ofa controversial highway project on Prince Edward Island, a group of protesters returned to the area Saturday to plant new trees to replace those bulldozed by the Plan B highway realignment.

The group spent a year camped out on private property in Bonshaw to monitor the work of thehighway project after trying to stopthe construction from going ahead.

The $16 million project re-routed a section of the Trans-Canada Highway west of Charlottetown.

The provincial government said at the time the realignment was necessary for safety reasons. The new route straightened the highway through Bonshaw, New Haven and Riverdale.

Cindy Richards was one of those who spent a year monitoring the highway construction project.

"It's good to try to help restore, try to heal some of the scars that happened here, so it's nice in that respect," she said.

Richards and other volunteers including Citizen's Alliance of PEI Chair, Chris Ortenburger, planted about 50 trees on the property they camped on as a way to give back and say thank you to the owner.

"It's our way of thanking her, because she allowed us to use her land as a base for the environmental monitoring that we did, a whole group of people did, over the next year, while the highway project was going on," said Ortenburger.

The group said even though they weren't able to stop the road from being constructed they believe since Plan B, many Islanders have become more involved in protecting the environment.

The group says they hope to continue restoration work on the area and will do whatever they can to protect the land from further environmental damage.