Trees in Winnipeg

Along any of the three rivers through Winnipeg, the trees are thick and the temperature cooler than the open areas beyond. It is probably no wonder why the city grew up around the rivers. It was sanctuary. However, in the founding of the city. it seemed like every tree was felled to build the one or, at most, two floor structures that stood across massively wide unpaved streets. It looked muddy and hot or snowy and hot. Even at the The Forks, is became an industrial section of railway station and yard.

Portage and Main was devoid of trees. It was just mud and unpaved roads. Even for the commenters who see old pictures of Winnipeg, few say how nice it was back then. It isn't an image that inspires nostalgia. It looked like hard living times and it was. 

It should come as no surprise that the inhabitants of the city didn't want to be mud covered and devoid of any shade or wind cover. Streets were paved, sidewalks put in and trees planted. The trees were not an option. Every residential street in the city had trees planted and cared for. This may have been the influence of the Arbour Day movement that originated in North America in Nebraska in 1872. The timing is important because so much commerce was people going back and forth along the rivers and trails north and south. By 1883, Canadian politicians led the charge in Canada to ensure children were given seedlings to plant and beautify school grounds.

If there was once flaw in the planting, it was the lack of diversity in the trees. Many elm, green ash and maple were planted. And while they turned into one of the best canopy forests on the continent, they were vulnerable to diseases such as Dutch elm disease and ash borer beetles. Even chokecherry trees have been blighted in Linden Woods. Toronto planted far more diversity over the decades and it has helped them avoid what Winnipeg has gone through. Still, even in Toronto, it is a battle to keep the large trees going even as age, disease or terrible weather takes their toll. Experts in Toronto are harvesting seeds from the large trees to re-fill the canopy in the city.

Winnipeg now has a non-profit dedicated to trees and schools and communities have embraced the program of planting trees. Our family has donated 150 trees to the Winnipeg School Division. It is good to see schools each plant trees. Many schools have lost trees to disease and some really have never had that much in the way of greenery to begin with.

It might be of interest that the city keeps a record of every tree in Winnipeg on property they maintain. Each tree is identified by location and type. This type of record keeping helps keep a number of trees removed with trees added and the city in the last year has fared much better on replacing trees. There are still years to catch up.

A federal program is being utilized to plant around 600 trees in Assiniboine Park. Some died there from disease, others from building infrastructure. Regardless, the park needs to replace trees. This isn't the only city park that needs love. All the parks have had tree loss with no replacement in most years.

The loss of trees extends to private property as well. Disease, storm damage and age have killed off a lot of trees. Some people have been encouraged by the trees programming that they have bought trees for their yards. However, there are just as many who have cleared their entire yards in favour of vast lawns. Some of the new neighbourhoods can be absolutely oppressive for heat. Trees along city sections of the land, parks and schools are often the few areas where shade can be found.

It has to be mentioned that Manitoba Hydro lines, salt from road, collisions with the vehicles, beavers and vandalism also contribute to tree loss. Hydro lines down Portage Avenue West means it is devoid of trees. The rest of Portage produces so much salt that it kills trees. It is a long depressing tree-free ride along Portage Avenue. The only saving grace is the beautiful flower boxes along the street.

In the past, cities and provinces found that in budgetary cuts it was easiest to cut the forestry budget. Diseased trees overtook that complacent attitude. As for forests, the multiple years of fires shows forest management, fire prevention and fire suppression can't be kicked down the road. The results can be far more costly. Manitoba right now is purchasing water bombers. However, they are now far back on the list of when new planes will be ready. Many countries are now buying them and Canadian provinces like Manitoba have to wait till fill their order.

The one piece of good news is that there seem to be a significant movement to plant trees to replace what has been lost and to actually plant in new areas such as private land, schools and parks. The beauty, shade and carbon storage of today's urban trees started because people with far less than what we have made it a priority to plant trees and plan parks. It is comforting to know that more effort has been made to create a new healthy greenery in the city of Winnipeg.