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By Val Werier
The Winnipeg Free Press
April, 2002
Every so often we witness the destruction of a part of
our urban forest and communities are outraged that this should
happen in our city. The history of Winnipeg is marked by such
injury to our environment.
Some of these transgressions have been thwarted by a concerned
public and dedicated politicians understanding of our natural
environment. But the chopping of our urban forest continues because
there is still a tendency to regard land as a commodity to be
graded like fried chicken or soap, a comparison raised decades
ago by Douglas Fullerton, head of the National Capital Commission,
Ottawa.
We have few restrictions on the removal of old forests in private
hands no matter how relevant to our history and character of the
city. It may be an irreplaceable heritage as in the eradication
of much of a 30-acre riverbottom forest ten years ago where basswood
have flourished for 1,000 years. Yes, 1,000 years! The trees were
removed to make way for a development between Roblin Boulevard
and Assiniboine River.
History also reveals that a determined public and politicians-and
if I may say journalists-have saved our national treasures from
development.
At the turn of the century, the Winnipeg Electric Co. established
River Park, an amusement centre, including a dance pavilion and
horse racing along the Red River at the foot of Osborne Street.
The purpose was to attract riders to the street car system. The
park was in an unsettled part of the city, a lovely place in the
woods. As the city grew, the company decided to sell this valuable
property for a housing development.
Among the opponents to this venture was N.B. Zimmerman, a Winnipeg
Tribune editorial writer, a man with a good feeling about his
native city. He wrote: "The big chance to recapture more of our
rivers is in River Park. …There would be no keep-off signs and
barbed wire to block our hunger for the Red. It is our river,
ever since in school, Whittier's poem made it a thing of legend
and nostalgia." (John Greenleaf Whittier, 1807-1892, was a poet
from Massachusetts who wrote a poem about the Red River when he
visited here.)
Bolstered by such support, city council refused to allow the
wooded park to be cut up into lots. It purchased 19 acres for
$40,000 and it became Churchill Park. Several decades later, in
1964, with no public discussion, traffic consultants wanted to
bisect the park with a freeway to a proposed bridge. As a columnist
for the Winnipeg Tribune, I was instrumental in defeating this
proposal.
Today we witness a similar transgression in the bulldozing of
an 18-metre swath through a forest along the banks of the Seine
River in St. Boniface for a bridge to a future development. It
was a shocking intrusion, considering that the city had been discussing
options with Ladco, the owners, to acquire this 80-acre tract
for a park. The floodland section along the river is protected
from development. Ladco is in violation for bulldozing into the
floodlands without obtaining the required permit.
Members of Save Our Seine were outraged. SOS, in a wonderful
public service, has planted thousands of trees and shrubs along
the river and removed rubbish to make it navigable. "The oaks
cut down," says Jules Legal, head of SOS, "date from the time
of Louis Riel." And earlier in history, too. Here are bur oaks
150 to 200 years old. Mike Allen, former city forester, calls
it an "exceptional" forest, one of the best in the city for it
is relatively undisturbed. There is concern in the city administration
to preserve our heritage. Over the years, riverbank property has
been acquired and placed in the public domain.
But there are no teeth in any legislation to protect the forests
as in other jurisdictions where caveats are placed on removal
of heritage forests in private hands. At the very least, we need
a bylaw protecting trees, which would require approval before
any trees of significance are removed, whether on private or public
property.
It is unacceptable that city development guidelines are silent
on such basic issues as protection of our heritage and the environment.
Such protection should be included in agreements from the start,
a protection emphasized in Plan Winnipeg. Trees are not a commodity
like others. They belong to the community.
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