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By Val Werier
The Winnipeg Free Press
Thursday, December 12, 2002
A lot of people want to buy a forest in Winnipeg and I
think it is a wonderful idea. It is a river-bottom forest in an
oxbow in the Seine River, so rich in rare trees and history and
the drama of our city. It is the 81.4 acre tract between Bishop
Grandin and Warde Avenue that is just about the best you can find
in an undisturbed forest in Winnipeg. It qualifies for protection
under city guidelines but it will go under the bulldozer for residential
development unless it is bought from the owners.
So SOS, an authentic and relevant acronym for a 12-year old organization
called Save Our Seine, has mounted a campaign for $1 million.
The price tag is $2.6 million. The city is committed to $1 million,
as well as matching contributions to a maximum of $6000,000.
Ladco, the owners, are asking ($75,000) an acre. Cheryl Heming,
City Naturalist, says that in negotiations with the company over
the years, efforts have been made to have it sold under the Federal
Tax Credit Program, but it couldn't qualify because it had been
held in inventory for future development.
Unquestionably the forest should be preserved for there are few
such treasures remaining in Winnipeg. It's the last and largest
forest on the Seine, still with original growth. Some bur oaks
are 150 to 200 years old. A giant cottonwood, close to 90 feet,
is the tallest tree in Winnipeg. And here too is an unusual group
of trembling aspen, the first time forester Mike Allen has seen
them in Winnipeg. The bark is snowy white instead of the typical
grey green and from a distance, looks like birch. It is fascinating
to note that the aspen is the oldest living woody plant known.
The Seine, typical of prairie rivers, wiggles back and forth
because of flat terrain. These wiggles or meanders may be cut
off by the progressive flow of the water as it seeks a more direct
channel. They are called oxbows, crescent shaped pools of water
in the flood plain. They are fascinating remnants of the meanders,
alongside the forest.
SOS points out that oxbows along the Assiniboine and Red rivers
have been destroyed or filled in as a result of development. Enfield
Crescent on the Red in St. Boniface is such an example. SOS calls
the forest "Bois des Esprits" meaning woods where the spirits
dwell. The spirits are of Aboriginals and Métis who left their
mark in Manitoba history. Along a bow in the Seine north of John
Bruce Road is the former site of a pioneer grist mill. Louis Riel,
Miller of the Seine, was father of the famous Louis Riel who led
Manitoba into confederation in 1870. Along with Benjamin Lagimodiere,
he built and ran a water-powered mill in the 1850s to grind grain
for farmers, quite an engineering feat for the time. The large
grist stone today has a place of honour in front of the St. Boniface
Museum on Tache Avenue.
Says SOS, so dedicated to the Seine heritage: "Bois des esprits
whispers of pioneers past and our First Nations people." The forest
"provided them with timber for fuel and shelter, game for sustenance,
and sap for sugar, and it has echoed with the lively music of
early settlers." Birch bark canoes silently plied the Seine for
generations.
The Seine rises in marshy woods by the Sandilands Provincial
Forest, meanders for 120 kilometres and empties into the Red River
near The Forks.
Evergreen Common Grounds, a national urban land trust is assisting
in the campaign for funds to buy the forest. Contributions qualifying
for a tax credit and (tax refund) can be sent to
SOS
P.O. Box 83
208 Provencher Blvd.
Winnipeg, MB
R2H 3B4.
It is a splendid investment which benefits the entire city. The
river-bottom forest is especially fertile in replenishment of
periodic flooding. Forest and river sustain one another, the trees
anchoring the land.
The forest with a river is also attractive for wildlife and here
are deer, fox, muskrat, rabbit, beaver, turtles, owls (and) blue
herons. Forests are the lungs of the earth, absorbing carbon dioxide
and creating life-sustaining oxygen. What a beneficent enterprise!
There's one more thing. Forests are beautiful.
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