|
Winnipeg Free Press
Tuesday, Decmber 9th, 2003
By Mary Agnes Welch
ENVIRONMENTALISTS are on pins and needles waiting for the province
to decide whether to preserve an 80-acre forest along the Seine
River.
The Manitoba government must decide by New Year's Eve if it will
donate the $600,000 needed to buy the forest from a development
company partly owned by the province itself.
On Jan. 1, the forest that runs along the Seine south of Bishop
Grandin Boulevard will no longer be zoned as parkland, giving
developers the right to begin building homes immediately. Part
of the riverfront land is slated to become the second phase of
the Royalwood subdivision.
"The province is the steward of the environment," said Save Our
Seine President Bev Sawchuk. "This is so the right thing to do."
Environmentalists are concerned that only part of the forest
will be saved or that the deadline might be extended.
In the provincial legislature on Wednesday, Liberal Leader Jon
Gerrard pressed the province's housing minister to save Bois des
Esprit and turn it into a park.
"I can assure you my department is working with partners, as
we have in the past, for the best solution for the future of the
Bois des Espirit," replied Housing Minister Christine Melnick.
The city owns about 44 per cent of the riverbank land along the
Seine and has committed to saving it. SOS has been trying to raise
the money itself to buy the province's portion of the forest,
but has only gathered about $115,000.
Sawchuk said donations have fallen short largely because people
are unwilling to donate money that eventually goes to the provincial
government.
maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca
PHOTO MARC GALLANT/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Back
to
In
the
Media
Back
to
Main
|
