Spring 2010


Visitors to Bois-des-Esprit forest are being 'wowed" by carved wood spirits and owls along the new upland gravel trail in the forest. Self-taught Metis carver Murray Watson spent many hours in the the first three months of 2010 transforming dead branches and stumps in the forest into works of art for visitors to enjoy. So far he has carved 6 eerie wood spirits and one spectacular great grey owl between the Royalwood Bridge entrance and the
bottom of the wetlands about a third of way down the new trail. There may be more to come and even a few we have not found yet. Some are easy to discover such as the wood spirit at the entrance to the trail and the owl near the opening into Royalwood, but most are integrated into the forest and require a very sharp eye to see. Discover them for yourself. Visit Bois-des-Esprit and see how many you can find. Pictures of the ones we know about accompany this article. If you find any that are not in these pictures, please send Save Our Seine pictures of them so we can add them to this website. Send pictures to dadepape@mts.net. As well, Save Our Seine will be holding walking events in the Bois-des-Esprits to celebrate Jane Day on Saturday, May 1 and on Saturday, June 5 to celebrate the International Trails Day. These walks will show you all of the carvings we know about. Murray Watson, the carver, will be at the Trails Day event. For more information on these events check other parts of this website. You can also meet Murray and see some of his other carvings at the St. Norbert Farmer's Market.

While you are in Bois-des-esprits, do not forget to visit the first and largest wood carving in the forest, the the three metre high "Woody" carved over two summers by Walter Mirosh and Robert LeClair.




June 2009

Remediation starts at the former IKO site. More details can be found by clicking here



May 2009


  • The SOS green team starts work May 19th
  • SOS started it’s hydrometric monitoring program - details coming soon

  • Work continues on the Bois des Esprits trail

April 2009

The Prairie Grove Road crossing re-opened

January 28th, 2009


Winter work on the Bois des Esprits trail is complete. Below is a map showing the trail


January 2009


The culvert that crossed Prairie Grove Road is being upgraded to a much larger culvert. This is one of the bottlenecks in the Seine River flowing through Winnipeg. Once the Siphon under the floodway and the crossing at the CPR Emerson line are upgraded, the flow of the Seine through Winnipeg can be significantly increased allowing for a much better ecosystem and canoeing experience.


January 9th, the Bois Des Esprits trail in progress




Dec 2008 -



Work has started on the trail in Bois Des Esprits.