Winnipeg’s loss of urban greenness among worst in Canada: report
Global News
Winnipeg's loss of urban greenness is among the worst in Canada over the past two decades, according to a report from Statistics Canada.
Winnipeg’s loss of ‘urban greenness’ is among the worst in Canada over the past two decades, according to a report from Statistics Canada.
The city has seen the second-largest per cent drop in urban greenness in the last 18 years.
“The main reason for that is just losses due to invasive pests, particularly Dutch elm disease, and then also not being able to keep up with the replacement of those trees over time.” said Martha Barwinsky, City Forester.
“Over the last five years, I believe we removed over 20,000 public trees. So street and park trees, most of those removals are due to Dutch disease.”
Over the next several months, over 8,100 elm trees will be coming down across the city, Barwinsky says.
“With the increases that we’ve seen with Dutch Elm Disease, we have to get the trees out. So that’s a priority. We’ve had to shift gears to allocate more of those resources to the removals and to sanitation, which takes away from the replanting efforts.”
For some Winnipeggers this is a really devastating, especially since some of the trees falling victim to the disease have stood for years.
“I want it removed as soon as possible, and just because I don’t want DED to spread to the rest of the trees in this neighbourhood and on this block, but I’m really sad about it, actually,” said Ariel Gordon, Wolseley resident.