A coalition of residents in south Winnipeg continues to sound the alarm after hearing rumblings of chainsaws cutting down trees in a forest on private property.
Workers for Tochal Development Group, which owns the land, cut down dozens of trees on Monday morning and created an access road for vehicles and equipment, says St. Norbert resident Ann Loewen, who’s a member of the Coalition to Save Lemay Forest.
“Taking down the trees takes away the value that this land currently has as habitat, as water mitigation, as soil preservation and as a healing space for humans who need a place to go to repair their souls and hearts when they’re damaged, to exercise, to enjoy nature,” Loewen said.
The developer had proposed building a 2,500-unit, 5,000-bed assisted-living facility on the land between Lemay Avenue and the Red River, south of the Perimeter Highway, but it was rejected by city council in September.
The developer appealed council’s decision and a hearing with the Municipal Board is set for early next year, according to a statement from the City of Winnipeg.
Regardless of the decision, “the trees are all coming down,” said planner John Wintrup, who represents the developer that has “had enough” with residents trespassing on the land.
He said the company put up private property signs, but Winnipeg residents continue to enter the area.
“Everybody was using it like a public amenity — it’s not,” Wintrup said, adding that workers will be cutting down trees over the holidays and over the next few months.
St. Norbert resident Ann Loewen said she opposes developers cutting down dozens of trees in Lemay Forest. (Darin Morash/CBC)
This is not the first time chainsaws have been heard in the area.
The developer was initially given a cease and desist order by the city for cutting down trees until it received a permit in October.
Loewen says removing these trees negatively affects wildlife and the community, which has used the land as a green space for decades.
The forest is also a ceremonial site for Indigenous people and has remnants of a cemetery connected to a former orphanage.
“The gratuitous and destructive removal of trees at this juncture has no basis. It’s an act that displays elements of aggression and forcefulness that are unnecessary in the context of no development planned,” she said.
Wintrup previously told CBC his team has been surveying the site of the cemetery with the intent to preserve it.
He says Lemay Forest is a great location for housing in the city, but Loewen disagrees.
“There are ways to balance housing and [the] environment, and we have to think more creatively and not be in the back pocket of the developers because that compromises the ability of councillors and citizens to think clearly and make good decisions for now and the future,” she said.
The Coalition to Save Lemay Forest, which Ann Loewen is a part of, says wildlife such as deer will lose habitat as the trees are cut down. (Darin Morash/CBC)
Loewen says city councillors and the Manitoba government need to stand their ground and protect the forest while finding housing elsewhere for those who need it.
However,the City of Winnipeg has no jurisdiction on private land.
“We have no tools, no bylaws yet to prevent people from cutting trees on private property,” said Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverly West).
Lukes says a new bylaw is being drafted to protect trees on private property that would regulate how and when trees could be removed. She said the bylaw is “long overdue” and expects it will come forward in early 2025.