Preserving Elmwood’s trees

Elmwood

Last September, I wrote an article on Canada’s part in the United Nations Environment Programme’s Trillion Trees Campaign and the importance of trees in reducing heat and pollution, besides other benefits. In just a few weeks, residents of Elmwood will have a chance to learn more about the trees in this neighbourhood and how they can help to it a healthier and more beautiful place.

The Trillion Tree Campaign is a recognition that trees are an essential part of the environment. They provide shade on hot days and shelter from cold winds, are home to birds and squirrels, and change carbon dioxide to oxygen, help to sequester pollution, and much more. Human activity has greatly reduced tree cover from what it once was, but reversing that trend is possible.

Trees Please Winnipeg, a coalition of residents’ groups concerned about maintaining and expanding Winnipeg’s trees, is helping to monitor the city’s tree cover. According to the organization’s website, the goal is to lobby the government to invest in “the maintenance, diversification and expansion of urban forests.” Maintenance is an important aspect of caring for trees, as a cold winter or hot summer can kill many more trees than would normally end their life cycle.

Joyanne Purgasa notes in her Aug. 20, 2025, Free Press article that in 2024, Winnipeg’s municipal government planted almost as many trees as it removed, beginning to reverse a trend that saw more trees removed than were replaced. As the article states, “For decades, Winnipeg’s canopy has thinned out, with the city planting far fewer trees on public land than it lost to natural death, severe weather, development and disease.”

Awareness of the issues can be the first step in solving any problem. To help residents of the city to understand and better appreciate the vital importance of trees, an arborist and a local historian are joining to give a series of “tree walks” in various parts of the city. According to Coun. Emma Durand-Wood (Elmwood-East Kildonan)’s website, Elmwood’s tree walk will take place on Aug. 26 at 6:30 p.m. in the Elmwood Cemetery. The event is free, and participants should meet at the 88 Hespeler Street entrance.

For many participants, the tree walk could be a unique opportunity to see and understand trees in a new way. Learning about Elmwood’s trees is the first step in preserving them.