“That milestone we reached needs to become the bare minimum, the floor, so that from now on the worst case scenario is ever going to be to replace every tree that was removed,” Cassidy said.<\/p>\n
Winnipeg has been working over the years with nurseries to\u00a0diversify the tree-types in the\u00a0canopy and narrow the gap between public tree removals and replacements, said Martha Barwinsky, the city’s forester.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/christian-cassidy.jpeg\")
Christian Cassidy, executive director of Trees Winnipeg, says the city has reached an important milestone by closing the gap between trees planted and removed, but there’s still much more needed to grow the overall canopy. (Prabhjot Singh\/CBC)<\/p>\n
Hiking overtime in the forestry department last year helped refurbish Winnipeg’s reforestation and planting program\u00a0with the\u00a0resources needed to meet\u00a0demand and replace almost all removed trees,\u00a0Barwinsky\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But she\u00a0acknowledged\u00a0more\u00a0needs to happen in the coming years to reduce the number of removals from\u00a0public property and maintain\u00a0the city’s planting level \u2014 so there’s gains when it comes to\u00a0trees on\u00a0public land and not just replacements.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We are looking to reach a 24 per cent tree canopy cover [in Winnipeg] by 2065,” Barwinsky said. “We can’t just do it by a one-to-one tree replacement.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
The goal for canopy cover has been framed by the city’s as\u00a0ambitious<\/a>. To reach it it\u00a0will require replacement of all removed trees and a net gain of 760,000 trees by 2065, or 17,000 each\u00a0year for the next four decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n A need for over-planting, preservation<\/p>\n But it isn’t\u00a0just\u00a0a numbers game. With a higher population of elm and ash trees at the mercy\u00a0of deadly pests circulating in Winnipeg, it’s very important to plant at a faster pace\u00a0in the city, said Sara Barron, the urban forestry leadership program director at the University of British Columbia.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reestablishing the city’s tree cover also becomes more challenging when Winnipeg is losing a larger number of mature trees.<\/p>\n “It’s going to take 30 to 50 years to replace that single tree canopy with newly-planted trees,” Barron said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “As we look at densification, we’re actually losing huge portions of the private canopy as well,” she said. “Over-planting, if there’s sufficient resources, makes a lot of sense.”<\/p>\n There are also concerns about lack of measures to preserve existing healthy trees.<\/p>\n Without a bylaw outright\u00a0restricting landowners from removing\u00a0trees on their properties, construction projects\u00a0aren’t\u00a0required to build around existing\u00a0ones,\u00a0Cassidy of\u00a0Trees Winnipeg said.<\/p>\n “New housing, replacing older housing, streets being widened, that creates a big loss for trees,” he said. “If you’re taking down a 100-year-old tree, how do you replace that?”<\/p>\n Barwinsky\u00a0said\u00a0reaching the goal of 24 per cent canopy cover in the next four decades will\u00a0also only be possible if the city works to maintain\u00a0existing\u00a0trees.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n “Tree preservation really has a big role in growing that canopy,” she said. “It gives us time to replant \u2026\u00a0 so that the losses aren’t as great,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘This isn’t just a public issue’<\/p>\n One of the biggest challenges for the city comes by way of\u00a0the limited space available left to grow trees on\u00a0public land.\u00a0<\/p>\n Barwinsky said larger parks and boulevards make up about 10 per cent of the canopy. The rest is or could be on residential and commercial properties susceptible to\u00a0development.<\/p>\n “That is beyond our jurisdiction,” Barwinsky said. “However, there’s lots of space to plant trees in front yards \u2026 but that requires a whole other program and project and resources and support.”\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dutch-elm-disease-winnipeg.jpg\")
Dutch elm disease and emerald ash borer continue to threaten a large number of mature trees in Winnipeg, highlighting the importance of over-planting in the next years to make up for possibly losing them, says UBC professor Sara Barron. (Santiago Arias Orozco\/CBC)<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/martha-barwinsky.JPG\")
City forester Martha Barwinsky says planting on private property will be crucial to grow Winnipeg’s canopy and reach the city’s 24 per cent tree cover target by 2065. (Holly Caruk\/CBC)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1755006188_933_default.jpg\")
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