Winnipeg’s Equity-Based Urban Forest Strategy

Prepared by Kim Perrotta and Gurleen Arora

Background

The City of Winnipeg has developed its first Urban Forest Strategy. This is a 20-year strategy that aims to increase tree canopy coverage, diversity of the canopy, and equitable distribution of the canopy across Winnipeg.  

Located in central Canada, the average number of days over 30°C in Winnipeg is projected to increase from 14.3 between 1976-2005 to 30.5 between 2021-2050, making heat adaptation measures crucial to the city’s future.  

Increasing tree canopy coverage is recognized as an effective heat adaptation strategy for urban environments. Trees can decrease air and surface temperatures, reduce the risk of morbidity and mortality due to extreme heat, and reduce ultraviolet radiation exposure.

Urban Forest Strategy 

Winnipeg’s urban forest strategy aims to address several needs: to expand the tree canopy to increase the city’s resilience to the changing climate; to replace the Elm and Ash trees that are being lost to Dutch Elm Disease and an invasive pest called the Emerald Ash Borer; and to ensure that tree canopy is more equitably distributed, particularly in high-needs neighbourhoods that are characterized by higher rates of poverty and lower incomes.

“The tree canopy we see in Winnipeg today will not be the same canopy we will have in the coming decades,” explained Martha Barwinsky, City Forester at the City of Winnipeg. “Our trees are vulnerable to pests, disease, construction and natural mortality. That is why our strategy is not just about planting more trees. It is about diversifying the trees in our community and building a resilient urban forest that can thrive in the future.”  

The Urban Forest Strategy was finalized and approved by Winnipeg City Council in 2023 along with a budget for its implementation. The strategy commits the City to expanding the tree canopy cover from 17% in 2018 to 24% by 2065. The City has already increased tree planting from a historic 300 trees per year to 6500 trees per year. 

Assessing the Urban Forest

“The strategy took about four years to develop but really was about 20 years in the making. The first step in the process was to assess the current state of the forest,” explained Barwinsky.

Within that 20 year period, the City of Winnipeg collected field data on the trees in parks and on boulevards and potential planting sites throughout the city. The City’s Public Tree Inventory database was developed and now includes over 300,000 trees that are managed by the Urban Forestry Branch in the Parks and Open Space Division within the Public Works Department. This inventory does not include trees in natural areas or on private property.  

“With this snapshot, we could picture the trees we had, what we were losing, where the gaps were, and what we needed to manage,” Barwinsky noted. “One of our goals was to determine where canopy can go, considering all aspects of feasibility including infrastructure, soil conditions, and the community’s need for trees.”

Identifying High Priority Neighbourhoods 

Winnipeg’s Urban Forest Strategy identifies the need to maximize tree canopy to protect people from extreme heat, particularly for populations that live on low incomes. 

“Maximizing tree canopy is critical, especially in areas with vulnerable populations who are more susceptible to heat related illnesses. Trees in the urban environment decrease the risk for heatstroke and are associated with a decrease in morbidity and mortality from the effects of heat due to their role in decreasing air and surface temperatures, as well as reducing exposure to ultraviolet radiation.”

“Poverty can be a significant barrier to health, wellbeing, and social equity.  People living in poverty may have few means to access private amenities that can reduce vulnerability to heat, such as shady back yards and in-home or in-care air conditioning … For some people, public trees and forests provide a main opportunity to keep their homes cooler,  provide shade as they walk to school or work, or to experience nature.”

Areas with higher levels of poverty in Winnipeg were identified in a 2020 report prepared for the City entitled, Defining Higher Needs Neighbourhoods.  It was based on 2016 Census data.  The higher poverty areas were compared against the City’s public tree inventory, temperature data from a hot July day, and canopy data derived from satellite images of the city.  The results revealed that high poverty neighbourhoods had significantly fewer trees per hectare and per person, lower canopy cover, lower tree diversity, and higher average air temperatures, than low poverty neighbourhoods. 

These inequities will be addressed with a number of policies.  For example, the Small-scale and Low-Rise Residential Development Guidelines for Mature Communities, promote the retention of mature trees, particularly for front yards and boulevards, by requiring an arborist report to guide tree preservation and protection during the development process. They dictate the quantity and size (at maturity) of new trees required with each development and the minimum percentage of lot areas and setbacks that must be reserved for soft landscaping.

Community Engagement

“We started to develop the strategy in 2019 and held two rounds of community engagement. We worked closely with advocacy groups in urban forestry and held online stakeholder workshops with community-based organizations,” said Barwinsky.  “Our first engagement was centred around the question, ‘What should Winnipeg’s urban forest look like?’” 

“One of the strongest messages we heard was the pressing need to plant more trees and increase canopy cover,” offered Barwinsky. “Many residents also stressed the importance of tree protection through stronger bylaws, especially as they have observed canopy loss due to development and densification.”

“In the future, when we are not limited by the conditions imposed by a pandemic, we want to do more to establish relationships with diverse and low-income populations that were under-represented in our community engagement process,” said Barwinsky.  “We also want to work with Indigenous communities to incorporate their knowledge and perspectives into tree species selection.”

Multi-Sectoral Collaboration

The Urban Forestry Branch, that led the development of the Urban Forest Strategy, collaborates with divisions across the City including Water Services, Wastewater, Solid Waste, Engineering, Transportation, Street Maintenance, Planning, Zoning and Development, Urban Design, Transit, and Community Services, on the planting and maintenance of trees in parks and on boulevards. 

“The strategy touches just about every division in the City of Winnipeg,” explained Barwinsky. “We have embedded ourselves into the work of each department, which has helped advance understanding of tree needs, soil volume requirements, and tree protection measures.”

The Urban Forestry Branch also provides expert advice for the care of trees outside their direct responsibility.

 “We are often asked for advice on the planting and maintenance of trees around transit properties and water treatment plants for example,” explained Barwinsky. “Bringing forestry expertise into every part of the City’s operations helps ensure that trees are adequately protected and, if that’s not feasible, trees are replaced and new trees are planted.”  

Challenges and Lessons Learned

The City faces several challenges in its quest to expand the tree canopy.

“Winnipeg is in a prairie ecological region,” Barwinsky notes. “This is an eco-region that supports grasslands. So, it may appear that we have an abundance of space to plant more trees, but there is also value in protecting and preserving the grassland areas and their ecology.” 

“Older neighbourhoods in high poverty areas and with low tree species diversity are at high risk of losing their canopy to species-specific invasive pests, like Dutch Elm Disease, and much of these neighbourhoods have many obstacles like overhead hydro lines and narrow boulevards that limit where we can plant trees,” explained Barwinsky. “That is why collaboration across departments is central to an urban forest’s success. By coordinating across departments, we can try to develop solutions that make space for trees while meeting other infrastructure needs.”

But Barwinsky identifies that the biggest challenge–one that is universal to cities across the country–is growing tree canopy cover across the city when the city also needs to develop many new homes, including new affordable housing. 

“It is a challenge to grow the tree canopy in a city when we are trying to densify neighbourhoods, create more walkable neighbourhoods with more or wider sidewalks, and build more cycling infrastructure,”  explains Barwinsky. “Infill development and trees are competing for the same space within a city. There is a lot of infrastructure below and above ground that needs to be considered when looking for space for tree planting and for long term maintenance of trees.”

Barwinsky notes that they are conducting research on the best way to meet their tree canopy targets, recognizing that there may be a need for different targets for different neighbourhoods and types of land use. 

While trees provide many benefits, Barwinsky notes that not all residents want a tree planted on their property. 

“Trees can be a big responsibility, especially when the leaves fall and residents want to clean them up and when the trees need to be pruned,” said Barwinsky. “Our role is to help residents see the bigger picture– to recognize that trees provide shade, cool air, and reduce extreme heat risks for the whole neighbourhood. Once people understand the connection between trees and heat adaptation, hopefully they start to view them as essential infrastructure.”  

“We inform residents if they are receiving a tree on their boulevard by providing door hangers with details about the tree planting process,” explained Barwinsky. “We explain how the City maintains and waters trees to establish them, and we also provide contact information if they want to learn more. This kind of transparency and education helps set each tree up for success.”  

“Some neighbourhoods maintain frequent contact with the City directly, while others may communicate through their city councillor,” noted Barwinsky. “Connecting to the community helps us understand what is working for a community and where future outreach may be needed.” 

Funding

The majority of funding for tree planting will come from the budget that the City has allocated to the implementation of the Urban Forest Strategy. The Federal Government’s 2 Billion Trees initiative is currently providing funding for a 5-year Home Grown program to augment the City’s tree planting, and through which community groups can apply for a grant to plant trees on public property in their neighbourhoods. Other grants and tree planting initiatives help support tree planting in the city– on property belonging to schools and institutions, for example– through Tree Canada’s multiple programs and Manitoba Hydro’s Forest Enhancement Program. Trees Winnipeg, a local non-profit organization, supports tree planting projects on school properties, and hosts their ReLeaf Program whereby private property owners can purchase trees at a subsidized cost to plant on their properties.