Public access to Lemay Forest ending Friday as advocates push to preserve it
Property and development committee held off on vote to negotiate purchase price
Advocates calling for the City of Winnipeg to buy the Lemay Forest led a tour through the wooded St. Norbert area for possibly the last time on Thursday.
The developer/owner of the property has announced it will close to public access starting Friday.
Jaxon Kowaluk of the Coalition to Save the Lemay Forest wanted to show members of the public what is at stake if a proposed housing project on the land goes ahead.
"Where would the wildlife go? That's one of my biggest concerns," said Kowaluk, a wildlife photographer and St. Norbert resident. "They won't have a home. We are their voices right now, and they don't have a voice."
Tochal Developments, the owner of a 22-acre section of a wooded area southwest of the Red River, has applied for a fencing permit with the city, and will install signage declaring the property closed to the public.
Residents and green space advocates have pushed the city to preserve the area, which is only accessible by crossing private property, but which has served as a refuge for people seeking connect with nature.
Earlier this month, the Riel Community Committee unanimously passed a motion from Coun. Markus Chambers (St. Norbert-Seine River) to negotiate a purchase price with the owner.
Verbal report commissioned
The property and development committee didn't vote on the motion at their meeting last week. Instead, they passed a motion from chair Coun. Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) to give staff 30 days to come back with a verbal report on the development history of the property and "options to provide certainty for all parties moving forward."
"We have to get all of the information necessary to move forward, whether it's as a city on our own entity or whether we're working with other levels of government and other stakeholders to try to acquire that property or preserve that property to hte best of our ability," Chambers said.
John Wintrup, a planning engineer representing Tochal Developments, said they plan to hold an open house in January to showcase their proposal for the land, and have invited the coalition to share theirs.
"Ideally this open house event should provide the public information on all the opportunities for the Tochal Lands, and allow attendees the latitude to provide feedback on the different options," Wintrup wrote in an email.
A place for ceremonies
Residents at the Behavioural Health Foundation, which borders the property on the west, led a drumming and singing ceremony as part of the tour on Wednesday.
Justin Starr, a participant in the foundation's program, sees similarities between the resilience of the land and people like him.
"A lot of Indigenous people have come to this program and healed. And it's kind of symbolic when I look at it — like, how the land heals and how we're healing," he said. "It's one of the most important things to me."
Kurtis Alexson, another resident, comes to the forest a couple times a week.
"I feel connected to the earth more because I'm around nature and it seems to help calm my anxiety and all that I feel on the inside," he said. "Sometimes I can just yell and then I have the trees to listen."
Phillippe Mailhot, a historian of St. Norbert, likes to walk through the Lemay Forest dressed in traditional Voyageur clothing.
"To me, it just gives me a sense of the history and the heritage of the nature in this area," he said.
The report on the Lemay Forest's development history will be presented at the property and development committee meeting on Jan. 11.
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