Nature

"Mowing down the Urban Forest" by Val Werier (WFP) April, 2002

What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and wilderness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wilderness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet

'Inversnaid'
Gerard Manley Hopkins

Those aspen shelter ancient spirits
By Val Werier, WFP, December 12, 2002

A lot of people want to buy a forest in Winnipeg and I think it is a wonderful idea. It is a river-bottom forest in an oxbow in the Seine River, so rich in rare trees and history and the drama of our city. It is the 81.4 acre tract between Bishop Grandin and Warde Avenue that is just about the best you can find in an undisturbed forest in Winnipeg. It qualifies for protection under city guidelines but it will go under the bulldozer for residential development unless it is bought from the owners...

Rivers give root to mystery of life
Winnipeg Free Press,Thursday, June 5, 2003
By Val Werier
WINNIPEG is a city of rivers and trees and they thrive in a symbiotic relationship, bestowing splendour and life to the city.
The rivers act as gardeners snatching seed from the wind and from birds in migration to start them off in their moist and receptive banks.
We have 240 kilometres of river and creek frontage in Winnipeg, channels for growth and beauty.
The Red is the most prominent of four rivers (others are the Assiniboine, Seine and La Salle) rippling in intimate little curves in the backbone of the city. The creeks are Bunn's Sturgeon, Omand's and Truro.
(full text)

Former City Forester Mike Allen is not the biggest fan of poplars, as this pieces indicates in the
June 8, 2003 Winnipeg Free Press