May Day in Manitoba

Celebrating May 1st on my recumbent bike... with a beautiful ride down the Harte Trail, with a nice tail wind at my back... I saw 2 magnificent deer while I was cycling down one of the newest portions of the Trans Canada Trail within Winnipeg. And out of my experience comes the topic for my second blog posting.

This summer, the last 2 km of limestone trail should be built through a square mile of Assiniboine Forest... connecting Fort Whyte Alive Nature Centre, (which has anther square mile of urban forest and prairie habitat...) with the Harte Trail to Beaudry Park... almost 20 km of trail. 2 square miles of habitat in the midst of the most expensive residential districts in Winnipeg. What a miracle! What a resource! And yet our city is planning on developing 4,000 homes alongside the Harte Trail, where now there are only fields and forest and swamps and trees - AND HABITAT!

So here is my May Day wish... that instead of just more housing and development, that the entire 10% land dedication for park space go to carefully chosen habitat preservation BESIDE the Harte trail, so that it becomes an artery linking natural areas, instead of becoming a thin thread that is a lifeline for only the narrowest selection of surviving species of flora and fauna. What if we look ahead 50 years into the future, and 2 or 5 or 8 habitat areas have been preserved along side the Harte Nature Trail? That would mean that there would be habitat reservoirs for deer and rabbits and songbirds and remnants of typical prairie vegetation that still remain along this now abandoned and naturalized railway line of the past. It would mean that in a century, there might still be predator populations living in an oasis of meadows and bush to naturally control a viable predator and prey ecological balance. It would mean that instead of a tiny ribbon of green amongst the houses and roads, we might actually be able to preserve a viable lifeline between habitat areas right in the midst of our prairie city.

And I believe it just might be possible with a careful allocation of our 10% land development dedication, to preserve and expand this unique and valuable natural heritage. We already have over 2 sections... over 2 square miles... of habitat connected by cycling and pedestrian trails.

My May Day wish... is that my grandchildren will also be able to cycle past the viable homes of deer and prairie roses and foxes and great horned owls... along a Trans Canada Trail linkage in an urban area, that maintains its ecological integrity.

I would say that it was impossible, if I had not been a student representative for our Resident Advisory Group almost 40 years ago, when a handful of farsighted individuals suggested that a mile of young forest could be kept in the middle of the city of Winnipeg... and then they worked together to make Assiniboine Forest happen. Now I put out the gauntlet for an even grander vision... that we add just enough meadows and forest adjoining the Harte Trail to create homes for the birds and plants and animals that will be a legacy for centuries... rather than just building homes and urban infrastructure for humans within our community.

By the way, on my trip out of the city from Downtown Winnipeg today, I saw over 50 citizens walking and cycling and walking dogs and enjoying nature within the city. If 50 unnoticed people are out on these trails for 10 hours a day... that would be 500 unnoticed people a day! That's 15,000 unnoticed people a month! Entirely ignoring winter usage, that could be upwards of 100,000 people visits a year - along one amazing natural trail system.

I wonder if my May Day challenge has any chance of coming to be? (I am sure that several million insects, birds, trees, plants and animals would like to think so... if our natural community members could think ahead into their own future!) And speaking of the future, what a natural legacy for education of our children we would be constructing... or not destructing...


Happy natural cycling, hiking and active transportation to all!

Len (Eco-Rider)