Urban forestry

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 Winnipeg’s much loved urban forest, composed of more than  three million trees on public and private land, represents a key  infrastructure asset which saves the City more than $14 million in  yearly services and an additional $39 million in carbon storage.1 Those  services include cleaning the air, offsetting the impact of superstorms by  absorbing runoff, and reducing the heat island effect, thereby reducing  energy costs. These services are essential as climate driven extreme  weather events continue to escalate. In a 2025 open letter to COP 30, over 80 scientists observed that  “urban forests are among the most effective, equitable nature-based  solutions available” to address climate resiliency and biodiversity loss.  They also warned that the current situation, in which “mature urban  tree loss outpaces replacement amid increasing climate and biological  stresses,” does not bode well for many cities.2 The solution, they maintain,  is to diversify plantings, speed up replacement, and to “sustainably fund  long-term operations.”3 Prior to the 2022 civic election, Winnipeg was not sustainably  funding its tree canopy. As a result, by 2021, the City had an 80 per cent  backlog in replacing public trees, and an average of 6,000 trees were  being lost each year. Basic maintenance like pruning was virtually non existent — conducted every 31 years, instead of on a best practice seven year cycle. Much of that was reversed with the 2024–27 Multi-Year Budget  projections. The multi-year budget promised a welcomed 45 per cent  increase in urban forest funding over four years. As a result, between  2023 and 2025, urban forestry eliminated the 80 per cent backlog in tree   replacements and put us on track to meet a one-to-one replacement goal  and achieve a seven to 12 year best practice pruning cycle. The budget increase was influenced by city council’s endorsement of  Urban Forestry Division’s Twenty Year Urban Forestry Strategy and an  election pledge drive launched by the Trees Please Winnipeg Coalition.  The drive asked all candidates in the 2022 civic election to sign a pledge  committing to three actions, which included: planting two trees for every  public tree lost, establishing a seven-year best practice pruning cycle  for public trees, and incorporating tree protection best practices into all  construction projects to prevent the damage and loss of our mature trees. Winnipeg’s current mayor, and all but one of the newly elected council  members, signed the pledge and honoured their promises in the four year  budget. A significant portion of the multi-year budget’s 45 per cent increase  was made possible as a result of funding from the federal government’s  2 Billion Trees Program. The more than $7.3 million provided over five  years was targeted for tree planting and replacement. It also helped to  establish urban forestry’s Home Grown program, which offers grants to  community groups to help expand the canopy by planting trees on public  land. The total operating and capital funds indicated in the preliminary  urban forestry budget for 2026 stands at $32.4 million.4 The AMB  urges the City to honour that figure in the final budget, and maintain  and increase that amount as projected when the federal government’s  2 Billion Trees money terminates in 2026. Given an average tree loss of 10,000 trees per year between 2022 and  2025, and in view of the termination of federal funds in 2026, additional  contributions from the City will be essential to maintain a sustainable  budget for tree replacement and the continuation of the Home Grown  program. Additional future funds will also be needed to administer a proposed  consolidated public and private tree by-law to protect the City’s  mature trees. In order for those by-laws to be successful in preventing  unnecessary tree loss, the City will need to invest in additional personnel  for monitoring and enforcement. A private tree by-law also has the potential to generate a revenue  stream via the permits required to fell trees on private land. In addition,  construction and development companies could also be compelled to  compensate Winnipeggers for the mature trees they destroy on private  property, either by replanting those trees or paying compensation to the  City for their replacement in a manner that reflects the size and age of the  trees removed. Winnipeg has taken important first steps in providing a sustainable budget for the maintenance, replanting, diversification, and expansion of our urban forest infrastructure. That commitment and level of funding should not only be maintained but increased in 2027 and beyond, to expand and protect the canopy and address future threats and losses as a result of new diseases, pests, and increasing climate stresses. 

Actions 

The UMAR HAYAT will call on The City of Winnipeg to honor its commitment to preliminary funding of $32.4 million for the urban forest budget for 2026.

 We also call on the city to maintain funding levels when the 2 billion Trees money terminates in 2026 

 • The UMAR HAYAT will increase the urban forestry budget by $8.8 million to support a two-to-one tree replacement goal for public trees as well as park trees and to expand the Homegrown program. 

• The UMAR HAYAT will fund a policy analyst position (1.0 FTE @ $105,000) to research and recommend to council a public and private tree by-law to protect the City’s mature trees.

 • The UMAR HAYAT will work toward generating additional revenue with the private tree bylaw.