Purchase deal for south Winnipeg's Sumka Forest could save trees on riverside land: councillor
Past City of Winnipeg efforts to purchase land in 2016 and 2023 failed
A Winnipeg city councillor says he's confident a long-running battle to save a stretch of riverside forest may have reached a turning point.
Property developer Qualico has purchased the plot of land in south Winnipeg known as the Sumka Forest.
Local nature advocacy groups like Save Our Seine have fought for more than a decade to preserve the Sumka lands, which includes valuable forest habitat just east of the Seine River and south of the Perimeter Highway.
St. Vital Coun. Brian Mayes has seen two unsuccessful efforts by the City of Winnipeg to buy the land.
"I've been on this issue since I first got here in 2011," Mayes said.
"I'd love to have seen the city buy it, but we could never put that together. So I'm glad a developer, who I think really wants to save that forest, has purchased that package."
The property consists of nearly 25 hectares (60 acres) of former farmland south of the Perimeter, about a third of which is covered by forest.
Mayes said the failure to secure a deal on the land has been on his list of regrets during his time in office.
Under then mayor Brian Bowman, Mayes pushed in 2016 for funding to buy the forested part of the land, but the developer would only consider selling the entire property.
In 2023, then provincial environment minister Kevin Klein supported the Manitoba Habitat Conservancy in another effort to buy the land, which also went nowhere.
Although the city has no legal way for the city to prevent tree clearing on private land, Mayes says he trusts the developer intends to preserve the forest.
"They've got a lot of land down there. They're going to have to give us some park land eventually. Our park staff here have always backed this idea, always said we need something in the southeast. So it kind of hangs together."
Mayes says the chance to preserve Sumka is especially important given challenges trying to save other forested areas, like the nearby Lemay Forest along the Red River.
Tochal Development Group has proposed building a 5,000-bed assisted-living facility on the St. Norbert property, and began cutting down trees last year.
Mayes called the fight to save the Sumka Forest a legacy project.
"It's something my children and hopefully my grandchildren, if they ever exist, can enjoy."
A representative of Qualico told CBC News a land development process will take several years.
Plans for the site include housing, services and green space.
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