More than 100 volunteers transforming former landfill into forest

Turning a landfill into a forest volunteers worked to plant trees and shrubs to turn the former St. Vital Landfill into a forest.

Winnipeggers got their hands dirty this weekend planting one thousand trees, shrubs, and other plants.

Dozens of volunteers put shovels in the ground in hopes of turning what was once the City of St. Vital’s landfill into a forest.  This weekend, more than one hundred volunteers planted one thousand plants, including trees and shrubs.

Ryan Palmquist, the managing director of Save Our Seine River Environmental Inc., said eight different types of plants are going in the ground.

“I think that restoring this park to nature us an act of healing and an act of apology, if you will, between humans and the other flora and fauna that we share an ecosystem with,” Palmquist said.

Now named Marlene Street Park, the site is bordered by the Seine River. Save Our Seine, a non-profit made up of mostly volunteers, works to restore and preserve the area.

Palmquist says the site will become a large riparian forest, with the newly-planted greenery helping to capture excess rain.

"When it rains that water gets into the ground and it leeches down into where the trash is and whatever else is under here. And that gets into the water table, it gets into the river, gets into the freshwater system."

Palmquist says at least once a week a crew will maintain and water the new greenery.

Save our Seine and the Manitoba Metis Federation partnered on the project together. It was funded by the Manitoba Habitat Conservancy.