Project about more than planting trees

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This article was published 30/03/2017 (3143 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There are many ways for children to play.

With a massive new greening project scheduled to break ground in June, Wayoata School will soon be able to provide students with more natural landscapes to explore.

“When teachers teach about nature, they can do all that in the playground,” explained Christine Frank, a former teacher at Wayoata School (605 Wayoata St.) and chair of the committee behind the Wayoata School Greening Project.

“A lot of thought has gone into what kids are doing in the playground,” Frank said.

“There’s active play, where kids are out on the field kicking balls. There’s the climbing structure, which are fabulous. We’re basically adding nature, but doing it in a way that depicts different habitats, different biological systems.”

Existing climbing structures and sports fields have been incorporated into the revamped design, and will be improved upon if possible. Drainage is an issue the playground faces, Frank said, and the redevelopment intends to address some of those issues.

“When there’s heavy rain or the snow melts, the water sits,” Frank explained. “But it’s kind of neat, it makes a little river into the lane. It’s a great play area. So we want to take that, fix the drainage a bit, and channel that water into something representing a river system.”

A first step of the project is already in place. Nearly a dozen spruce trees were planted in the northwest corner of the playground in the fall of 2016, along with a large Graywacke boulder imported from Churchill, Man. Aspen, cottonwood, elm, and Manitoba maple trees, among others, will be planted to simulate different ecosystems native to Manitoba. Consideration has also been paid to local geology.

“We’re going to have limestone from Tyndall, we’re going to have granite, representative of the Canadian Shield, and we have this Graywacke from the shores of Hudson’s Bay,” Frank said. “We’re working with Living Prairie Museum to put in a butterfly garden, with wildflowers. So that’s kind of like the prairies. We’re not just sticking trees in.”

Along with the increased greenery, the redeveloped site plan includes walkways for student and community use, raised planters and benches, berms and rocks, and improved drainage. Frank said they expect to break ground in late June, “so the kids can see a bit of it being built.”

The Wayoata School Greening Project started in 2012 as a vision the school and the parent advisory council shared. When Frank, a teacher at the school, retired in 2014, she took on the role of the project’s committee chair. Frank said things really began to come together in July 2015.

“That’s when we got Canada 150 Grant,” she said, which will reimburse up to $150,000 of the project’s costs. “For every dollar we spend, we get money back. It’s like every dollar is worth two dollars.”

Since then, the province’s Community Places program has committed funding, as has the City of Winnipeg through the community incentive grant program. Private donors include The Winnipeg Foundation, TD Friends of the Environment, Toyota Evergreen, Manitoba Hydro, and the Co-op Federation. The school has raised its own funds through bake sales and pizza lunches.

Frank said that many parents have also contributed what they can to the fund.

“We will gladly accept donations, and they will be matched,” she said, adding that the committee is keen to get local businesses on board.

To contribute to the Wayoata School Greening Project, contact Kerry Cressall, principal at Wayoata School, by emailing kcressall@retsd.mb.ca or calling 204-958-6840.

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