Local urban forest takes centre stage in new book

Wolseley

Wolseley

Making the world a better place might not be easy, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun.

That’s one of the messages that local writer, environmental activist, and documentary filmmaker Erna Buffie would like to impart to readers of her new book, Out on a Limb, which is due May 19 from Great Plains Press.

“The book sort of grew naturally out of my activist work with Trees Please Winnipeg, a coalition of almost 30 community environmental and residents group from across the city. Our aim was to get the city to see our urban trees as essential infrastructure,” Buffie said. “It turned out to be one of the happiest writing experiences of my career. It was a lot of fun to write, to find ways to inspire people to get out there and plant trees and take other actions to preserve and enhance nature in the city.”

A longtime area resident, Buffie was chairing the greening committee of the Wolseley Residents Association when a call was put out to residents’ and environmental groups across Winnipeg to pressure the municipal government to properly fund its urban forestry department. As a result of the work of the coalition, which became Trees Please Winnipeg, the city has made huge strides, increasing the department’s budget by 45 per cent and eliminating the backlog of replacing trees removed from city property.

“Part of our work, part of this book, is to educate the government on the benefits of urban forest,” Buffie said. “For more than a century, trees have been seen as an architectural embellishment, when in fact they’re essential.”

Buffie said that Winnipeg’s urban forest stores $40 million worth of carbon, reducing CO2 emissions by some 39,000 tonnes each year, roughly the emission equivalent of operating more than 9,000 gas-powered passenger vehicles for a year.

“(Now) our big push is protection of trees on private land,” she said. “We know trees will have to come down for development, but right now it’s a free for all. The city needs to take firmer action. We’re pushing for a private tree bylaw, and changes that encourage developers to protect more trees.”

Out on a Limb is the third in the City Project series, edited by Glenelm residents Emma and Michel Durand-Wood. The first, Michel Durand-Wood’s You’ll Pay For This! was published in the spring of 2025, while Patty Wiens’ That’ll Never Work Here: Challenging the Myths Around Biking in a Winter City was released last fall.

“The series is meant to be sort of like a puzzle, of the things that are necessary for a sustainable, thriving city,” Michel Durand-Wood said. “Urban forestry for us is a timely and important topic.”

“The book is partly a series of my own personal stories related to the urban forest, but it’s really about putting out there as passionate and practical a guide as I could for people who want to encourage their cities to be nature smart,” Buffie said. “There are many ways people can act on a personal level to make our city more biodiverse and to enhance our climate resiliency.”

Throughout the short book, Buffie draws on examples of other cities, such as Seattle, making huge strides towards eco-resiliency, as well as local groups who have done and are continuing to work towards improving our city at the grassroots level, including Trees Please, Save our Seine, the Wildwood Community Conservation and Heritage committee, and more.

“There are nature-smart cities out there that are inspiring, and great community groups doing fantastic work,” she said. “It was fun in that respect, it allowed me to give people positive examples of what they can do to use natural solutions to combat climate change.”

According to Durand-Wood, response to the City Project series has been overwhelmingly positive.

“The books are about Winnipeg, but they are meant to draw lessons for any city you live in,” he said. “We’ve had good reception outside of Winnipeg as well. We’re selling books throughout the world. That’s really encouraging. People have a thirst for learning more about how cities work.”

The fourth instalment in the series, about housing, was recently announced: Close to Home, by FP Community Review East community correspondent Dylon Martin, will be published in November.

“There are no lack of good writers in Winnipeg who are already involved in what makes a thriving city,” Durand-Wood said.

The official launch of Out on a Limb will take place on Wednesday, May 20 at McNally Robinson Booksellers in Grant Park Mall. The event, which is hosted by local writer Ariel Gordon, begins at 7 p.m. and is free to attend.