South Osborne Tree Banding Blitz
Already, the South Osborne Tree Banding Blitz is promising to be a success. We have suppliers lined up, we are working with the Coalition to Save the Elms (also known as Trees Winnipeg), and we have 36 Block Captains or Co-Block Captains covering 71 blocks in the South Osborne area!!! We still have orphaned blocks that we need Block Captains for though, so if your street is listed below, or if you would like to volunteer to be a Block Captain for one of these streets, please e-mail raimey.gallant@rvlrclimatechange.com with your name, address and phone number, and we will get you everything you need. You can also check out the Facebook Event.
Streets that need Block Captains:
- Arnold, Osborne west to Hugo and Osborne east to Fisher
- Ashland, Osborne east to Fisher
- Baltimore, Osborne east to Mabel
- Bartlett from Osborne east to Fisher
- Berwick east of Hugo
- Brandon
- Churchill, except Balfour to Baltimore
- Clare
- Darling, Baltimore north to Oakwood
- Daly, Kylemore north to Morley
- Fisher
- Hay, Arnold north to Brandon
- McNaughton
- Montgomery
- Nassau
- Rathgar, Osborne west to Daly
- Stinson
- Taft
- Wavell
Questions and Answers for Block Captains and Volunteers
How much does it cost and can I get a tax receipt? The cost to you is $10 per tree, and this guarantees we will band the trees you pay for. Because it is important to band all trees connected by a canopy, your money may also help pay for other trees on your block and in the neighbourhood, as some homeowners may choose not to participate or may not be reachable, and we also want to band streets without homes and public green spaces. See the next question to understand the importance of banding all trees on a block. Due to administrative costs and other barriers, we won’t be issuing tax receipts.
Why is it important to band all trees? There are approximately 170,000 elm trees in Winnipeg, and 3 percent of those are lost annually due to Dutch Elm Disease. Tree canopies mean that if some trees go unbanded on a block, the rest of the trees connected by that canopy are susceptible to Dutch Elm Disease and cankerworm infestations.
What happens if there is surplus money? This is a non-profit initiative. Our goal is to band every tree in the Lord Roberts and Riverview neighbourhoods, so it is unlikely there will be money leftover. If there is, it will be held by the Riverview Community Centre in trust for tree banding in the fall of 2012.
Can I write a cheque? Cash and cheques will be collected by your street’s Block Captain. Cheques can be made out to the Riverview Community Centre, but please give them to your Block Captain instead of mailing them to the community centre, so the Block Captain can track which houses have paid to have their trees banded.
When do the tree bands come down, and who will take them down? The tree bands should come down around the May Long Weekend of 2012. Ads will appear in community newsletters reminding homeowners to take down the bands on the trees for their own homes and front boulevards. An e-mail will also be sent to all homeowners who gave e-mails with the same reminder. Block Captains are encouraged to find a couple of volunteers to help them take down the remainder of the bands on their blocks and surrounding public spaces.
I normally pay a service to get my tree banded. Should I continue to do this? You are more than welcome to pay a service to band your tree(s), but if your block has a block captain, it is likely that we will band your tree(s) anyway on the South Osborne Tree Banding Blitz weekend of Sep. 17 and 18. If you would like for your trees to not be banded by us, e-mail raimey.gallant@rvlrclimatechange.com.
Will you band all backyard trees as well? We will band backyard trees if the homeowner pays $10 for each backyard tree and grants us permission to enter their backyard. Otherwise, backyard trees will not be banded.
Which tree species will get banded? We want to make sure that all front yard and boulevard elms are banded to protect them from Dutch Elm Disease. We will also band most boulevard tree species where possible, as they are all susceptible to cankerworm infestations. We also encourage homeowners to pay $10 for each front yard tree that is susceptible to cankerworm infestations.
How can I help? We need volunteers for the weekend of Sep. 17 and 18. Sep. 17 is the planned tree banding date, with Sep. 18 as the rain date. Each Block Captain will need a crew of 3-5 volunteers to help band their block(s)’s trees. The supplies will be available at the Riverview and Lord Roberts Community Centres for pickup, and if we know the delivery time and place, we should also be able to arrange delivery. Each block crew will need a wagon covered in a garbage bag, scissors or a knife, and a broom handle would be handy to carry the rolls of materials. We will provide work gloves, a plastic spatula and the rest of the materials necessary to band the trees. We may also recruit volunteers for Sep. 18 who are willing to band trees on streets that don’t have house addresses and around public green spaces.
What is the Riverview and Lord Roberts CLER Program? The Government of Manitoba has funded 16 communities around Manitoba who were willing to implement the Community-Led Emissions Reduction program (CLER). The Riverview and Lord Roberts Community Centres partnered to apply for the funding to run a CLER program in our neighbourhoods.
Click below to view the letter of support from the Coalition to Save the Elms, which is now known as Trees Winnipeg.
Riverview and Lord Roberts CLER program 