Friends of Elmwood Cemetery, Winnipeg - Riverbank Stabilization Project

The following article is reprinted with permission from the author
and from The Winnipeg Free Press, Wednesday, January 19th, 2005

$1M will save graves

Riverbank-Stabilization Project
Slated for Elmwood Cemetery

By Aldo Santin

A million-dollar riverbank-stabilization project at Elmwood Cemetery will put an end to the constant threat of graves falling into the Red River.

PHOTO BY PHIL HOSSACK
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Birt stands near the riverbank at Elmwood
Cemetery yesterday where limestone
rock will be used to prevent erosion
along the bank.

Cemetery spokesman Charles Birt said the entire cemetery riverbank -- a slope that is 300 metres across and seven metres down to the water level -- will be covered with limestone rock.

"We've never lost any graves to the river and now we never will," said Birt, executive director of The Friends of the Elmwood Cemetery, the non-profit group that took over maintenance and operation of the 102-year-old cemetery in 1999.

The job is still awaiting final approval at city hall but Birt said he expects the project will get underway in the first week of February.

Erosion eats up an estimated $1 million worth of riverbank land every year in Winnipeg. The city was forced to relocate 105 graves at Elmwood cemetery in 1997 and 1998 because they were too close to the bank and it was feared they would fall victim to erosion.

In 1998, a 270-metre chunk of St. Vital Park riverbank property, including trees and picnic tables, fell into the Red. The home of former chief medical examiner Peter Markesteyn was destroyed when the riverbank behind his Crescent Drive home collapsed and he was forced to rebuild a second home closer to the road.

A city official said the Elmwood Cemetery project is one of 12 riverbank-stabilization works to be carried out in the city this winter, adding it will also be the largest project carried out this year. The city allocates about $200,000 every year to riverbank-stabilization projects. However, the city spent $3 million last year -- using additional funds from the province and Ottawa -- for stabilization work near the Provencher Bridge, Wellington Crescent and other areas.

Don Kingerski, the city's riverbank management engineer, said the cemetery project is being reviewed to ensure the stabilization work doesn't create any problems for adjoining property.

Kingerski said the city is doing five smaller stabilization projects at various points in the city over the next two months.

The cemetery project, which includes another $200,000 for engineering, was developed about two years ago. Funding was provided by the provincial and civic governments.

Birt said the cemetery put out a tender call for the project in December, adding the submitted bids from contractors are still being reviewed.

Birt said the project will actually involve laying down rock for an additional 20 metres below the river's normal summer level. He said the consulting engineers estimate the job will require 13,700 cubic metres of limestone rock.

Kingerski said riverbank property owners have a short window of opportunity to carry out stabilization work. Birt said the project will be completed by early March.

Birt said extensive landscaping will be carried out atop the riverbank's edge, including planting trees and shrubs to enhance the property.