The prairie city of Winnipeg was covered by a forest of oak, poplars and basswood interspersed with prairie as recent as 200 years ago. Bison used these wooded river valleys for winter shelter attracting the First Nations people and predators. Today the remnants of that forest follows the Red, Assiniboine and Saskatchewan River valleys along with an urban forest of elms and other trees, mostly planted by early citizens.
The Forks is in the flood plain of the Red and Assiniboine rivers prone to flooding when accumulated winter snow rapidly melts in the spring. The City of Winnipeg has been protected since 1968 by a flood way, an engineered ditch that can divert large water flows around the city.
Settlers replaced bison with cattle, and native prairie plants with grain and other crops.
Today the city of Winnipeg, centered at the Forks, boomed and become the “Gateway to the Canadian West.”
Today Winnipeg offers Canadian Football League action at Canad Inns Stadium, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra playing Tchaikovsky to perfection, the Assiniboine Park Zoo full of Canadian wildlife, the Winnipeg Comedy Festival sure to make you split with laughter, Planetarium Laser shows at the Manitoba Museum, walk the 820-ft Provencher Bridge across the Red River linking downtown Winnipeg to St. Boniface and the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden with over 300 works of art gifted to the city by artist Leo Mol.
Car hire companies like Enterprise, Avis and Hertz will make sure you get to drive through this wonderful countryside.