The benefits of planting trees, including climate change mitigation, have been well documented. In fact, several cities have adopted policies to increase urban tree canopy percentages. However, these plantings are typically reserved to publicly owned lands.
Miyawaki Forests (MF), small scale densely planted native urban forests, have been successfully grown on private properties in Japan and elsewhere for more than forty years. This method of planting encourages tree communities to grow upward and to share resources, while the dense structure dissuades human interference. Successes attributed to MFs include rapid growth and self-sustenance post establishment period.
CanPlant will assist organizations like Carolinian Canada and Green Venture to prototype this method of afforestation in southern Ontario. CanPlant’s role is to develop a virtual resource platform that showcases site appropriate plant communities for MF plantings. This will include integrating CanPlant knowledge resources with ArcGIS Hub for real time data tracking and community engagement.
Product: Brochure to be distributed to urban areas in Southern Ontario, technical paper, and virtual knowledge hub on CanPlant website.