Guelph residents are being invited to help create a mini forest.
The city is hosting a tree planting event at York Road Park on Sept. 23. It will consist of 500 canopy trees as well as shrubs and wildflowers planted on a 500-square-metre site.
Attendees will be introduced to something called the Miyawaki method, a community of native trees and shrubs planted tightly together in a small space. It was developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki in the 1970s.
“What the method relies on is a high-density planting,” said Jay Cranstone, a natural areas stewardship technologist in the City of Guelph parks department.
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“What it does is it encourages the plants to grow much quicker. They get taller and get more biomass, and it results in a more of a plant community happening in a much shorter period of time.”
Guelph is one of five communities in Canada that are taking part in this pilot project. The objective of the mini forest is to reduce air pollution, increase biodiversity and provide habitat for wildlife.
“Miyawaki forests have been planted around the world, but the approach isn’t as common in Canada,” said Dave Beaton, program manager of forestry and sustainable landscapes.
“Guelph thrives on innovation, and we’re excited to be introducing this innovative technique to help grow our urban canopy cover and breathe more life into the city.”
Cranstone said they will be keeping a close eye on how well this project develops. He hinted that the Miyawaki method could be used in other areas of Guelph.
“We also see it as a potential method for some of the tiny spaces that are underutilized that could support a mini forest or even some of the techniques that come out of the mini forest method.”
Those interested in taking part in planting trees at York Road Park are being asked to first register by going to the Eventbrite website.