Little Forests are collaborations between plants, soil, organisms, land, climate, geology, & people. Disturbed land naturally returns to forest in 150 to 200 years. Because of the urgency of climate change, Dr. Akira Miyawaki designed a method that squeezes those 150 years into a 20-30 years. What might a place where we park our car for an hour become? What might a path, road, or active transport route become? What might a parking lot become? What might an apartment building become? What might a school become? What might a median become? What might a front yard become? What might our cities become? Dr. Akira Miyawaki says that "Real forests made up of trees native to the area are three-dimensional, multi-layered communities having 30x the surface area of greenery of single-layered lawns, and have more than 30x the ability to protect against natural disasters and to conserve the environment." Each of us is a node in a mycelial network of regeneration. Each little forest is a node in a mycelial network of regeneration. Presented during "Learn How to Implement Nature Based Climate Solutions in your community" hosted by Nature Canada.

1. little forests as nature-based
climate solutions

2. take a breath of city air

3. I dream of a
greener future
for our children &
grandchildren

4. Sarah/RepeatCrafterMe
a
future where
every child can
look out their
window and see the
magic that forests
invite into the
city

5. a future
where on even
the hottest days
they can walk,
wheel or pick
berries on a
tree-lined
street
Kids Reimagine School Streets /Sustainable Calgary

6. a future
where every child
can experience the
magic of nearby
wild spaces

7. Magic
“
Tomasz Baranowski/Flickr

8. in its perhaps most primordial sense, is the
experience of existing in a world
“
Mike Lewinski/Flickr

9. made up of multiple intelligences,
“
Nghangvu/Unsplash

10. the intuition that every form one perceives
“
Mike Lewinski/Flickr

11. — from the swallow swooping overhead
Keith Williams/Flickr
“

12. [to an ant colony in an acorn]
xxx

13. [a luna moth tucked away for winter]
Salamanderdance/Flickr

14. Alex Wild
[forest ants planting spring wildflowers}

15. [predator beetles lying in wait]
Six-spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata) by Katia Schulz/Flickr

16. [to the caterpillar on the tip of a leaf],
spiny oak slug moth, Colin Gillette/Flickr
“

17. and indeed the tip of the leaf itself —
“
Peter Stenzel/Flickr

18. is an experiencing form,
“

19. an entity with its own predilections and
sensations,
Assassin Bug by John Flannery/Flickr
“

20. — not just for other persons,
but… for other sentient organisms,
Parasitic Wasp - Sycophila sp. (Eurytomidae, Eurytominae) © Perk/Flickr
“

21. brando/Flickr
albeit sensations that are very different
from our own.
David Abram

22. Is it ok if I get
my hands dirty?
Thames View student
SUGi Project
Once upon
a time, words
[magic] began to
vanish from the language
of children…
wren acorn willow
moss fern otter
dandelion bluebell
raven heron
goldfinch

23. Trees are
medicine for
children. Children
are medicine for
trees.
Maureen Buchanan

24. Trees live amid
an orchestra of
organisms. Whispering,
gossiping,
eavesdropping, all
working together in
symphonic harmony.
Suzanne Simard

26. watch on Youtube: http:/
/bit.ly/3g0T2vQ

27. Little Forests are
collaborations
between plants,
soil, organisms,
land, climate,
geology, &
people

28. Where is here?
Who am I that I am here?
Who else is here alongside me?
What gives and sustains life here?
How can I participate in the life that is here?
How can we live well together here?
Dwayne Donald (Aipioomahkaa), Papaschase Cree, University of Alberta

29. we can
participate by
restoring the land
and - even more
importantly - our
relationship to
the land

30. bordeaux.fr
what might
a place where
we park our car
for an hour
become?

31. bordeaux.fr
what might
a place where
we park our car
for an hour
become?

32. what might a
path, road, or
active transport
route become?

33. Doryu Hioki/14-year-old Miyawaki forest, Rinnoji Temple Sendai Japan

34. what might a
parking lot
become?

35. Rendering by Laura Gomez/The Wild Seed Project

38. what might
aan apartment
building
become?

40. Eastbrook Forest, Dagenham London UK
what might a
school become?

41. Eastbrook Forest, Dagenham London UK

42. Dick Boetekees/Utrecht University

43. Dick Boetekees/Utrecht University

44. what might
a median
become?

47. what might a
front yard
become?

49. my land
“a blank slate”
the
land (the
ecosystem, the
wild being)
I steward, with
whom I am in
relationship

50. Photo ⼀般社団法⼈ 森の防潮堤協会
Disturbed land
naturally returns to
forest in 150 to 200 years.
Because of the urgency of
climate change, Dr. Akira
Miyawaki designed a
method that squeezes
those 150 years into a
20-30 years.

51. S. Hewitt-Wood
Real forests
made up of trees native
to the area are three-
dimensional, multi-layered
communities having 30x the
surface area of greenery of
single-layered lawns, and have
more than 30x the ability to
protect against natural
disasters and to conserve
the environment.
Dr. Akira Miyawaki

52. Morino Project
These
forests are
completely unyielding to
natural disasters such as
fires, earthquakes, typhoons, or
tsunamis. So the greenery that is
most important to us now is the
greenery of native forests made
up of trees native to the area.
Native forests protect life
and protect the
environment.
Dr. Akira Miyawaki

53. Morino Project

54. Wim van Egmond, Bioturbation with and without soil fauna
every
forest begins
with healthy
soil teaming
with

55. 35+ species
of little native
trees and
shrubs

56. every Little
Forest should
reflect a local
ecosite

57. USCG Headquarters/Kelly Fleming
savannah
alvar

58. 5 species
form the major
forest species
(40-50% of
total)

59. https:/
/images.wur.nl/digital/collection/coll13/
grown from
local seed

60. planted in
partnership with
mycorrhizal fungi to
increase effective
surface area of
roots by up to
1000%
UC Cooperative Extension, Sacramento County

61. Microbe-mediated local adaptation to limestone barrens is context dependent, Renee H. Petipas/Ecology, Volume 101, Issue 8, 2020
planted in
partnership with
microbes (alvar
microbes determined
alvar seedling
survival)

62. planted
densely
3 seedings per
m2 in a 100m2
area

63. 4m
minimum
width

70. some
people are
planting pocket
forests in as
little as 6m

72. The method can
work anywhere, even in
plots as small as one meter
wide, though she said a
minimum of three meters is
easier to plant a mix of species.
“Where people want natural
forest for protecting life,
people can use the
Miyawaki method.”
Kazue Fujiwara

73. even in
containers

74. SUGi Project
planting
densely in 3-4
layers goes against
conventional
wisdom of how to
plant trees

75. now that
I see plants
within a web of
relations, I’m
rethinking the rules
around spacing
and
Craig Holdrege, The forming tree

76. BUT in
Mediterranean
61-84%
mortality over
12 years
the
Miyawaki
method results
in much faster
growth
https:/
/morinoproject.com/english

77. Indigenous
peoples recognize
High Park as an
interconnected web of life, and
as a refuge for our Relatives: the
animals, birds, insects, plants, fungi
and trees… Indigenous stewardship
does not seek to reduce the labour of
earthwork; it is by tending the lands
that we come into Right Relation.
Indigenous stewardship requires
getting more people out on the
land. And for us this is a good
thing.
Indigenous Land Stewardship
Circle
https:/
/indigenouslandstewardshipto.wordpress.com/indigenous-stewardship-vs-chemical-management/

78. a few cities are
integrating
Miyawaki forests
into their urban
forest strategy
Helsingborg, Sweden

79. Fairfax County

80. Miyawaki Forests
offer an opportunity to
reestablish healthy forests in
urban environments. They cool
their surrounding areas,
mitigating the urban heat island
effect, support biodiversity, buffer
against flooding and erosion, help
balance water cycles to fight
drought conditions and
sequester carbon.
David Lefcourt, Arborist,
City of Cambridge
Maya Dutta

81. 30% canopy target
doubling canopy by 2022
we need
to think
much
bigger

83. evolving
each city from
grey to green -
a City in a
Forest
City of Brampton

84. Mycelial Threads by Graeme Walker/Dark Mountain:Issue 21
when a
system is far
from equilibrium,
small islands of
coherence have the
capacity to shift the
entire system
Ilya Prigogine,
Physicist
change
moves at the
speed of
relationship
hosting sacred
conversations
each of us is a
node in a
mycelial network
of regeneration

85. take a deep breath of forest air

86. feel the magic

87. Being
at Little Forests
Kingston has made me
re-evaluate what it means
by tangible change &
activism. It has made me
engage with my community,
talk to the adults, & find our
common ground in the
environment, and our
appreciation for this
land.
Ruiling
Working with
Little Forests
Kingston has given me
a renewed sense of
purpose & hope in
mindset of a climate
crisis and in the path
of reconciliation.
Priya
Through
my work with Little
Forests Kingston, I have
learned more about
Indigenous cultures and
people, and in particular I have
discovered the importance of
being in relationship with the
land, as well as the effect that
colonialism had on
Indigenous cultures and
the natural world.
Robert