Richmond plants its 11th Miyawaki forest at McLean Park

Richmond's 11th Miyawaki Forest was planted at McLean Park on Sunday, September 20, as volunteers and organizations like UPS joined to create a dense, fast-growing mini forest that mimics the diversity of a native forest on a smaller scale.

Miyawaki Forests work by planting trees, shrubs, and perennials densely together in one location, creating environmental and social benefits for the urban ecosystem. The method was created in 1976 by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, who planted the first such forest at Yokohama University in Japan near his office. Canada's first Miyawaki Forest was planted in Ontario in 2016; the first in western Canada came to Richmond Secondary in 2022.

"I'm overwhelmed by the love of the community and the coming together of so many people and families that showed up," said Sharon MacGougan, president of the Garden City Conservation Society, which has led Richmond's Miyawaki initiative. "We're not just planting trees, we're planting communities."

Richmond has planted similar dense forests roughly every six months throughout the city since 2022. The last was in Terra Nova on April 21, coinciding with Earth Day. The McLean Park forest was funded by World Wildlife Canada and the International Tree Foundation (U.K.).

MacGougan noted that volunteers arrived with little prior knowledge of what a Miyawaki forest is. "We had the general public sign up not knowing what the forest is about and came out just out of curiosity to help plant and learn what we are doing," she said. "The richness of the people that come forward to help us plant and the number of people that came and brought their children shows how involved they want to be in this community."