Tiny Forests ... a brilliant idea

[Mike Lucey]

Hi Guys,

I learned about the 'Tiny Forrest' program over the weekend and found it fascinatingly simple yet potentially powerful.

*The Mission.
To bring back our native forests, by creating them.

The Philosophy:
The Earth has not been irrevocably damaged, and the countless forests that we have lost over the years are not gone forever. We believe that collectively we can bring our forests back*

The idea is simply to plant 300 native trees in a 10mx10m plot of ground, nurture for a short time and in approx. 10 years, enjoy a self sustaining tiny forest that can last for 100 years!

I first learned about Tiny Forests watching Shubhendu Sharma's 'How to grow a tiny forest anywhere'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage%26amp;v=3BgPFIKCaOQ

Shubhendu was a Toyota engineer that after meeting and learning from forest expert Dr. Akira Miyawaki turned to a full-time Tiny Forrest evangelist.

Dr. Akira Miyawaki is a fascinating man with a true understanding of how nature works and how we can facilitate nature to 'do her thing' when it come to protecting land.

It looks to me that if Japan had implemented Dr. Akira Miyawaki recommendations (The Green Tide Embankment) with regard to the creation of Tiny Forests along the East Coast of Japan, much of at least the secondary disastrous effects of the recent tsunami might have been avoided! It begs the question, could the Fukushima Nuclear Accident have been avoided!

Its worth listening to and learning from Dr. Akira Miyawaki here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded%26amp;v=-nGr3LQxyyA

Should we spread the word?

Mike

[Daniel]

That looks like a great idea. Such a plot in East Tennessee would probably need constant nurturing, though, due to invasive non-native plants. I was in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park this weekend, and drove by a large patch on English Ivy!

[Mike Lucey]

Daniel, Yes, in today's world we see a lot of foreign plant / animal invaders. This would appear to be a problem caused by the extent of globalisation we currently have.

I have not read enough about Dr. Miyawaki's methods yet to know if he has addressed this problem but would imagine he has taken this into account. Maybe the 300 plants per 100 sq.m. density plays a major role in keeping the invaders out ....... just no room for them. They (the invaders) are opportunists after all