Miyawaki Forest

Miyawaki Timeline

Akira Miyawaki 1928 – 2021 (afforestt.com)

In June 2020, Sabine Eiche, one of our Garden City Conservation Society directors, read an article in The Guardian by Hannah Lewis – “Fast growing mini-forests spring up in Europe to aid climate.”

Intrigued and impressed, she shared this discussion of the Miyawaki method with the other members of the Society’s board. Their enthusiasm was immediate. In February 2021, Sabine wrote one of her own columns for the Richmond News on the subject – “The Miyawaki Miracle.” Not long after that Sharon MacGougan, our Society’s president, had a chance encounter with artist Jay Peachy, which led to a conversation about the Society’s interest in the Miyawaki forest as a way to restore biodiversity to Richmond. Jay was working with Richmond Senior Secondary at the time and shared our Miyawaki concept with the school’s staff, who embraced the idea. Meetings ensued, and in April 2022, Bruno Vernier, another of our Society’s directors, turned the first spadeful of earth in the school yard of Richmond Senior Secondary (RSS). GCCS Director Nica Derakhshannia shovelling at RSS Miyawaki Forest excavation. MIYAWAKI MINI FOREST IN RICHMOND TIMELINE

• 2020 – Hannah Lewis, “Fast-growing mini-forests spring up in Europe to aid climate,” The Guardian, 13 June 2020
• 2021 – Sabine Eiche, “The Miyawaki miracle,” Richmond News, 13 February 2021 
• 2022 – Maria Rantanen, “Richmond students create ‘pocket forest’ to celebrate Earth Day,” Richmond News, 21 April 2022
• 2022 – Miyawaki Powerpoint Presentation at the BC Society of Landscape Architects Conference

• 2022 – 19 November, the first Miyawaki Mini Forest in Western Canada is planted at Richmond Senior Secondary
• 2023 – 22 April, City of Richmond planted the first Miyawaki Mini Forest in a city park in Western Canada as part of a National Mini Forest Pilot, a federal 2 Billion Trees initiative
• 2023 – 28 October, planting of the second Miyawaki Mini Forest at Terra Nova Rural Park (Richmond’s third Miyawaki Mini Forest)
• 2023 – Maria Rantanen, “Mini forest to be planted in Richmond to celebrate Earth Day,” Richmond News, 21 April 2023
• GLOBE 2024 DEMO FOREST
• 2024 – Valerie Leung, “Richmond gears up for installation of fourth mini forest,” Richmond News, 11 Feb 2024
• 2024 – 23 March, the fourth Miyawaki Forest, is planted at Garden City Community Park.  initiative of MLA Henry Yao, in collaboration with the City of Richmond and the Garden City Conservation Society. 
• 2024 – Valerie Leung, “Photos: Around 70 volunteers help plant Richmond’s fourth mini forest,” Richmond News, 26 March 2024 

Check out our Miyawaki Forest Bird Baseline Survey! 2014 – Shubendu Sharma, TED talk, Vancouver, The Miyawaki method 2023 – The Miyawaki Method – Trees Outside Woodland