A dense pocket forest is planned for Sassarini Elementary School

Planting of a new dense pocket forest on the Sassarini Elementary School campus, called a Miyawaki Forest, will happen this fall.

The plan is supported by the local Garden Club, Sonoma Ecology Center, and other local groups, with professional arborist guidance from A Plus Tree Company. Planting will be assisted by Sonoma Valley High School Earthcare Club members.

An example of a densely planted Miyawaki Forest in its early phase 

The Miyawaki Forest is a concept developed by Akira Miyawaki of Japan, a system that creates highly dense plantings that mimic the dynamics of indigenous forests. His studies showed that indigenous forests were layered together from four categories of native plantings: main tree species, sub-species, shrubs, and ground-covering herbs. Using this four-category system, surveys of these sites and his knowledge of plant growth, Miyawaki designed his own unique system for planting small forests.

Miyawaki’s system works like this: the soil of a future forest site is analyzed and then improved, using locally available sustainable amendments. About 50 to 100 local plant species from the above four categories are selected and planted in clumps much as ones would find growing naturally in the wild. Notably, seedlings are planted very densely. For a period of two to three years, the site is monitored, watered, and weeded, to give the nascent forest every chance to establish itself.

The plants compete with each other for space and access to light and water—a competition that encourages faster growth. In the Miyawaki method, trees grow about 10 times faster than using traditional methods. Once well established, the dense forest is left to flourish, forevermore, on its own without further interference, providing habitat, reducing local temperatures and sequestering carbon.

Sonoma’s Climate Action Commission is spearheading this project, and making plans for the creation of additional Miyawaki Forests.