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STEM MICRO LEARNING FORESTS

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Green your Schoolyard using the Miyawaki Method

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Planting day

One year later

Cragmont Elementary,

Berkeley CA

King Middle School,

Berkeley CA

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Learning Forests

    • Empower students to make a difference by participating in a climate change solution
    • Improve student/ community wellness
    • Connect students with nature and outdoor learning

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Learning Opportunities

    • STEM Scientific Data gathering
    • Social Emotional Wellness
    • Cultural, social, medicinal

significance of native plants

    • Indigenous Land stewardship values

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Introduction to Miyawaki Forests

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    • Densely-planted native species
    • Diverse, multi-layered forests
    • Quick to establish (3 years) and mature (20-30 years)
    • Virtually maintenance-free

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    • Replace lawn or blacktop with drought-tolerant native plants.

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    • Address the urban heat island effect with a cooling microclimate

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    • Boost physical and mental health

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Benefits for Schools

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    • Reduce water consumption to a fraction
    • Rehabilitate soil health
    • Rewild underutilized urban spaces,
    • Reintroduce native plant and

animal species.

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Benefits

FASTER GROWTH

MORE CARBON SEQUESTERED

MORE BIODIVERSITY

10%

30%

MORE DENSE

40%

Up to

100%

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Green Pocket Forest STEM Learning Miyawaki Forests in Berkeley, CA

    • Engaged 250+ volunteers, 55+ teachers, and 2000+ school children in planting
    • 4,000 saplings, 4 schoolyard forests
    • Each forest hosts at least 20 native species
    • 90% survival rate
    • Average height of trees is 12 ft after one year

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Dr. Akira Miyawaki

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Dr. Akira Miyawaki was a Japanese botanist and plant ecology expert.

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His method of afforestation (planting forests in previously

un-treed areas) allows for the rapid creation of urban pockets of forest.

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Contact:

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Neelam Patil, Director

Green Pocket Forest

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neelam.patil@iahv.org

Interested in planting a Learning Forest at your school? Want to learn more?