In our yards, our parks and along our streets we plant lines of lonely trees. But a tree is not a forest. Lonely trees are severed from their ecological communities—at the mercy of wind, weather and disease. Rewilding with Little Forests re-enchants our yards and our city with biodiversity... what Robert MacFarlane calls “the wondrous, teeming, calamitously threatened variety & variability of life on Earth, sometimes measured by species richness.”

1. Little Forests
Kingston
#AskAMasterGardener

3. Lost birds
Biodiversity—diversity within species, between species & of ecosystems—is declining faster
than at any time in human history ~Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services, 2019, IPBES

4. Lost insects. Lost spiders. Lost bees.

5. Lost forests. In SE Ontario only 17% of our indigenous
forests remain, mostly in wetlands

6. Lost trees
Great Lakes-St Lawrence forest region is home to ~50 native tree species & ~25% forest
cover

7. Lost species. Healthy ecosystems need at least 50% forest
Over half of the 690 species of concern in Ontario use habitat in southern Ontario forests

8. Lost relationships
“When we destroy tree social structures, we destroy their ability to react to climate
change… On its own, a tree cannot establish a consistent local climate.”
~Peter Wohlleben

9. As we plant Little Forests, we begin to restore relationships

10. Little Forests are an Earth-centric approach to landscaping
that helps restore our relationship with the natural world

11. We help the land remember. And the land helps us
remember.
we help the land
remember
(afforest the land)
the land helps us
remember
(afforest our hearts)

12. We welcome home the indigenous species who—before
colonization—once covered this land

13. Sugar Maple, White Oak, Red Oak, Black Walnut, Bitternut
Hickory, White Pine, Ironwood, American Mountain Ash,
Serviceberry, Pagoda Dogwood, Bur Oak

14. Bumblebee, Firefly, Monarch Butterfly, Red-headed
Woodpecker, Giant Swallowtail

15. We help the land remember by following the Miyawaki
method of natural forest regeneration
㎡

17. The land helps us remember
“By planting trees, you plant trees in your heart. That is, to plant life. And to plant your tomorrows.”
~Akira Miyawaki
一般社団法人森の防潮堤協会

18. In planting Little Forests, we plant wishes for better
tomorrows

19. For each Little Forest, we will build a community to plant
and care for the forest

20. Little Forests support 100x more species biodiversity than
conventional landscapes (above AND below ground)

21. Little Forests become classrooms for learning on the land

23. Trees need our help. Trees need community. Trees need
love.

24. Let’s create a network of Little Forests. Imagine the impact.

25. Little Forests. Big impact.

26. we help the land
remember
(afforest the land)
the land helps us
remember
(afforest our hearts)

27. Help us help the land remember

28. Little Forest Lakeside

29. Little Forest Walking the Path to Peace

32. Appendix A:
Little Forests are natural climate
solutions

35. Appendix B:
Little Forests bloom around the world

36. A Tiny Forest Ranger are children from a
primary school or childcare center in the area
who protect and care for the forest.
They are nature restorers, nature tellers and
nature storytellers. They plant the forest,
manage the forest, investigate and tell family,
classmates and local residents about the forest.
Tiny Forest is a Miyawaki inspired forest trademarked to
ensure it follows a specific methodology

37. SUGi (sugiproject.com) is a global network of foresters,
rewilders, who grow ultra-dense, biodiverse min-forests of
only native species

38. 3 year old Edible Extreme Forest in Michigan

39. A park in Bangkok designed using Miyawaki forest method

40. Netherlands has planted 100 Tiny Forests

41. Shubhendu’s non-profit Afforest has built hundreds of Tiny
Forests around the world

42. Afforest and other social startups are planting Miyawaki
inspired forests throughout India

43. Arbre Patrimonie builds participatory corporate Miyawaki
inspired forests

44. Toyoda-Gosei is creating native forests at 60 locations
worldwide

45. Boomforest, Paris citizen’s group
“Finding the balance of nature around us, this is our purpose and for this reason we
incentivize the restoration of biodiversity in the places where we live by creating forests.
We imagine them local and wild in all their expression, free and accessible to all and
integrated into our daily life.”

46. Earthwatch aims to plant over 150 forests in the UK by 2023

47. Appendix C:
Theory behind Miyawaki inspired Little
Forests

48. The forest is the root of all life; it is the womb that revives
our biological instincts, that deepens our intelligence and
increases our sensitivity as human beings.
~Akira Miyawaki

49. Comparison between classical succession theory &
Miyawaki’s new succession theory

51. "Get out there into the field—there are three billion years of
the history of life out there, there is a real life drama
unfolding under our great sun that the German
government could never achieve, no matter how many
million marks they threw into research. Your own body
should be the instrument to measure it—study it by looking
at it with your eyes, touching it with your hands, smell it,
taste it, feel it!"
~Professor Tüxen’s advice to Miyawaki

52. Appendix D:
10 golden rules for a native forest
approach

54. Appendix E:
Timeline

55. A timeline might look like this (map to months)