"If done right, you’re getting a functional ecosystem in just a few years."
Doug Tallamy
"If done right, you’re getting a functional ecosystem in just a few years."
Doug Tallamy
Our tiny County Farm Park Pocket Forest
On 4-19-25 we installed a second forest in a local park.
Can a pocket forest thrive in less than ideal conditions similar to that of many local backyards--a very small, partially shaded space near a walnut tree, with lots of deer pressure--and using only a very low budget? We'll see!
The County Farm Park Pocket Forest: A Photo Journey starting August 2024
Red oval marks the site of the pocket forest at County Farm Park, just past the Project Grow gardens.
About PocketForests.org
PocketForests.org is a project of the Tree Town Urban Forest Team, which is made up of volunteers from the Ann Arbor chapter of the Citizens' Climate Lobby, Ann Arbor Wild Ones, and the Buhr Park Children's Wet Meadow Project. We are building demonstration Pocket Forests which we hope will inspire others to build their own, and are developing educational materials to spread the word about their benefits. Listen to our WEMU public radio interview here.
Check out our video on the Small Forest movement, below:
Use these Pocket Forest Principles
Even if you only have room for a few trees and shrubs!
For high resolution of flyer below, click hereContact Us
About the panelists
Doug Tallamy is the T. A. Baker Professor of Agriculture in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he has authored 112 research publications and has taught insect related courses for 43 years. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities. His books include Bringing Nature Home, The Living Landscape, co-authored with Rick Darke, Nature's Best Hope, a New York Times Best Seller, The Nature of Oaks, winner of the American Horticultural Society’s 2022 book award. In 2021 he cofounded Homegrown National Park with Michelle Alfandari (HomegrownNationalPark.org). His awards include recognition from The Garden Writer’s Association, Audubon, The National Wildlife Federation, Allegheny College, Ecoforesters, The Garden Club of America, The Herb Society, and The American Horticultural Association.
Giuliana has a PhD in collaborative forest management from the University of Toronto, a Masters degree in Forest Conservation and brings over 15 years of experience in environmental outreach, research, and nonprofit management. Giuliana was Executive Director of Oakvillegreen and previously coordinator of urban forest conservation programs with the Hamilton Naturalists’ Club. Giuliana oversees all of Green Venture’s programming, including the Mini Forest project activities.
Mini Forest Programs:
Green Venture is dedicated to contributing to increasing Hamilton's urban forest canopy cover and improving urban forest health and tree equitable distribution. Our mini forest projects are inspired by the Miyawaki Method, developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki but seek to understand how this novel approach to urban afforestation can best be applied to achieve ecological and other community co-benefits in Southern Ontario. In 2021, Green Venture planted Hamilton and the region's first mini forest. We've since established 12 mini forests at 10 sites, distributed mini forest at-home kits and resources for individual backyards and schoolyards, and provided tree seed starting kits for schools and community members in Hamilton. These initiatives have proven successful in augmenting tree canopy cover in Hamilton while actively involving students, homeowners, and local residents in the collective effort to learn, grow, and plant more native trees. We are currently undertaking a research project to assess several soil health measures under various mini forest treatments.
Christine Dannhausen-Brun is a mother of 6 children ages 14-25, a public health researcher and evaluator, and an avid photographer and environmentalist. Christine is Chief Operations Officer at Nordson Green Earth Foundation and a Senior Research Specialist at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford. In addition, Christine is a SUGi Forest Maker with the SUGi Project, the international rewilding organization, and a Climate for Health Ambassador with EcoAmerica, a climate leadership organization working to advance climate action and advocacy in the United States.
Ms. Dannhausen-Brun brings a wealth of knowledge on how upstream determinants of health such as tiny urban forests and green space can improve public health and our ability to mitigate climate change. Christine also brings knowledge on community engagement from her Climate Health Organizing Fellowship at Harvard Medical School with the Center for Health Equity Education and Advocacy and Cambridge Health Alliance. At Nordson Green Earth Foundation, a non-profit focused on creating vibrant, healthy and equitable communities by improving tree and green space equity in Chicago, Christine has presented at schools, conferences, garden clubs and community organizations on the use of the Miyawaki method of forest planting for urban areas. She and her team planted the first Miyawaki forest in Illinois and have engaged with two additional under resourced communities in the Chicagoland who are developing plans to add Miyawaki forests and green space to improve health over the next 12 months.
Ms. Neelam Patil, M.Ed., MFA, is a Climate Literacy and Science Teacher in the Berkeley public school system. She was awarded TIME Innovative Teacher of the Year 2022 by TIME Magazine based on her work teaching children they can do something about climate change.
Ms. Patil spearheaded the planting of the first Miyawaki schoolyard forests in North America in Berkeley, CA. While teaching her students about deforestation, they wanted to do something immediate and impactful. They demanded, ‘Let’s plant trees!’, and the rest is history.
Ms. Patil has been an educator since 2000. Her work specializes in empowering children to face the most pressing challenges of our time through climate resilience, mindfulness, plant based culinary education, and youth urban forestry. She is a certified SKY Breath instructor and recently founded a non-profit, Green Pocket Forests, whose mission is to green urban spaces using the Miyawaki method.
Media Coverage on Ms. Patil's Miyawaki Forest Project
TIME Magazine Innovative Teachers list 2022
Berkeley Schools Sow the Seeds of Climate Change (Berkeleyside.org)
Berkeley School Forest (Sugi Project) Berkeley School Forest: San Fransisco, USA
‘An unstoppable force’: Neelam Patil named a TIME Magazine Innovative Teacher
Maya Dutta is an environmental advocate and ecosystem restorer working to spread understanding on the key role of biodiversity in shaping the climate and the water, carbon, nutrient and energy cycles we rely on. She is passionate about climate change adaptation and mitigation and the ways that community-led ecosystem restoration can fight global climate change while improving the livelihood and equity of human communities. She works on project management, research, outreach, education and advocacy efforts at Biodiversity for a Livable Climate (Bio4Climate). Having grown up in New York City and lived in cities all her life, Maya is interested in creating more natural infrastructure, biodiversity, and access to nature and ecological connection in urban areas, motivating her work on Miyawaki Forests. She is a 2022 SUGi Fellow and Forestmaker, a TED speaker, and has worked with Bio4Climate to plant the first Miyawaki Forest in the Northeast US.
You can learn about Bio4Climate's forests and program here: https://bio4climate.org/miyawaki-forest-program/
Short documentary feature on the Cambridge forests from the Christian Science Monitor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKcy0YAzeYU&list=PLsWWRqCX9eSaeVvsc-zUsK4HPt0enmRcc
Maya's talk at TEDxBoston on Miyawaki Forests: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t46Da3XtBI&list=PLsWWRqCX9eSaeVvsc-zUsK4HPt0enmRcc&index=6
And here are Bio4Climate's web and social media links:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/bio4climate
Twitter - https://twitter.com/bio4climate
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/bio4climate
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bio4climate/
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/BiodiversityforaLivableClimate
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