GreenUp Plants Over 400 Trees and Shrubs In Little Forest At Their Ecology Park

More than 20 GreenUP staff and volunteers planted over 400 native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers in a 100-square-metre area at Little Forest in GreenUP Ecology Park on Saturday.

There are 30 different species represented in the Ecology Park Little Forest. Photo courtesy of Alex Karn and GreenUp.

According to a pres release, over the past three years, the GreenUP has established 11 Little Forests at schools and other community spaces throughout the Nogojiwanong-Peterborough region. Asa result, Little Forest is open to the public at anytime.

“We aren’t just planting a forest — we’re growing climate resilience, creating habitat, and nurturing the next generation of environmental stewards,” said Hayley Goodchild, GreenUP landscape program manager.

GreenUP states that Little Forest is based on the Miyawaki approach to urban afforestation, named for Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, to supercharge urban biodiversity. They say the approach involves planting a diverse range of trees and shrubs very densely in degraded sites after amending the soil with plenty of organic matter and fungi, two elements that support mature, healthy forests. The dense planting strategy encourages rapid canopy growth in small urban spaces that need it the most.

“In recent years, the woodland at Ecology Park has been impacted by emerald ash borer and multiple extreme weather events, such as last year’s ice storm,” said Goodchild. “Not only will this Little Forest replace the canopy that was lost, it will also expand it for all to enjoy.”

In addition to expanding ecological corridors in the park, the forest serve three key long-term functions:

1. Demonstrating how small urban spaces can support rich biodiversity

2. Offering environmental education opportunities for GreenUP’s school and camp programs, researchers, and park visitors

3. Preserving resilient local genetics through seed collection and propagation to support future restoration projects across the Nogojiwanong-Peterborough region

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