Miyawaki Report - Nov 2021

Hello 16 Richmond BC Miyawaki Cheerleaders,

Here is the Monthly Report for November 2021:

Miyawaki Forests in Canada:

• Thanks to Eugene from RSS, we discovered that Canada already has at least 2 Miyawaki Forests in Southern Ontario

• the Miyawaki consultant there is Dugan & Associates based in Guelph.  Here are some quotes from their email to us:  

• "We have installed a couple and are working with a few more groups in Ontario. There are others in BC who have reached out to us. I would be happy to connect you with them." 

• "Toronto District School Board who is also planning a number of Miyawaki forests across Toronto"

• "Super exciting about your Miyawaki Forest initiative.  Happy to answer any questions. Once you have your forest planned/planted, we’d love for you to add it to our website."

Richmond Secondary School (RSS):

• Miyawaki Forest Planning is proceeding nicely

• I met with RSS greenteam and Eugene for a short miyawaki powerpoint followed by a planning session onsite

• Eugene and I filled out most of the $10k grant to fund the forest creation

• J Peachy made a first draft map of the proposed forest 

• BC Hydro sent us a map of the cable that runs to their box ... it crosses the proposed forest diagonally... which could be a great location for a benched pathway (so that BC Hydro can access the cable without messing up the forest)

• We now know there is no map of the irrigation system AND confirmation that we can nevertheless proceed with earthworks from SD38

Informal Richmond Backyard Nursery Coop:

• Sabine discovered how the   Dutch came up with cunning way to create forests for free which we would like to implement here

• I collected a dozen saplings (mainly Hawthorn and Birch) from 2 fellow Miyawaki cheerleaders backyards

• this proves that the concept works with minimal effort:  

• The saplings were spontaneous (just like in the article above from Sabine). 

• The owners notified me to pick them up with a small spade and transport via cargo bike to a central location for distribution to our (currently one and only) pocket forest on Minler 

• BTW, I observed birds enjoying the 8 month old Minler Pocket Forest which brought joy to my heart: it proves that when we build it, they DO come!