Tiny forests are sprouting up around Australia in spaces as small as just a few square metres.
Because of the way they're created, these forests can mature in 10 to 20 years — instead of 100 — potentially bringing big benefits to our suburbs where tree canopy is dwindling.
Perth ecologist Dr Grey Coupland has been researching the concept, and sees huge potential.
"I thought this is actually a really, really useful method for rapid urban greening," she said.
"We have low canopy cover and we have an urban heat sink problem."
The pocket forests are grown using the Miyawaki method, created by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki in the 1970s.
So how do they work?
The tiny forests follow three main principles.
"Soil preparation is really important because in urban areas we don't have much life in the soil and it's often low in nutrients as well," Dr Coupland said.
Before planting, each site is prepared by digging in massive amounts of hydrated coconut coir for moisture retention, compost and a specially prepared 'tea' that is brewed with soil bacteria collected from nearby natural bushland that helps the native species thrive.
Dr Coupland collects the soil while she's conducting biological surveys of local remnant bushland to determine what species to plant — which is the second part of the method.
"Basically you're planting what would have been on the site before the site was cleared for urbanisation and that's critical because those plants are specifically adapted to the area in which you're planting them."
The third part is planting close together.
"That high density creates competition between the plants, so instead of growing outwards they grow upwards and that helps with the rapid growth of the forest."
Size doesn't matter
Miyawaki forests can be grown in a spaces as small as a car parking spot, a tennis court or a street verge.
Dr Coupland has been busy planting them in schools and community areas in Perth and the results are remarkable.
In a two-year old forest at Eddystone Primary School in Perth's northern suburbs, the 'control' plants which were planted outside the specially prepared area are straggly and stand about 30cm tall.
The same species, planted at the same time, inside the Miyawaki forest are healthy and already more than 3m tall.
"These forests are really good for cooling as well," she said.
"We've taken some temperature readings outside the forest and inside the forest on a 43-degree day, it was 69 degrees on the local basketball court, 42 degrees in the forest, and then even 48 degrees on the grass, so the potential for cooling the landscape is pretty significant."
Bush classroom
Dr Coupland has integrated the tiny forests into the national school curriculum and students use it in myriad ways.
"We want to re-engage children with nature, we've got children on one end of the spectrum who are really worried about the climate crisis and feel they can't do anything about it, and at the other end of the spectrum we've got kids who are just on their iPads and their screens and totally disengaged," she said.
"For the children who participate in this program, some have never played in the dirt before, some had never planted a plant before, so this is their first foray into nature.
"To see them actually engage with nature and getting enjoyment out of it and then maybe becoming spokespeople for nature, the next eco warriors, the next scientists, I think that's really critical.
"Because it's only if children are invested in something and care for something, that they'll fight for it and we really need that now."
Ashdale Primary School year three teacher Cymbie Burgoyne learnt about the project while attending a talk Dr Coupland was giving and brought the idea back to her school.
"What I really like about this is that it's a bit like citizen science, they're working with real life scientists and they're working in academically rigorous ways," she said.
The prefect spot for a Miyawaki forest opened up at her school when a demountable classroom was removed.
"It's an outdoor classroom — they're being immersed in nature and the more they are immersed in nature, the more they care about it," Ms Burgoyne said.
Each month a team from Murdoch University goes to the schools to instruct students on how to monitor their forest, collecting data on plant growth, animal diversity, soil and air temperature, as well as birds.
"They're seeing a real purpose for what they're learning and its application and that always makes a difference," Ms Burgoyne said.
The students at Ashdale Primary School who planted their forest in July were already excited by its possibilities, some saying they hoped to convince their parents to plant a pocket forest at their homes.
As part of the wider project, PhD candidates at the Harry Butler Institute will measure the health and wellbeing of the students who interact with the forest against those who aren't involved, as well as the effect of the forest on autism and ADHD diagnoses of students.
Beyond the schoolyard
Dr Coupland has designed and planted 15 Miyawake forests across Perth, mostly in schools, but she is keen to see them grown on street verges, in corners of parks as well as forgotten and neglected bits of vacant land.
"I'd love to see them spread all across Perth, there are so many patches of ground that are vacant it becomes a little bit of an obsession — when you see a vacant patch, you think, Oh, that could be a forest site, let's put one in there."
"It would make our suburbs much more livable because people need nature around them," she said.
The program was nominated for the Australian Museum Eureka Awards — Innovation in Citizen Science prize and has been recognised as a UNESCO 'Green Citizens' program, but Dr Copeland said getting funding to keep the project going beyond 2024 will be crucial to getting more tiny forests into WA schools.
"To actually walk out your door and find a little forest on your doorstep, I think that's quite a magical thing and of course, all the benefits — we're bringing biodiversity back in, the cooling effects, the benefits are enormous."
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