WIARTON TINY FOREST

A Tiny Forest is now firmly rooted in what was once the manicured lawn of an Ontario school, where it serves as a community showpiece for promoting biodiversity and improving water quality.

With the support of the Lake Huron Forever Partners Program, The Sustainability Project, Stewardship Grey Bruce and many community partners and volunteers, the Wiarton Miyawaki Tiny Forest and Bioswale is flourishing near the back playground of Peninsula Shores District School in Wiarton. Implemented by Regenerate Grey Bruce, the Tiny Forest is proof that the objectives of many can be accomplished at once with a commitment to caring for a forest ecosystem.

People walk through a patch of exposed soil near a building that has been newly planted.

Students and volunteers install native plants in the Tiny Forest near Peninsula Shores District School in 2023.

A Tiny Forest is a dense, fast-growing native woodland about the size of a tennis court. Its design is based on methods for forest management developed in the 1970s by Japanese ecologist Dr. Akira Miyawaki, and emphasizes the use of native plants and mulch to restore degraded sites. This project engaged students in its design, installation and maintenance as they learned about the importance of stormwater management and biodiversity.

"The primary goal is to create an educational experience where students can see regeneration in action, one tangible example of agency we can have in the environmental crises we face," said Thorsten Arnold, climate advocate and project lead for the Tiny Forest. “We’re also planting here to demonstrate biodiversity regeneration to the larger community. We can foster biodiversity in an urban landscape, strengthen a local community network and offer a public space for workshops and ceremonies."

The newly planted and mulched Tiny Forest

The Lake Huron Forever Partner Program, which supports efforts aimed at protecting and enhancing the water quality of Lake Huron, helped leverage funding to make this project happen. Trees and native plants improve the capture and filtration of stormwater runoff. Public projects like the Tiny Forest combine educational and on-the-ground activities that improve community health and advance the mission of the Lake Huron Initiative. Lake Huron Forever grant projects in Ontario were supported with funding from Bruce Power.

“With the help of so many partners and volunteers, we’re happy to have helped identify projects in the region that use nature-based solutions to stormwater management to increase our landscape’s resilience to climate change,” said Leigh Grigg of The Sustainability Project.

To learn more about the Wiarton Tiny Forest, follow the links below and watch the 11-minute video documentary produced by The Sustainability Project.