ALT Plants a Forest

Weston Today photos

The Aspetuck Land Trust, volunteers, students and State and local officials celebrated “Miyawaki by the Sea” on June 12 at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, dedicating a 12,000 square-foot microforest designed to demonstrate the climate benefits of a densely planted, fast-growing native habitat.

DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes cuts the ribbon.

Introduced by ALT Executive Director David Brant as “the Miyawaki queen,” Mary Ellen Lemay, the land trust’s conservation director, told the gathering how the project came to be and how it works.

Ms. Lemay, left, speaking

Ms. Lemay said more than 6,000 tree sprouts and ground covers were planted on the roughly one-quarter acre parcel in November, baby trees brought in from Massachusetts that were little more than dormant sticks and not watered since.

“We were a little nervous they wouldn’t wake up,” said Ms. Lemay, explaining that the project is a study, an active forest experiment.

Ms. Lemay said the Miyawaki Method, developed by Japanese botanist Dr. Akira Miyawaki, was first used to heal industrial sites in Japan.

The method involves planting native trees so close together that they must compete for sunlight and thus grow ten times faster than normal. Weeds won’t grow in their shade, so a Miyawaki forest should need no maintenance after three years.

That has been the experience in smaller projects at Bridgeport schools, which were funded by a grant from the Connecticut Department of Agriculture. As those projects succeeded, Ms. Lemay said another grant from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), plus work by City of Bridgeport officials to find the right spot, made the Seaside Park installation possible.

Dr. Max Piana

Dr. Max Piana, a research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service, said the microforest is laid out in a perfect grid for ongoing monitoring and study of how densely and diversely such forests can be planted and thrive, particularly in a coastal setting where they also serve to hold, treat, and manage stormwater.

Mr. Brant

Commissioner Dykes

Agriculture Commissioner Bryan Hurlburt

Ron Rapice, Bridgeport BOE, a project champion

Dr. Piana