[HN Gopher] The Miyawaki Method of micro-forestry
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The Miyawaki Method of micro-forestry
Author : zeristor
Score : 79 points
Date : 2025-07-05 08:02 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.futureecologies.net)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.futureecologies.net)
| zeristor wrote:
| "The Miyawaki Method of micro-forestry is a viral sensation:
| sprouting tiny, dense, native tree cover in neighbourhoods all
| around the world. With the promise of afforestation at a
| revolutionary speed, this planting technique has become the
| darling of green-space enthusiasts, industry, and governments
| alike -- yet few professional or academic ecologists have
| commented on its efficacy, or even seem to have heard of it!
|
| In this episode, we debate the legacy of Dr. Akira Miyawaki: the
| man, the myth, and the method."
| J7jKW2AAsgXhWm wrote:
| I have seen a couple of these in Berkeley. They were all the rage
| and still are in some ways.
|
| I personally was initially enthusiastic. However, I think there
| is much easier ways to get the benefits. For example, by adding
| trees and landscaping in Parks, medians and other public spaces.
|
| Once a forest is added to an area, it becomes completely
| inaccessible because of how dense it grows. All of the ones I
| have seen are completely fenced off.
| korse wrote:
| Doesn't seem bad to me. Grow the forest and then let the
| maintainers cut a miniature trail network. People don't need to
| tromp all over vegetation for it to be beneficial.
| pphysch wrote:
| The density and inaccessibility (to large birds and mammals) is
| critical for sensitive species like butterflies. I'd wager we'd
| see a resurgence in some declining insect populations if there
| were more _dense_ pockets of forest.
| frereubu wrote:
| This is a point made well in the film Wilding -
| https://www.wildingmovie.com/ - about a rewilding project in
| the UK. You need change and open ground for any biodiversity
| benefits. It's a bit like the close-planted commercial
| forestry fir plantations that are entirely silent and dead
| aside from the trees themselves.
| toast0 wrote:
| > However, I think there is much easier ways to get the
| benefits. For example, by adding trees and landscaping in
| Parks, medians and other public spaces.
|
| This _is_ a method to add trees and landscaping.
|
| > Once a forest is added to an area, it becomes completely
| inaccessible because of how dense it grows. All of the ones I
| have seen are completely fenced off.
|
| It sounds like they're completely inaccessible because of
| fencing _and_ density. Fencing might be hard to remove, but
| density at ground level tends to decrease as a forest grows;
| the canopy blocks sun and lower tree limbs may drop or become
| less productive and bushier plants have a harder time. After
| the forest gets somewhat established, pathways are easier to
| form (although brambles and thickets may need help to clear),
| and thinning the trees can help the remaining trees thrive.
|
| My parcel has a woods on the edges, and it wasn't too bad to
| establish paths in most of it, especially with a little help
| from goats to clean up the ground clutter. Similarly, there are
| trails in a nearby well established reserve, but you could
| easily go off trail if you had a reason too... Some bits are
| too dense to pass through, but most of it is fine. Your local
| forests likely grow a bit differently than mine though.
| jeffbee wrote:
| The one at King Middle School in Berkeley grew almost
| instantly. I'd read a report about how much biomass they have
| harvested there.
| nothercastle wrote:
| If you want to decrease the value of your land plant trees so
| some nimby can come in designated it as protected habitat and
| then prevent you from maintaining or cutting any of them down.
| Tree law is almost as bad as HOA laws. Even if it's not
| designed once a tree gets too big you loose any right to manage
| or maintain it
| beambot wrote:
| Manicured trees & landscaped parks take a lot of active effort
| and expense, whereas forests are naturally homeostatic. The
| biodiversity in the latter is also beneficial to flora & fauna
| compared to the overly-sterile environment of traditional
| landscaping.
| PaulHoule wrote:
| Works well in some ecosystems when people choose the right plant
| material. With the wrong ecosystem and the wrong plant material
| it's one of those ideas from the temperate core that fails in the
| tropical periphery.
| tokai wrote:
| I don't know what counts as _temperate core_ for you, but Japan
| is famous for its diverse climate zones.
| PaulHoule wrote:
| Japan is mostly cold to temperate
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Japan
|
| except for some small islands like
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamitorishima
|
| There's a lot of concern that tree-planting projects wind up
| like this
|
| https://e360.yale.edu/features/phantom-forests-tree-
| planting...
| thimkerbell wrote:
| The Yale article says forest scientists warn that "failed
| afforestation projects around the world threaten to
| undermine efforts to make [tree] planting a credible means
| of countering climate change by reducing carbon dioxide in
| the atmosphere or generating carbon credits for sale to
| companies to offset their emissions."
| soperj wrote:
| I mean, you have major tree planting happening every summer
| in Canada, and it's all around trying to mono-culture the
| entire country for the sake of timber companies. They
| immediately spray Glyphosate on areas burnt by forest
| fires, so that low value fire break species like Alder
| don't establish themselves in the area and then they can
| send in tree planters to plant higher value pine, which is
| a serotinous species, ie: promotes fire. Then they blame
| all the bush fires on Climate change.
| IncreasePosts wrote:
| The entire point of this method is you look at successful
| forests nearby and mimic them. So, choosing the right plant
| material is implicit in this.
| fredrikholm wrote:
| And it's been successfully replicated in vastly different
| places like India and the Netherlands.
| sergejf wrote:
| The Orchard of Flavours experimented successfully with the
| Miyawaki method in their botanical garden located in Algarve,
| Portugal, with a Koppen climate classified as temperate but
| with hot and dry summer periods, see
| https://www.orchardofflavours.com/miyawaki-
| experiment-1-wild.... They grow plenty of tropical trees like
| feijoa, guava, papaya, etc.
| password4321 wrote:
| Related: _The Japanese method of creating forests comes to
| Mexico_
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44013933
|
| (2 months ago, only 4 comments)
| thimkerbell wrote:
| Podcast. There is a transcript, which is in fine print and not
| concise.
| shermantanktop wrote:
| Just saw a really interesting Nova centering on Crowther Labs at
| ETH (recently disbanded).
| https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aax0848 was held up
| as encouraging unsustainable reforestation for greenwashing PR.
|
| But the most interesting part was a segment covering how tree
| roots engage in aggressive recruitment and exchange of resources
| with an underground biome of bacteria and fungi.
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