Photo: James Rojas / WBZ
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) – There is a park in a one of Boston’s neighboring cities bursting with biodiversity and a fledgling forest.
At first glance, the Miyawaki Forest at Danehy Park in Cambridge does not look like much. Saplings stand only a few feet tall across the nearly 4,000 square-foot enclosure.
However, in a few years, the micro-forest is going to be much more impressive.
Andrew Putnam is the City’s superintendent of urban forestry. He said the project is the first of its kind in the Northeast.
“A gentleman named Mr. Miyawaki developed this technique of greatly improving soil conditions,” Putnam said.
According to Urban Forests, Dr. Akira Miyawaki invented this technique in 1980. The method helps to develop native urban forest ecosystems much quicker and increases the amount of biodiversity as well.
Putnam said the method involves “improving the fungal content of the soil prior to planting and then planting all native species in very dense proximity to each other.”
This ultimately simulates natural growing conditions. Over 2,000 forests have been successfully created using this method, according to Urban Forests.
Putnam said the project has gotten a lot of positive feedback from the public and that neighboring cities have asked how they could do something similar.
WBZ’s James Rojas (@JamesRojasWBZ) has more:
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