A Climate Preparedness and Land Restoration Initiative.
from GWUSA:
With support from the Climate Preparedness and Land Restoration Grant, Groundwork Elizabeth is collaborating with the City government and community groups to plant four microforests to address climate risks in formerly redlined neighborhoods and brownfield areas. Using the Miyawaki method – restoring forests by planting native tree seeds on deforested, degraded soils – these microforests will improve soil permeability, mitigate flooding, improve air quality, reduce the heat island effect, and help replenish biodiversity. Health and well-being in the target neighborhoods will also improve as a result of cleaner air, less noise pollution, and the presence of community spaces. In order to bring these microforests to life, Groundwork Elizabeth is convening a team of partners and youth from the Mayor’s Youth Council program to survey potential sites, educate the local community, and carry out this work.
Elizabeth, N.J., the fourth largest city in the state, is identified by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection as an environmental justice community (njdep.maps.arcgis.com) where in the city suffers from climate related concerns that are severely impacting underserved, local urban and diverse neighborhoods. In 2020, the Climate Safe Elizabeth Program began focusing on the litany of environmentally unjust factors that disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in our community. Through exercises developed in conjunction with Groundwork USA in climate mapping and historic redlining, we are measuring and assessing environmental challenges that will serve to assist in addressing current factors so that we may begin to create a more sustainable and equitable environment for all of the city’s residents.
With support from Groundwork USA’s Bezos Earth Fund, GWE is working to develop, build, and manage our newest project within the Climate Safe Elizabeth program, “MicroForests for MacroSolutions”, by planting trees using the Miyawaki method as a guide to address some of the more pressing and life threatening issues associated with climate change.
Urban forests enable cities to better adapt to the effect of climate change on temperature patterns and weather events (fs.usda.gov/ccrc/topics/urban-forests-and-climate-change-2008). The “MicroForests for MacroSolutions” project will work with government and community groups to identify neighborhoods at greatest risk, then build tiny forests that can mitigate flooding, improve air quality (CO2) , and reduce heat island issues. We will integrate the project into our Climate Safe Elizabeth Initiative, training a cohort of youth to both understand the importance of these impacts while taking the lead in doing the work and reporting back to the community. We already have experience in doing this work and are presently finishing up a MicroForest project at our MicroFarm and Environmental Center location which houses our field office.
“Why a MicroForest”?
Urban centers like Elizabeth are particularly susceptible to climate-related threats such as storms, heat, and flooding. Cities are generally warmer than their surroundings, have impervious surfaces and insufficient storm sewers that lead to flooding, and are prone to poor air related to their proximity to roads, seaports, and airports. According to the US Forest Service, urban forests enable cities to better adapt to the effect of climate change on temperature patterns and weather events (fs.usda.gov/ccrc/topics/urban-forests-and-climate-change-2008).
Urban trees can help control runoff by catching rain and increasing the infiltration rate of deposited precipitation, reducing stress on urban sewer systems by limiting the risk of hazardous combined sewer overflows and erosion. Urban trees also help control the “heat island” effect by providing shade and also filter out CO2 and harmful airborne particulates.
Enter MicroForests, small urban forests placed within troubled areas of cities and act as “resilient bubbles of nature,” both as a carbon sink and a hub of biodiversity (boyersudduth.com/articles/micro-forests-macro-changes-toward-reducing-climate-change).
Groundwork Elizabeth’s “MicroForests for MacroSolutions” builds four community selected MicroForests in at-risk local urban Elizabeth, New Jersey neighborhoods. Using the Miyawaki method developed in Japan as a guide, https://urban-forests.com/miyawaki-method/ soil is prepared with nutrients, and a mix of native tree species are planted closely together.
Our Groundwork Climate Safe Elizabeth team, partners, and youth from the Mayor’s Youth Council will work on surveying project sites and educating our local community on the value of MicroForests as a tool to combat climate change. We will be renting machinery, removing contaminated soils, purchasing soil and amendments, trees, shrubs, and fencing where needed. Youth, partners, government and the community at large all have a stake in the work and as residents will reap the benefits of a drier, cooler, community with cleaner air.
The MicroForest program will be integrated into our Climate Safe Elizabeth Program, keeping our residents and
partners up to date via community meetings.
