Planting a Miyawaki Forest in Southeast Portland: Process and Results

Over the course of three days in the summer of 2021, Portland, Oregon, experienced an unprecedented heat wave, with temperatures climbing to 116 degrees Fahrenheit and casualties reaching 54. The event, the worst natural disaster in the history of the city, introduced new climatological nomenclature, including heat trap, heat island, heat dome, and even heat inequity, given that the inhabitants of affluent neighborhoods with less asphalt, more green space, and greater tree cover were spared the worst of the disaster. The search for the perfect urban forest capable of mitigating, if not helping to avoid altogether, future catastrophes led a team at the Oregon Institute for Creative Research to Japan, where in the 1970s, the botanist Akira Miyawaki introduced a planting methodology characterized by high density, biodiversity, native species, small footprint (some Miyawaki Forests are no larger than a tennis court), and an extraordinary growth rate far outpacing forests planted using conventional methods. In March 2024, in collaboration with staff and students at the Franciscan Montessori Earth School, OICR planted an inaugural Miyawaki Forest consisting of over 320 trees, shrubs, and ground cover in a 1000-square-foot space. Today, almost exactly one year later, we present to you the results of the experiment.