380 trees in a space about as big as six parking spaces?
Staff with the Minneapolis City Trees program will be planting just that Saturday morning on property owned by First Unitarian Church in south Minneapolis.
Program Manager Sydney Schaaf says they’ll use the Miyawaki method, a decades-old approach to reforestation developed in Japan. That should help the trees grow up to ten times faster than in a conventional forest.
"The idea is that you plant lots of native trees and vegetation really closely together, so densely that you can fit like 350 trees in an area as small as six parking spaces," Schaaf explains. "And because the trees have to compete for nutrients and sunlight, it forces them to grow quickly."
Schaaf says if all goes well, they should have a fully mature mini-forest in 20 to 30 years.
The goal of the program is to foster the city’s tree canopy to help combat climate change.
"And there is just lots of other benefits to planting trees beyond climate change as well," adds Schaaf. "They provide habitat for wildlife, they help collect stormwater, they have mental health benefits."
The planting takes place Saturday, Nov. 14 from 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at First Unitarian Church, 900 Mt. Curve Ave., Minneapolis, MN.
You can learn more about the City Trees program here.
