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Inside Canada’s new love affair with miniature forests

Green Communities Canada estimates that 90 mini-forests now exist nationwide, with cities adopting the Miyawaki method of dense native plantings in urban centers across the country.
The movement draws inspiration from the late Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, who pioneered dense clustering of native saplings to accelerate growth and provide environmental relief in urban spaces.
Planting mini-forests can cost up to $50,000 for a tennis-court-sized plot, yet boosters claim they provide shade, carbon fixation, and eco-anxiety relief through rapid growth and biodiversity.
University of Toronto forestry professor Dr. Sandy M. Smith questions whether mini-forests are money well-spent, citing that most Canadian forests are only five years old with unproven long-term success.
Ottawa has now capped the federal 2 Billion Trees Program funding that supported early mini-forest projects, forcing organizers to pursue corporate and public sources for future expansion.

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