Root to Canopy:
Growing the Miyawaki Method
A place for gathering and learning for everyone who plants, studies, stewards, teaches, measures, documents, imagines, or is simply curious about miniforests.
We bring people together to strengthen the miniforest movement by sharing knowledge and experiences, addressing gaps and tensions, and building connections across the field.
Through projects, gatherings, research, mapping, and shared resources, we make miniforests more visible and support their continued growth and understanding
across the Northeast and beyond.
Our Work
Among Miniforests: Knowledge We Revisit, Question, Anchor, Grow Together
Starts November 17, 2026!
A winter learning series revisiting the 2026 Summit through shared recordings, guided reflection, and conversation. Open to everyone interested in miniforests, the series offers space to deepen our understanding—whether you’re already involved in the work or just curious to learn more.
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2026 Northeast Miniforest Summit
July 15-23 2026
Building on the inaugural gathering, the 2026 Summit explored miniforest creation, soil, stewardship, research, ways of knowing miniforests and community engagement through two half days of presentations, panels, a documentary screening, and an in-person bus tour to four miniforests in Massachusetts.
2025 Northeast Miniforest Summit
July 19 & July 24-25 2026
The inaugural Northeast Miniforest Summit brought together practitioners, researchers, and community leaders to explore the Miyawaki Method, share experiences, and begin building a connected community of practice. The Summit included a bus tour of diverse miniforests and two half-days of virtual programming. Recordings available.
Join the National U.S. Miniforest
Database Survey Initiative
We invite practitioners, researchers, municipalities, community organizations, schools, and anyone involved in planting or stewarding miniforests to join this collaborative effort.
To address a major knowledge gap in understanding miniforests across the United States—including where they are located, how many exist, and their environmental and social impacts—a geo-enabled survey tool is being developed to collect standardized data.
Interactive visualizations, including an ArcGIS Dashboard and StoryMap, will make this information accessible to practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and the public, supporting long-term mapping, monitoring, research, and collaboration.
This effort is part of a collaborative national database and interactive ArcGIS StoryMap of miniforests across the United States, led by Kean University, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC), and Groundwork USA.
Every project contributes to a stronger shared understanding of how these miniforests are transforming communities and ecosystems across the country.
What is the Miyawaki Method?
What is a Miniforest?
The Miyawaki method of afforestation, pioneered by Japanese ecologist Dr. Akira Miyawaki, creates dense, diverse, and multilayered miniforests composed of native trees and shrubs. They can be planted in areas as small as 1,000 square feet, supporting and jump-starting natural water, nutrient, and carbon cycles.
Through intentional soil preparation and expedited ecological succession, they create the conditions for life to establish—even in highly urbanized environments. Although context-dependent, miniforests typically require a minimum of three years of maintenance—watering, mulching, and weeding—before moving toward largely self-sustaining conditions.
While not intended to recreate full forest ecosystems, their structure and density allow plants to function collectively—both above and below ground—in ways that differ from traditional monocultures or individual tree plantings, increasing what plants can do together and helping to cool neighborhoods, retain water in the soil, improve soil biology and air quality, and support insects, birds, and the broader food web.
Most importantly, they create opportunities for communities to become stewards of living systems in their own neighborhoods—deepening ecological literacy and relationships with the ecology of place.
Watch these short video to learn more: