Miyawaki Grove

Bristol Community College planted a Miyawaki Grove, on Friday, October 6, 2023 next to the Jackson Arts Center (H building), at the college’s Fall River Campus.

Conceptualized by Japanese botanist Aikira Miyawaki, tiny dense urban forests and groves are being planted in numerous cities around the world as a way to draw down carbon and cool urban areas. These rapidly growing mini-forests, as small as three-square meters, are ideal for mitigating heat island effects in “urban concrete jungles” during heatwaves, by cooling land with their canopies and increasing fresh groundwater retention.

“By creating a demonstration model and educational components for both students and communities at large, Bristol Community College will be among the first institutions of higher education in the United States to establish this type of innovative program. The initiative adds to the numerous efforts made at Bristol to address sustainability issues – particularly as related to regenerative ecological models.”

 – Dr. Nancy Lee Wood, Director, Institute for Sustainability and Post-Carbon Education, Bristol Community College.

In addition to the benefits of carbon sequestration, urban forests have been found to contribute to decreased crime rates, increased city revenue, lower energy costs, and a greater sense of wellbeing – not to mention greater biodiversity. 

Click here to read more about Miyawaki Forests and their impact, or click here to read about the Northeast's first Miyawaki Forest, which was planted by Biodiversity for a Livable Climate in 2021.