Sault Ste. Marie city council is expected to approve an $11,234 grant next week to kick-start a community-mobilized urban forest that will "rewild" part of the grounds at White Pines Collegiate and Vocational School with native plants and trees.
The "little forest" project is spearheaded by Sault Climate Hub and Algoma District School Board.
It's modelled after a similar project undertaken in Kingston, Ont. that has been copied by several other Ontario cities.
"The little forest promotes a shift from planting trees from ornamental landscapes, to planting forests as flourishing biodiverse, Indigenous ecosystems," says Sandra Trainor, a Climate Hub volunteer, in the group's grant application.
"The approach is inspired by Dr. Akira Miyawaki, who has overseen the planting of more than 30 million trees in over 1,600 locations around the world.
"Miyawaki's method condenses the typical time it takes to create a forest from 150 years into 15 to 20 years," Trainor says.
The project's initial phase is preparing soil for the forest floor.
That's expected to be finished by May or June of next year.
The components of the soil are hay compost and wood mulch.
When these are placed on the turf, they require time to break down to supply optimal conditions for planting the forest.
"We believe that by rewilding these dead spaces in schoolyards, it will not only beautify the neighbourhoods with native plantings, it will decrease the greenhouse gas pollution emitted by lawn maintenance equipment when ADSB staff cut and trim the grass in these areas on a regular schedule throughout the season," Trainor says.
"This initiative will connect children and other people to nature and at the same time sequester neighbourhoods, contribute to urban cooling water regulation and biodiversity.
"With this project, we are striving to plant 218 trees on a single plot of land, all of which will directly sequester greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere as they grow.
"Furthermore, by taking a sufficient amount of time to prepare our site in Phase 1, we are improving the chances of tree survival, and we are also improving soil quality, both of which will support ecosystem resilience."
The city money will also be used to start an outdoor laboratory at Eastview Public School, where work began on the Sault's first little forest earlier this year.
"Sault Climate Hub (SCH) members have scientific expertise to guide teachers in the installation of science equipment, collecting data, and testing student-led hypotheses," says Emily Cormier, the city's sustainability coordinator, in a report prepared for a city council meeting on Monday.
"Teachers bring their knowledge of curriculum connections and age-appropriate projects. Through this collaboration, the SCH can expand their little forests into living outdoor laboratories for the school sites," Cormier said.
Councillors are also expected to give $2,476 to Algoma University's biology department to design, produce and deploy four interpretive signs with information about four invasive species that grow in the forest near the university campus:
- Lesser periwinkle (Vinca minor)
- Goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria)
- Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata)
- Yellow archangel (Lamium galeobdolon)
Monday's city council meeting will be live-streamed on SooToday starting at 5 p.m.