At first glance, Grand View Public School’s newly planted microforest appears unassuming. Its rows of red oak, sugar maple and dogwood transplants stand just three-feet-tall, barely brawny enough to cast their own shadow.
Such an opinion lacks imagination and education, says the environmental architect behind the Preston elementary school’s tree planting project.
This newly planted microforest, while small in stature, is a giant investment in the fight against climate change and an even bigger commitment in encouraging environmental stewardship in young learners, according to Nathan Mantey, an outdoor and environmental education specialist with the Waterloo Region District School Board.
Mantey, who works closely with Sustainable Waterloo Region to enhance green spaces and environmental education in the region’s schools, is quick to dismiss criticisms about the impact of freshly planted microforests.
“Sometimes there’s folks who want to critique the efforts we’re doing and say this is going to take a really long time to actually become a forest,” he commented as students and volunteers scurried around him during the Nov. 1 planting project.
It might take a decade for the mini-trees to grow “head-height”, but this slow and steady pace is actually vital to the long-term success of the endeavour.
“Planting trees of this size really makes a difference,” he explained. “We have better survivorship from the trees that are planted than if we were planting larger trees. They’re just more resilient and able to handle the transplant process better.”
There are multiple goals behind the drive to plant microforest at local schools. It’s a local contribution to a global effort to combat climate change, noted Mantey, because trees help reduce carbon emissions by absorbing carbon dioxide.
And their shade canopies help reduce the “urban heat” effect, he added. Cities have so many non-porous grey paved spaces that absorb the heat from the sun through the summer and radiate that heat back at night and through the fall.
“It creates this artificially warm environment, and so the more shade canopy we can bring back to urban spaces, the less we will have to deal with extreme heat in cities, in particular.”
The new microforest will also eventually provide habitat for wildlife.
That’s the environmental science behind the project. The psychological impacts are just as great, if not greater. The mere presence of trees in a school’s greenspace offers immense health advantages for students, maintains Mantey.
“It’s so beneficial to students to have access to green spaces both for learning and for unstructured time like recess,” he said. “Recent science shows that the psychological effect of being in green spaces for 20 minutes is really beneficial, especially for mental health and for physical health.”
Grand View students took turns planting 10-gallon pot trees with Mantey and volunteers supporting Sustainable Waterloo Region.
Grade 5 student Carson Patterson was one of many students who helped place the trees, secure them firmly in place and cover them with buckets of mulch for protection.
Patterson was excited to help plant a white cedar tree in his school’s playground.
“It’s important because it will provide shade when it’s hot,” he said.
It doesn’t escape Mantey’s attention that the students like Patterson aren’t that much older than the trees they’re planting. He hopes their experience in the microforest project will nurture a sense of pride and awaken potential for future impacts on the environment.
“We want students to feel an investment and an ownership of the trees on the site,” he said. “We want students to feel ownership so that in five, 10 or 20 years they will come back and they’ll remember that’s the tree that I planted.”
Grand View is one of only several schools to introduce a microforest project in the region in the last several years. Schools aren’t required to fundraise to incorporate a microforest, noted Mantey. Schools interested can contact Sustainable Waterloo Region, he added.
The outdoor environmental specialist hopes to see more schools express interest in jump-starting the process to create more urban biodiverse spaces.
“Doing tree planting projects at schools is really a win-win-win opportunity,” he said. “The education component is really valuable. We as a society choose to invest in our students through education. We know they are the future and they’re also leaders of today.”