Barnet Council in London has partnered with environmental charity Earthwatch Europe and UK tech firm Pure Data Centres to create three new ‘tiny forests’ in the borough.
The forests are part of Earthwatch’s Nature in Cities programme, which aims to create greener, healthier cities and improve access to nature-rich spaces in urban areas.
The council brought together hundreds of volunteers, including local schoolchildren, to plant 1800 trees in Mutton Brook, Finchley, in the Borough of Barnet.
The three plots, each housing around 600 trees in an area the size of a tennis court, will provide nature-rich spaces which connect to an existing tiny forest and urban wildflower meadow.
Barnet’s three new forests were planted over the course of one day thanks to volunteers – including children from Brookland Infant and Nursery School, Kerem Primary School, Moss Hall Nursery, Brooklands Junior School and Henrietta Barnett School.
The plots will provide a dense oasis for nature, with each one capable of attracting over 500 animal and plant species within the first three years. A natural pathway will lead visitors through the Tiny Forests to an outdoor classroom and seating area.
The green sites will also serve as a living laboratory for local citizen scientists, coordinated by Earthwatch, to harvest data and investigate techniques to promote faster tree growth.
The three new Tiny Forests will also add to the growing number of Nature in Cities solutions in North London, helping to create greener, healthier cities and improve access to nature-rich spaces for local communities.
The scheme has been part-funded by Pure Data Centres and its research subsidiary A Healthier Earth, which delivers sustainability projects. A Healthier Earth has supplied some of the saplings for the planting from its ForestFactory at Blenheim Palace.
The Tiny Forests are part of Earthwatch’s Nature in Cities program which aims to create greener, healthier cities and improve access to nature-rich spaces in urban areas.
No chemicals or fertilisers were used in planting and Biochar, a modified charcoal that improves soil quality, and trees came from A Healthier Earth’s Forest Factory project.
