The city of Rochester this month began work on a Miyawaki Forest Project, an urban forestry initiative that will turn an old parking lot into a fast-growing native forest in just a couple of decades. 

Located at 354 Driving Park Ave., the project was introduced by Councilmember Bridget Monroe, who represents Rochester’s Northwest district. During her campaign, Monroe says, a large part of her platform was turning vacant, city-owned land into spaces that work for the community. 

The city’s Miyawaki Forest Project is one way to make it happen. 

Named after Akira Miyawaki, the Japanese botanist who developed a planting method in the 1970s, a Miyawaki forest is a small forest that is planted very densely with a variety of native trees and shrubs. Because the different species are planted so closely together, they must compete for sunlight, which helps them grow faster and work together. 

The saplings will be just 12 to 18 inches tall when planted, but should resemble the rendering above within five to 10 years. | Rendering: City of Rochester

Monroe says the plantings will grow so fast that in 30 years, the project will have developed into a 100-year canopy. In addition, Miyawaki forests typically require very little maintenance. Monroe says the forest will need tending and watering in the first three years, but after that it should become self-sufficient.

An important aspect of the Miyawaki method is that the species planted are native, so all plants in the forest will be species that occur naturally in Rochester and the surrounding Finger Lakes area. It will include more than 600 native trees and shrubs across 30 species. 

The forest will benefit Rochester both environmentally and socially, Monroe says. She explains that the forest is “responsive to the city’s Climate Action Plan. … A big piece of the climate aspect is the cooling effect of the trees and clearing the air of CO2. The project also builds on the mayor’s plan to plant 6,000 more trees.” 

The city’s forestry initiatives and the Miyawaki Forest Project are focused on tree equity, the idea that all neighborhoods have fair and equal access to the health, cooling, and economic benefits that trees provide. Completing this pilot project will give the city the opportunity to move further toward greening more spaces and ensuring that all of Rochester’s communities have access to trees.

To evaluate effectiveness, Monroe plans to contact local universities to see whether students or professor-led groups would be interested in coming to the site to perform tests, which could include measuring surface temperatures around the area pre- and post-forest, or potentially some type of air quality monitoring. Watching how the forest grows will also be part of evaluating its success. 

For Monroe, the social aspect of the project is just as important as the environmental one. She says that “bringing more greenery to people improves the quality of their life.” 

In fact, research shows that spending time in nature can positively affect both mental and physical health. In addition, engaging volunteers in the planting process will be a key part of this project. 

“For instance, right near the corner of Dewey and Driving Park Avenue, we have an afterschool program at Agape Haven of Abundance, and the executive director there is very excited about ways to involve the students and families,” Monroe says. “I think that reaching out to other area schools, like School 7, can be a great resource, so that people who live in the area will have the opportunity to help plant and have more of a buy-in and a feel for the forest.”

She also plans to reach out to Indigenous communities in the area to see if anyone might be willing to participate in a tree ceremony before planting takes place, something she says is traditionally done with Miyawaki forests around the world. 

“I’m very excited about the whole thing; it makes so much sense—that beauty of giving the land back to itself, and then having the people from whom we took this land being able to come and do a blessing is very meaningful,” Monroe says. 

The site is currently being prepared for planting, which is expected to begin in spring 2027. 

Alefiya Presswala is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and member of the Oasis Project’s second cohort.

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