Partner with Green Venture to plant Mini Forests in Hamilton, support community greening and engage your employees in meaningful environmental action.
Express your interest by emailing [email protected].
Put Your Corporate Values into Action
Hamilton’s urban tree canopy is not shared equally across the city. In 2020, tree canopy covered approximately 21.2% of Hamilton’s urban area, while Ward 8 had just 7.6% coverage—the lowest of any ward.
Expanding the urban canopy means finding new places to grow trees, even where space is limited and growing conditions are challenging. School grounds offer an opportunity to do just that.
Through Mini Forests, Green Venture is helping transform small plots of land into thriving green spaces that offer many benefits, including supporting urban biodiversity and providing much-needed shade. And, of course, we cannot forget that trees sequester greenhouse gases and filter air pollutants.
Mini forests, also known as Miyawaki forests, are a planting strategy developed by Dr. Akira Miyawaki in the 1970s. These forests are planted in dense patches to drive beneficial competition and are proven to result in canopy cover. Read more here about the 'Mini Forests in Hamilton: Understanding Ecological and Social Benefits'.
The Miyawaki method of tree planting offers a promising alternative to accelerate the reforestation of small patches of forest, especially in built-up urban areas.
Enjoying the Benefits of Trees Faster
The Miyawaki method involves planting native trees and shrubs closely together to encourage competition for sunlight, water, and space. This approach can support rapid growth and help establish a dense, diverse forest in a small area.
Planted in 2021, Green Venture’s EcoHouse Mini Forest has grown into a thriving pocket of native trees and shrubs in just five years!
Image1: EcoHouse Mini Forest, before photo taken in 2021
Image 2: After photo taken in 2026
In Fall 2025, Parkdale Elementary planted a Mini Forest, and students are already watching it take root! What’s now a dense patch of 100 young trees will grow into a lush mini forest, bringing shade and a greener view to the school.
For schools, mini forests are a way to get shade onto school grounds. Conventionally planted trees are spaced about 7-10 meters apart. Planted in this way, trees endure compacted soil and bark damage from all of the attention they receive from students; often these trees are not able to mature to provide canopy cover due to being "loved to death" by children. Mini forest plantings allow the trees and shrubs to protect one another and provide a unique opportunity to bring classrooms outdoors for curriculum-connected learning as the mini forest grows. Additionally, mini forest projects can involve students and teachers in the planning, preparation, and tree planting phases. Green Venture provides opportunities for ongoing learning by facilitating sessions with classrooms to learn how to monitor and maintain their mini forests in the three years after planting.
Image: Parkdale Elementary School, October 2025
For communities, mini forests at schools provide an opportunity for people to come together in support of community greening and student learning, offering a tangible way for communities to make a meaningful change for our environment. Investing in mini forests for schools is a meaningful way for businesses to demonstrate their care for communities and the next generation of tree-lovers, while making an impact on expanding Hamilton's urban tree canopy.
