The Miyawaki Forest Outreach Program brings environmental action and STEM learning into schools. Students get their hands dirty collecting food and other organics waste from within their school and the broader community to generate compost for forest site soil remediation. Then they plant their very own pocket forest.
Following planting, students act as citizen scientists, monitoring their Miyawaki forest as it grows, under the stewardship and guidance of program lead Dr Grey Coupland and the Murdoch University team. Students collect data on variables such as plant growth rates and survivorship, animal diversity, temperature regimes inside and outside their pocket forest.
Students use the Department of Primary Industry and Regional Development 'MyPestGuide Recorder' to record the animals observed in the Miyawaki forest.
There are huge physical and mental health and well being benefits from just spending time in nature. So growing your own pocket forest is at the next level!
We hope the program will inspire the next generation of scientists and eco-warriors.
The Miyawaki Forest Outreach Program was recognised as one of UNESCO's 100 'Green Citizens' project for 2021-2022.
