Ethan Bryson from Natural Urban Forests (Mount Vernon, Washington, USA) was recently visiting family in Christchurch and made contact with NZILA about their newest project in Riccarton, Christchurch.

Ethan is the founder of Natural Urban Forests - a group whose goals are to build nature sanctuaries in urban settings. With a background in architecture and interest in urban planning, Ethan saw the impacts of increasing urban development with decreasing emphasis on green space. Inspiration for Natural Urban Forests flourished from Shubhendu Sharma’s TED talks titled "An Engineers Vision for Tiny Forests, Everywhere" and "How to Plant a Tiny Forest Near You". This introduced him to the Miyawaki method - a strategy of recreating natural areas by looking at native tree species to create a multilayered and diverse forest community. In addition to bringing native species back to urban areas, Ethan has emphasised the importance of incorporating the knowledge and insight of the indigenous communities that were once the original stewards of these native trees and plants. 

Since 2016, Ethan has been involved in establishing 17 forests, all with incredible impact on the environment and their communities. The Healing Forest at the Yakama Nation Corrections & Rehabilitation Facility in Toppenish, Washington, is a project started in 2018 on an old agricultural site. Their initial soil tests discovered a surprising lack of biology.

It is interesting to note that this site used to be under agricultural management. It was assumed that agricultural lands would harbour a diverse and blooming world of microorganisms, but this was not the case. The ⅓ acre that is now The Healing Forest is a flourishing ecosystem full of microorganisms.

Urban forests exceed environmental influence by creating a safe place for the community to share and care. Marylee Jones, one of the Yakama elders and co-creators of the Healing Forest, describes the forest using phrases such as: “impact beyond understanding”, “a peaceful place”, and “creating individuality and fostering self-esteem”. At The Healing Forest, local inmates helped build and care for the trees and plants. Marylee recalls the impact of the forest helping the inmates build self-esteem and identity.

Additionally, building forests in schools has rewarded Ethan and Marylee with incredible responses. Working with children is always magical, but Marylee expressed feeling the adults become more childlike with giddy excitement - something that is often lost in adulthood.