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Project's Origins
What is the BZS Micro Forest Project?
The Bermuda Zoological Society’s (BZS) Micro Forest Project is an initiative designed to help Bermuda do its part to counteract the effects of climate change and deforestation. It involves the creation of dense, small-scale forests across Bermuda, all teeming with native and endemic life.
These compact green spaces, each containing around three to four plants per square metre, are strategically tucked into every available space, from schoolyards to private gardens. Despite their small size, micro forests pack a powerful punch in terms of sustainability. Within just four to five years, they mature into self-sustaining ecosystems that significantly contribute to the island’s natural areas.
But the BZS Micro Forest Project does more than just enhance Bermuda landscape. These wooded areas are super-charged climate champions, helping to cool the air, reduce noise and air pollution, and sequester carbon from the atmosphere. They even serve as attractive habitats and feeding grounds for local wildlife, promoting biodiversity on our beloved island.
History of the Micro Forest
In recent years, we’ve all become more aware of how much damage has been done to our environment and how much work there is yet to be done to get our planet back on track. While our island may be small, and its contribution to global climate change relatively negligible in contrast to larger countries, we still feel a strong commitment to doing our part. In November 2021, we launched the BZS Micro Forest Project as a way of creating the change we wanted to see, not only preserving biodiversity, but also restoring some of Bermuda’s ecological heritage.
The BZS Micro Forest Project is the confluence of two conservation methods: the traditional, as spearheaded by Dr David Wingate OBE, Bermuda’s pre-eminent ornithologist and naturalist, and the innovative, as embodied by the Miyawaki Method.
Dr Wingate earned the reputation as one of Bermuda’s staunchest environmental advocates, consistently campaigning for the importance of restoring Bermuda’s native and endemic forests. He once pointed out that ‘if every household planted a third of its property with natives and endemics, one-third of Bermuda would be populated with sustainable trees, shrubs, and bushes.’
With these words in mind, the heart of the Project’s strategy developed around the innovative Miyawaki Method, a ground-breaking reforestation approach pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki. This process centres around planting dozens of endemic tree species – all suited to the local environment – in close proximity to foster a dense and diverse, multi-layered forest ecosystem.
The Miyawaki Method empowers us to cultivate compact urban forests even on small patches of land, making it an ideal solution for Bermuda’s limited space. From school playgrounds and roadsides to public parks, we’re using this method to create vibrant green spaces within our community that simulate and provide many of the same ecosystem services as natural forests.
Conservation and History
Before people arrived in Bermuda, the island was covered with a fairly homogeneous, densely foliaged and resilient ecosystem of low trees, which formed relatively open-canopied forests. However, the accidental introduction of two cedar scale insects in the mid-1940s led to the demise of approximately 95% of the island’s cedar forest by 1950, paving the way for invasive species like the Pride of India, fiddlewood, allspice, Surinam cherry and Brazilian pepper to flourish.
These invasive species propagate aggressively in the wild, ultimately outcompeting or over-shading native flora. They grow faster and taller than our native species, leading to a ‘double whammy’ effect: introduced pests and diseases weaken the native flora, then over-shading and displacement by invasives finishes them off. As a result, native flora has declined from 100% to just 5%. The BZS Micro Forest Project is a ray of hope in this landscape. By clearing land dominated by invasive species and replanting it with a diverse mix of native and endemic plants, we create dense forests of local plant life, facilitating the spread of seeds from Bermuda’s own rare and beautiful flora.
Micro forests serve as sanctuaries for native and endemic plants, as well as insects and birds. They produce flowers, pollen and seeds, which are dispersed by local wildlife, spreading native and endemic seeds throughout the surrounding area. Moreover, these natural landscapes absorb water, light and heat radiation, reducing the ‘heat island’ effect found in cities and urban landscapes and mitigating the greenhouse effect.
Conservation cannot occur in a vacuum and, as a result, one of our key missions at BZS is to ensure that we spread the word and educate current and future generations about the importance of protecting Bermuda’s unique and fragile environment from the ever-present threat of invasive species.