Planting a Miyawaki Forest at Rocky Ridge Royal Oak Community Association - September 27th, 2025

Written by Ekager Rahil, Tree Equity Ambassador

The day before planting, a group of zone leaders and I, directed by amazing Climate Hub member Heather Addy, prepared the mini forest site. We numbered and divided the saplings including forbes, trees, shrubs and wildflowers among the zones. This is to ensure each zone has a healthy variety of plants as outlined in the Miyawaki Method, which include the canopy, subcanopy, shrub and understory layers of the forest.

On planting day we started bright and early in the morning. At first, we were nervous about how many volunteers and community members would show up. However, so many volunteers came and arrived on time for 10 am. We began the day with a fun warm-up dance and exercise session led by the fabulous Hub member Rob Miller.

Afterward, we received blessings and good luck from mother earth through a smudging ceremony led by Elder Shingoose. Several speeches followed, including mine on Tree Equity, where I emphasized the need to plant more trees in equity deserving communities. Calgary currently has the lowest tree canopy coverage of any major Canadian city, sitting at 8%. Once the speeches and planting demonstrations were complete, the miniforest planting began.

I served as zone 11 captain and worked with three other members. I directed my team on where to plant each sapling to ensure they were not placed close together. We were efficient and fast, so much so that we were able to help other zones once we finished our own.

There was yummy hot chocolate, coffee, chips, and donuts for everyone to fuel up on. It was incredible how fast we finished, under three hours!
At the end, it was an amazing sight to see all the young saplings and trees in the ground. Feeling the soft soil beneath my fingers and planting the saplings, brings such a deep connection to the earth. It made me proud to be part of something that will have a lasting impact on future generations.

The Calgary Climate Hub and its members are so welcoming and compassionate-no matter what event you attend, you always feel included and valued.

Thanks so much to Rocky Ridge Royal Oak Community Association for being such a great partner on this project! 

A massive thank you to the Forest For Calgary Steering Committee for all their hard work establishing Miyawaki Forests across Calgary, including Heather Addy, Rob Miller, Lindsey McDonald, Kerry Ross, Jared Blustein, Magdalena Beldor, and Ekager Rahil.

Many thanks to Green Communities Canada Living Cities Fund for your generous funding support for this project

Photos by Albert Woo