Small Forests that Citizens can grow: Part-2

In my previous post, I had mentioned the minimum viable size for a forest is 1,400 sqFeet [130 sqMtr]. While a large area is indeed welcome, lack of acre sized lots need not deter an individual from creating his own little forest. That approach to foresting is enabled by the work of Akira Miyawaki, a legend who revolutionised our thinking about what forests are and how to rapidly grow them. Do go over here and patiently read through his ideas and successes.
Based on that and my own little proof-of-principle experiment, I am confident citizen level action can be more successful than government or large groups' initiatives..
Let me now make a series of lists to convey my dream quickly

A- Definition

Let us agree on what a forest is. These are my undertsanding:

1. It is not planted for profit from its timber or edibles
2. It must need minimal care and protection after it has been helped to establish itself
3. It must last forever and regenerate itself
4. It should supprt all manner of life forms that are non-domineering

B- Assertions:

Forest cover can be increased by citizens growing private micro forests

1. A forest need not be big; it can start at 1400 sqFt
2. It can be grown quite rapidly using the Miyawaki prescription
3. Growing micro forests is within reach of millions of Indians

C- Lessons:

Following are what I have learnt

1. Forests are not successfully established by mass action of the type we often read about, like '200,000 trees planted in a day by 10,000 volunteers", or similar
2. On the other hand, success in establishing a forest follows individual, family or a very small group's commitment to it over 3 years at least.
3. Without a sense of veneration for forests as spirits, their success is diminished

D- Design:

These are Akira Miyawaki's guidelines

1. Select only trees native to your local region
2. Select several species from among them
3. Select for varying final heights
4. Plant them dense, about 3 per sqMtr [ -or about 400 in the minimum lot of 130 sq.Mtr] That's a big count, did you say? Yes, it is and that's the intention!

E- Suggestions:

This is a very subjective list based on my own preferences

1. Pick species for a mix of colour, fragrance and bird-friendliness
2. Create little accesses to water for birds and small game.
3. Design in walking trails so that you may tread softly through your forest or walk around it
4. If you are growing one in your backyard, make sure species that spread their roots wide are avoided or are at a prohibitive distance
5. Avoid growing a forest as a fence unless your neighbour takes kindly to it
6. Avoid overly thorny or aggressive species

F- Where?

This is a list of suggestions on where you can find land for your forest

1. Your yard, if it's large
2. Your weekend or crop growing farm
3. In your ancestral village with a caretaker to grow it
4. Your company land, by persuading your management
5. In return for a donation you make to an institution
6. In the campus of your spiritual Guru
7. Around small temples in return for an endowment
8. Persuading village governments
9. Urging your MP to buy land and commit it to a forest using his MPLADS funds

G- Resources

1. Shubhendu Sharma has worked hard to take the Miyawaki idea to all parts of India and the world. Browse this site for information and pictures of created forests to feel inspired. I found them expensive to engage as a consultant but their site has much valuable information if you are a willing DIY-er.
2. Afforestt shares a lot of information without cost: Index of their documents Species list
3. This page has much data on India's land and its use, from which I have taken most of the data in Part-1
4. Academic definition of what a forest is. Although this probably assumes large expansive forests, you'll find Micro forests conform well to specifications. When is a forest a forest? Forest concepts and definitions in the era of forest and landscape restoration

H- Inspirational:

Stories on forest creation, spirituality of forests and benefits of forests

1. Shinrin Yoko: The Japanese practice of forest bathing as a healing process
2. Meiji Jingu: Creation of large forest in the middle of Tokyo
3. An evocative New Yorker article by a photographer who eulogises Shinrin-yoku, with some transporting photographs
4. Images of sacred groves in India that were to be found in every village, but now alas disappearing