MLK Middle School
Outdoor Classrooms for East Bay Students.
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Youth Impacted
SUGi partners with schools across the globe to plant ultra-dense, biodiverse forests closer to the classroom. Berkeley, California is now home to the first three Miyawaki School Forests in the United States.
Students at MLK Middle School are able to benefit from the direct health effects of urban forests. Learning in Nature can improve a child’s behavior, helping them build stronger relationships, reduce stress and anger, and heighten curiosity. Even seeing Nature from a school building fosters creative thinking and expands the imagination.
Today’s kids spend a whopping 44 hours a week in front of a screen and less than 10 minutes a day playing outside. Access to Nature is not equal; it’s too often dictated by where you live, your race and income level. These forests are a big leap forward in resetting the balance.
Forest Maker
Ethan Bryson
Forest Partner
Forest Report: 2023
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This forest is bursting with life. After replacing a water guzzling lawn with a green three dimensional space full of biodiversity, thousands of children and community members have been pleasantly impacted. A student Miyawaki club has formed to examine the biodiversity, learn about the native plants, and welcome in the host of insects and fauna. Since it is October, many of the deciduous trees have shed their leaves, but the evergreen coyote brush is still providing a lush habitat for native birds and butterflies.
Biodiversity Notes:
Forest Report: 2022
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This pocket forest is giving every student something wonderful to experience on campus every day and it feels truly magical. The arroyo willow trees (Salix lasiolepis) are now so dense that we can’t walk through. If we do, it’s like being transported into another world, since you’re literally surrounded by leaves and green. It’s hard to believe that just a few feet away lies a busy residential street which hundreds of cars pass by daily.
One of the sustainability goals of the forest was to provide shade and natural cooling to the southern facing classrooms in the three-story main building of King Middle school. On frequent occasions, the classrooms got so hot that students had a hard time concentrating, which impacted student learning. Now, at least the ground floor level of classrooms has been provided with a storybook view of greenery and feels as though it’s in a forested area. There are classrooms on the second floor which can already see tree canopy growing. The tallest willow tree is already over 6m tall.
“Before we planted all the trees and the forest, it was just a plain area. And now that we have all the trees and plants, it takes in more carbon dioxide and emits more oxygen for us to breathe, and it just looks so much better as well. Before, there were only 3 trees and a dirty, grassy area.”
- MLK Middle School Student
Biodiversity Notes:
We have observed lots of bees, flowers, elderberries, white butterflies (species unidentified), and ladybugs.
“It’s been a dream to begin creating SUGi Outdoor Classrooms at schools in the United States. Berkeley, California has always been a birthplace of social action, so it feels even more powerful that a movement for urban rewilding and strengthening Nature-Community connections begins here in my own backyard.”
Tamsin Smith, SUGi Team Member
Planting: November 2021
