It was the best of times to plant a forest—or, for a collaborative group of growers, two forests.

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On Oct. 17 and 24, volunteers including UMass Amherst students, faculty, staff and Grounds staff members gathered at two distinctively different climate settings on campus to plant 32-foot-diameter Miyawaki forests, more commonly known as “microforests,” comprising about 500 plants each. But these circular plots aren’t simply new campus landscape installations; they’re living laboratories where researchers will study how densely planted native forests affect temperature, air quality, soil and the surrounding environment.

“A microforest replicates a natural forest community and native forest community,” said Tess Siarnacki, a doctoral candidate in environmental conservation, outside the Newman Catholic Center on a cool Oct. 24 morning. “We plant the plants really densely and they grow really fast and so we get that forest really, really quickly. We’ll see this growing well above my head probably within three years.”

The project grew out of a Translational Seed Grant which supports the Collaborative for Urban Imagination, an interdisciplinary research effort that brought together faculty and students from fields including architecture; landscape architecture; environmental conservation; and engineering. The project has its roots in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was brought to the UMass Amherst campus to study interventions, such as microforests, that could help address the effects of climate change in urban environments.

“Our goal is not just to have a microforest, but to study it, learn from it and gather data,” said Pari Riahi, associate dean of research and engagement and professor of architecture, who leads the eight-member collaborative. “Once the microforests are planted, we can bring people in, observe it, measure it and see how it contributes to making the environment cooler.”

Joining Riahi are collaborative members Massachusetts Arborists Association Professor Brian Kane, Yahya Modarres Sadeghi, associate dean for faculty affairs, planning and operations and professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, Todd Cournoyer, head of grounds, and three graduate students.

The two campus forests, by Holdsworth Way at Lot 41 and the Newman Catholic Center, are part of a paired research study, with sites deliberately chosen because of their contrasting temperatures.

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“We looked at average surface temperatures in the summertime, and we chose two parts of campus for their surface temperatures,” said Siarnacki by the Newman Center where Thatcher meets Clarke Hill Road. “This part of the campus is a cooler part of campus, and the first microforest we planted last weekend is in the heat island part of campus.”

The difference can be significant, Siarnacki added. Researchers have found up to a 15-degree (Fahrenheit) difference in average summer surface temperatures between the two locations.

The contrast will allow researchers to study how the microforests develop and whether they have different effects in the two environments. Researchers will collect data on factors including temperature, air quality and humidity, establishing baseline measurements before growth begins and returning to the sites each year to track changes over time. 

For Riahi, project work has already been rewarding because it has brought together UMass Amherst community members who might not otherwise work side by side. 

Lilly Etlinger, a graduate student pursuing dual master’s degrees in architecture and landscape architecture, joined the project in spring 2025, when the research was focused in Cambridge. She initially contributed as an architecture student, working on drawings and 3D models, before returning to the project in her landscape architecture role once the microforests were being developed on campus. 

“I’ve enjoyed learning about the various intersections between the multiple disciplines in the research group—engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, etc.,” Etlinger said. “Climate change is evolving rapidly and is a multidisciplinary problem.” 

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Combining multiple disciplines extended to the planting days as well, when volunteers, students, researchers and Grounds crew members worked together to the turn the plans into living forests. 

Axel Boy, a maintenance worker foreman with Facilities and Campus Services, coordinated a grounds team that provided tools, materials and technical support during the plantings. He was on hand for both planting days, helping organize the work and advising volunteers as they planted about 60 trees and more than 90 shrubs for each location. 

“Working on this project has been enlightening as it allowed me to work with faculty and students from across campus, whom I have not worked with before,” Boy said. “Getting to know how this cooperative works and the people behind it has been great.”

At the Saturday, Oct. 24 planting, UMass Amherst Chancellor Javier A. Reyes joined students, faculty and staff in the work and planted a dogwood. In his social media post, he highlighted the project as an opportunity to better understand climate resilience and how ecosystems can thrive in urban environments.

As the microforests grow and each reveal their own tale, Etlinger said the team hopes the UMass Amherst campus forests can serve as models for future plantings. The collaborative members are developing a booklet documenting their research and the process of building the microforests with the goal of helping others learn more about them. 

“It would be so great if the campus decided to install more microforests,” Etlinger said.

Riahi hopes to bring in other campus departments to conduct research, such as public health to examine relationships between microforests and well-being. 

“What makes me proud and excited is the possibility of doing something measurable and meaningful on campus, for our community and in collaboration with people on our campus,” Riahi said.
 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Javier Reyes (@umassamherstchancellor)