Attleboro’s Pocket Forest for Flood Mitigation and Drought Resilience

Attleboro is taking steps to reduce flood and stormwater damage and increase drought resilience by creating a pocket forest with deepening soils that absorb and hold water, about 10 times that of a stand of a single tree species. Rob Moir, Executive Director of the Ocean River Institute, discusses how plant diversity boosts forest productivity and soil depth when applying the methods developed by botanist Akira Miyawaki. Plans are for volunteers in the spring to plant about 500 native trees and shrubs of thirty-five different species in a 2,000-square-foot circular plot on the diamond in about a fifth of the former O’Connell baseball field, located near the Capron Park Zoo. Discover how you can make a lasting difference with a spade and a sapling.