We rewild this land in two ways. Where forest is growing back, we leave nature be. Where cleared land needs help, we plant. About 12 hectares have been planted by hand since 2020, and fire has burned through them more than once. Next we want to pilot the Miyawaki method on 1–2 hectares and write down what happens. Much later, we hope to build a village where people can live and work close to the forest.
NOTE 01 · The land today
Most of it is left alone. Today
- Cleared
- Parts, 20–30 years ago
- Most of the land
- Left undisturbed to recover
- Where
- Kampong Seila, Cambodia · Open the map ↗
NOTE 02 · Our approach
Watch first. Plant only where it helps.
Natural recovery
Some areas are already recovering. What we saw in 2020 and 2021 is why we leave them alone.
Planting by hand
About 12 hectares planted since 2020, not fully the Miyawaki method. Fire has set much of it back.
A Miyawaki pilot
Next, dense native planting on 1–2 hectares of cleared land, planned around fire from the start.
NOTE 03 · What we want to learn
What we want to learn
Planned trial Four things we will write down.
Cost
What a small native planting costs, including the work after planting day.
Care
How much watering, weeding and replacing it takes over the first five years.
Survival
Which species make it through the dry seasons, and how many stems a dense planting loses as it thins.
Changes in the land
Shade, soil, birds and insects, recorded the same way each time so we can compare.
NOTE 04 · The village
Forest first. A village, later. Long-term vision
We would like to build a village here one day, where people can live, work, grow food and look after the forest. We don’t know yet what it would look like. The forest comes first.
NOTE 05 · Journal
Journal
Notes, stories and older pieces.
Write to us. Visit by arrangement.
If you have a question about the planting, the research or the village idea, email us.
If your organisation supports native tree planting, we’d like to talk.
Email is the best way to reach us.