Doonside Forest
Growing a cooler, wilder school ground in Western Sydney
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Trees
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Square Meters
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Native Species
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Youth Impacted
In Western Sydney's red soils, something is taking root. A forest born from curiosity, data, and the determination of young people who looked at their overheating school and decided to take action.
The story began with students. Sixty Grade 10 young people stepped outside their classrooms armed with thermal sensors, measuring temperatures across 10 locations on their school grounds over summer to understand how heat was building through their campus. What they found, they did not keep to themselves. They pitched a five-year plan to their principal to make their campus climate resilient. This forest is their vision, which will take root.
Doonside Technology High School sits at the crossroads of two critically endangered plant communities, the Shale Plains Woodland and the Alluvial Woodland, landscapes that once stretched across the Cumberland Plain before roads, rooftops and artificial turf reshaped what was once a wild landscape.
The pocket forest will serve as a thermal buffer, a water management tool, a biodiversity corridor and a long-term data collection site for future students.
This is a school that listened to its land, and a community of young people who chose to heal it.
Forest Maker
Dr Grey Coupland
Forest Partner
Forest Design
The area of land that the teacher has specified is 400m2. I have made the area a combination of Miyawaki forest and a pollinator/grass habitat at one edge to encourage the local wildlife. This is because the plant community we are replanting is a woodland community with a high number of grasses in the understorey. These are an important part of the community make up. So rather than including them in the Miyawaki forest – which is not appropriate – I am planting them on one side of the forest to attract biodiversity and mimic the natural system. It is a balancing act. I hope that is ok with you.
