A Micro Forest and LoRaWAN Sensors at Oldfield Meadow, Richmond

Steward of Things founder Jonathan Graham and Phil Paulo, Director of London Tree Ring at CPRE London, recently visited Richmond to see Oldfield Meadow Wildlife Site, next to St Mary's Hampton Primary School.

Alongside the wider wildlife on the site, their particular interest was the planned micro forest. Micro forests are just like regular forests, but they grow much more rapidly and occupy much smaller areas of land. In fact, a micro forest can be as small as 100 square metres.

Brought online by the local community

Steward of Things was set up by John, another local CPRE member, who brought the new Oldfield Meadow group online and added all the things on the site. The micro forest is one of them. For now it is just a patch of bare, dried-out grass, which makes it a great time to start following its story.

Sensors across the site

In the picture, Jonathan is introducing a LoRaWAN sensor. Many more will be placed around the site, sending their readings back to a LoRaWAN gateway on the nearby school.

The hope is that a generous layer of mulch and dense planting will mean this site needs far less watering from volunteers than other places. The sensors will show whether that turns out to be true.

Volunteers to water me

The sign in the photo asks passers-by to water the tree. Steward of Things manages that volunteering process and makes sure the watering actually takes place. We are also looking to work with Trees for Streets as the volunteering solution for this and similar sites.