This is where change begins.
Micro-Forest & Campus Garden
In 2025, UB Sustainability established a micro-forest and community garden near the GRoW Clean Energy Center on Flint Road. This space is envisioned as a key part of the emerging sustainability district, alongside the Solar Strand and the GRoW Clean Energy Center, and will serve as a gathering place for faculty, staff, and students.
Students and others gathered to plant a mini forest outside the GRoW Clean Energy Center in November 2025. Over two days, 1,600 native trees and shrubs were planted. Photographer: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
Our micro-forest is inspired by Akira Miyawaki's, Miyawaki method of reforestation that implements densely planting a high diversity of native tree and shrub species in a small area to mimic the natural ecosystem of the area. The close proximity of these trees, along with unlimited access to sunlight encourages rapid growth, much faster than that of a natural or plantation forest. These trees mature faster than traditional planting methods, and after 3 years of maintenance, these forests become fully self-sustainable.
- Sequestering Carbon: The addition to this forest on our campus will help us sequester more carbon! Forests are able to absorb more carbon than they produce, which will help us decrease our carbon footprint on campus.
- Invasive Species Management: These forests will also help to crowd out common teasel and other invasive species on our campus while increasing our native biodiversity.
- Improve Resilience: The increase in biodiversity will improve the resilience of our environment to increased weather intensity from our changing climate. We are working to improve all parts of our biosphere, from the microbial community in the soil to the wildlife in the surrounding area.
- 24 different species
- 1600 trees
- 242 square meters
- 187 volunteers signed up
- Planted in 11 hours
- Planning process took over a year
- Red Maple
- Sugar Maple
- White Oak
- Northern Red Oak
- River Birch
- American Hornbeam
- Bur Oak
- American Elderberry
- Sassafras
- American Basswood
- Eastern Hemlock
- Nannyberry
- Northern Spicebush
- Tulip Tree
- American Hophornbeam
- Black Tupelo
- Swamp White Oak
- Black Cherry
- Shagbark Hickory
- Flowering Dogwood
- Silky Dogwood
- Gray Dogwood
- American Beech
- Witch Hazel
UB Sustainability invited campus gardeners to the GRoW Clean Energy Center on the North Campus to celebrate the growing season in September 2025. The gardeners enjoyed a light luncheon, with some dishes featuring the harvest from the garden which had its first season in its new location. Photographer: Douglas Levere
Located next to the GRoW Clean Energy Center, the GRoW Garden is a welcoming space open to all UB students, faculty, and staff. With 11 raised beds, the garden comes alive each year from May through October. In addition to fostering community and hands-on learning, the GRoW Garden supports food security on campus by contributing harvests to UB’s food pantry, Blue Table.
- Assessment and Research
- Engineers for a Sustainable World
- Alpha Kappa Chi
- CSEP
- Campus Facilities
- Office of Academics and Student Affairs
- Liberty Partnerships Program
- School of Management
- Law School
- Graduate School of Education
Reserve a Garden Bed!
Are you part of a club, organization or campus department looking to build community through gardening? Sign up for a garden bed to cultivate something meaningful with your group!
Our application is currently open! Apply before 3/13 for a chance to adopt a raised bed!