International Day of Forests

Written By Sarah Wilkinson

On International Day of Forests in March 2025, Southside ReLeaf gathered neighbors for an Outdoor Learning Classroom at Ernest Road Park, the first of four new park spaces in the Southside they are developing in collaboration with the City of Richmond. Experts, including Michael Webb, the city’s urban forester, and John Williams, an ecologist with RES, provided neighbors with information about urban forests, healthy ecosystems, and habitat restoration. The RVA Nature Journalers led everyone in an exercise to write haiku poems under the canopy.

A group of residents sit at picnic tables while listening to two educators who stand underneath the canopy at Ernest Road Park.
A group of children play on top of a dirt pile under the canopy at Ernest Road Park.
A group of residents sit on stumps and picnic tables as they listen to two educators speak under the canopy at Ernest Road Park.
Syd from Southside ReLeaf talks to Richmond's urban forester, Michael Webb, at the entrance to Ernest Road Park.
Sarah Wilkinson
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