The Algonquin Garden Club will transform a small plot of land in the Dixie Briggs Fromm Nature Preserve in Dundee Township into a “mini-forest,” the first of its kind in the area.

The club is using the so-called Miyawaki method to plant more than 200 native trees, shrubs and plants in a densely packed, 600-square-foot area to promote a fast-growing forest that will be self-sustaining. Miyawaki forests are a relatively new idea in America, with only a handful found in Illinois, including the first in the state in south suburban Markham, as well as in Indiana and Oregon, Garden Club President Cynthia Germata said.

“Not a lot are in the U.S. They’re mostly overseas,” she said. “We’re one of few, but hope to have many, many more in the future.”

Planting the forest will start with a groundbreaking event open to the community from 10 a.m. to noon Oct. 25.

The local conservation effort started when the Ruthless Readers book club came to some garden club members about two years ago with the book “Mini-Forest Revolution: Using the Miyawaki Method to Rapidly Rewild the World,” Germata said.

From there, an alliance was formed, the members started to brainstorm how to raise money and where to plant the forest. After two years of work, the club received more than $6,000 in grants to help fund the club’s biggest project to date.

Donations include $3,500 from Nicor Gas Charitable Giving, $2,100 from The Nature Conservancy through Volunteer Stewardship Network, $250 from Espoma Organic and $250 from Ames Tools, according to an Algonquin Garden Club news release. The Garden Club was able to contribute $700.

Green Soils of East Dundee donated four loads of compost and collaborated with Wild Prairie Pickers, Dundee Township Open Space and Friends of the Dundee Natural Areas.

The Algonquin Garden Club is a nonprofit organization that has been around since 1929. The working club of 23 members, with more than half in their 80s, maintains multiple gardens in the village, club member and Dundee Township Open Lands steward Carol Weinhammer said.

“It’s a lot of physical work, but we’re doing it because we feel it’s very important,” she said.

Weinhammer’s property backs up to the conservation area where the mini-forest will be. She currently has more than 200 trees in her backyard, which will be planted during the groundbreaking event.

The members drove out to pick up all of the trees and shrubs in the spring to save money on shipping costs. Members went to Monee, Island Lake and Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, Weinhammer said.

“You’ve got to go lengths to do it and save money, and we’ll find a way to get it done,” she said. “We’re determined.”

The future mini-forest land has been vacant since invasive buckthorn trees were cut down about six years ago, Weinhammer said. Now the land will be transformed into a home for only native plants, creating a vital habitat for local pollinators and wildlife.

“Everything we are going to plant will provide either a berry or a flower for native birds and pollinators,” she said. “It’s almost like a food forest” for birds and mammals.

Since vegetation is planted closely together, growth is expected to skyrocket. In about three years, the 2-foot-high trees may get to be as 10 feet tall.

“They will grow 10 times faster than any other trees planted in a forest because of they way they are planted,” Germata said. “The roots commingle and communicate with each other, and they are just as happy as a clam.”

The garden club still needs help from volunteers and donations to finish the project. With the forest being on public land, Germata hopes a lot of visitors stop by to see its progress as it grows.

“Mostly, we just want people to come and enjoy it,” she said.

The club plans for this to be the first of many new mini-forests in the northern Illinois area, helping to restore tree canopy coverage.

“We’re hoping more towns, more garden clubs, communities catch on to this process, because we certainly need more trees, and we need the right kind of trees,” Weinhammer said.

Anyone interested in volunteering can email the Algonquin Garden Club at miniforest2024@gmail.com. No experience is necessary to volunteer. For information, visit algonquingardenclub.org/mini-forest-alliance.