City of Rochester Named Finalist for Michigan Municipal League Community Excellence Award

ROCHESTER, Mich. — The City of Rochester was one of four finalists for the Michigan Municipal League’s (MML) 2026 Community Excellence Award for its innovative miniforest project. The project transformed a former garbage dump into a thriving native ecosystem through a partnership between city government, community organizations, and local volunteers.

The Community Excellence Award is the Michigan Municipal League’s highest community honor for inspiring placemaking projects from communities around the state. The City of Rochester presented the project “Rochester’s Mini-Forest: Where Grassroots Passion and City Government Grow Together on an Old Garbage Dump” at the Michigan Municipal League’s Annual Convention in Traverse City, October 7–9. The four Community Excellence Award finalists showcased their projects at the Convention, where attendees voted to determine the winner.

The City of Rochester’s mini-forest was planted in May 2025 on a former garbage dump. The project brought together the City of Rochester’s Department of Public Works, Parks Department, City Beautiful Commission, Rochester Tree Committee, Rochester Pollinators, and more than 35 volunteers, including Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Rochester High School students, North Oakland Wild Ones, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. Together, the volunteers planted 290 native trees and shrubs using the Miyawaki method, a dense planting approach that allows for native forests to be established 10 times more rapidly and support 100 times more biodiversity. The City’s Department of Public Works prepared the site, including excavating and remediating the former dump area, while community partners and volunteers helped in the planting effort. City Council Member Marilyn Trent reflected on the community bonds created by the project: “After that day, a community came together on another level. … Strangers became neighbors. And it’s just—you don’t get those opportunities very often.

A new asphalt trail connects the mini-forest to a nearby nature preserve and park, creating a green corridor for community use. Future plans include a bench and educational signage that will serve as a way to establish the site as a place for environmental education and community learning.

The project also provides measurable environmental benefits. The mini-forest is expected to absorb approximately 25,000–30,000 gallons of rainwater annually, sequester 450–700 pounds of carbon dioxide per year in its early years, increasing to 1,800–2,000 or more pounds annually by year 10, and reduce surface temperatures by an estimated 5–10 degrees Fahrenheit.

The mini-forest also supports more than 500 insect species, contributing to greater biodiversity and a healthier local ecosystem. The mini-forest builds on Rochester’s broader commitment to ecological stewardship. The City holds the Mayor’s Monarch Pledge through the National Wildlife Federation and is recognized as a Monarch Champion City, Bird City, and Tree City. Milkweed planted throughout the mini-forest supports Rochester’s monarch conservation efforts. The mini-forest has also become an example for other communities interested in creating mini-forests of their own. Rochester Pollinators has made the project’s complete work plan, native tree and shrub list, and planting grid layout available online, providing other communities with resources they can use to replicate the project.

Rochester’s mini-forest showed how collaboration between local government and community members could transform an underused site into a lasting environmental and community asset.