New York’s Times Square is ready to go wild after a campaign to bring a temporary forest to the urban jungle surpassed its crowdfunding goal.

Ecologist Marielle Anzelone wants to create an immersive natural experience in what she describes as "the most unnatural place on the planet", by bringing the installation of grasses, trees, ferns, and wildflowers to a public plaza in the world-famous area of Manhattan.

PopUP Forest: Times Square would feature guided woodland walks, interpretive signs and hands-on activities for children, while a live stream from Manhattan's Inwood Hill Park would provide real wildlife calls and other natural sounds. The installation would also offer habitat for migrating birds and butterflies, while supporting pollinating insects.

The Kickstarter campaign to fund the project reached its initial target of US$25,000 (€23,000, £17,000) just days after launch, and a stretch goal of US$40,000 (€37,000, £27,000) has now been set. This would allow Anzelone’s team to bring more grasses, trees, ferns, and wildflowers to the temporary forest. As well as funding the installation’s design, the initial US$25,000 will also help create a prototype set to be installed in Brooklyn in summer 2015.

People who back the project on Kickstarter will receive rewards ranging from head-cam video tours and wildflower seed mixes to the chance to get the campaign team to design a personalised native flora garden for them.

The target date for installation of PopUP Forest: Times Square is June 2016, and it would run for three weeks. After this time, it would be dismantled and the greenery used in small parks and schoolyards around New York.

PopUP Forest: Times Square is a project of NYC Wildflower Week, an organisation that aims to engage urbanites with New York’s nature, and Anzelone is the founder and executive director.