Before
telling you policies of Kanagawa Prefecture for forests, let’s have an
intermission with a relaxed walk in the forest of Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター. The Center is for the office dealing with
environment issues of Kanagawa Prefecture. But it’s not only for desks of
mandarins, but also a park on the foot of Mt. Oyama 大山 (ASL 1252m). Roughly speaking,
half the place is experimental garden for utility vegetation, like barrier
trees to be planted along the coast, or no-pollen cedars and cypresses. Another
half is to observe natural/traditional environment of the area with ponds of
former rice paddies and forests once widely covered the border between Satoyama
里山 (human village) and Okuyama 奥山 (mountainous area beyond human
settlement). It’s not that large so that with a leisurely walk, half a day is
enough to cover the site. Ground and the second floors of the main building are
open to public as a mini-museum, library, and seminar rooms. Access-wise, it’s
not so difficult to go there by public transportation. The main entrance from
the bus stop is lined with a collection of cherry trees that will be in
full-bloom by the end of March, i.e. within a week or so from now. It’s a nice
place for your family to have a cherry blossom picnic with educational touch. 😉
First,
access. We can go there by car. The place has relatively large parking slots,
and visitors are “preferentially” treated by the Office. Please set your
car-navigator for the address info at the end of this post. If you use public
transportation, please go to Hon’atsugui Station 本厚木 of Odakyu Odawara Line 小田急小田原線. From
the North Exit, walk for about 5 minutes to Atsugui Bus Center 厚木バスセンター, and
find #9 stop. Please take Atsu 厚 -33, 34, 38, and 39 service
(time tables, here and here). It’s about 30 minutes bus ride to get off at Baba
Rehabilitation Entrance Bus Stop 馬場リハビリ入口. Natural Environment
Conservation Center is on a petit ridge of a hill, and its neighbor is another
hill with a huge building complex, called Kanagawa Rehabilitation Center 神奈川県総合リハビリテーションセンター. It is the main hospital of Kanagawa Prefecture for patients of serious
cardiovascular diseases and any illness which require long and arduous
rehabilitation training. Thus, the name of the bus stop. Except #39 bus, all
the services stop in front of Nanasawa Post Office. Please go down a bit to the
traffic light and turn left. In front of you is another bus stop, of the same
name Baba Rehabilitation Entrance, for #39, and beyond and above, there is a
wooden sign board saying “Natural Environment Conservation Center, this way.”
Thank you. Let’s follow the direction by turning left. It’s about 200m up from
there to the gate of the Center, open 9:00-16:00, Tu-Sun, except New Year’s
Holidays.
 |
Baba
Rehabilitation Entrance Bus Stop
in front of the post office |
 |
Turn
left by crossing the zebra crossing
of the traffic light over there … |
 |
And we
meet another bus stop
of the same name for #39 |
 |
A sign
board for Natural Environment Conservation Center.
Let’s take the road on the
left. |
 |
| Eventually,
we reach to the gate. |
 |
| Kanagawa
Rehabilitation Center is over there. |
The
map of the Center for visitors can be downloaded from here. Immediately after
the gate, the left is experimental gardens for (1) sasa bamboos, (2) typical
shrubs of Kanagawa Prefecture, and (3) afforested coniferous trees. The right
is for various camellias, which is endemic species of Japan. The gardens on the
left and right is divided by a well-paved road that is going up and lined by
diverse kinds of cherry trees. When they are in full-bloom, it’s a gorgeous
road. Not many people know the place is open to the public so that we can
quietly enjoy the splendor here. The camellia garden has flowers from simple to
complex during winter until early spring. The garden would be a nice place to see
the variety of horticultural camellias with our own eyes. Strolling in the
place during winter, I a kind of understood why “La Traviata” was about a
young, beautiful, but tragic girl ... On the left, the garden for shrubs has a
corner of medicinal plants that can be found in the wild of steep mountains of
Kanagawa Prefecture. It’s a nice place to observe and study their buds, leaves,
etc. up-close with a loupe. And, the Main Attraction! Beneath tall coniferous
trees, there is a toilet spot for wild Japanese raccoon dogs. According to a
zoologist of the Center, they share the spot as info-hub of their community.
So, a possible scenario is (sniff, sniff) “Oh, so he has this nice poop from a
good meal. Let me try the vicinity of his territory.” It seemed to me their
droppings were really “nice and healthy.” Some even had a size of human
dropping (of constipation).😑 It is a proof the place has a good supply of
foods for animals.
 |
The
main approach to the Center building.
Cherry blossoms are still sleeping … |
 |
Entrance
to camellia garden.
Here, they have planted several coniferous trees
mainly
non-endemic for Kanagawa Prefecture. |
 |
| Violetta |
 |
| The
shrub garden |
 |
They
keep even Pieris japonica here.
Do
you remember we met plenty of them
near the peak of Mt. Oyama?
They are poisonous
and deer never eat them. |
 |
| Toilets
for Japanese raccoon dogs |
At the
top of the slope is the Center. The building is constructed with woods
harvested in the prefecture as a model for new usage of our timber. In the
Center, we can have, free of charge, maps of the center and the other
information about the nature of the Center and Kanagawa Prefecture,.
Mini-museum within the building has well-presented report of the
characteristics of Kanagawa’s nature. The place has worth a visit. Oh, yeah,
here is a nice and clean toilet as well. You’d better do your necessary things
here. Next to the main building of the Center, there is an old building which has
an office to rescue ill and injured wild animals. In case you encounter a
bleeding raccoon dog during your walk, this is the place to call.
 |
| The
main building of the Center |
 |
| This
is an emergency shelter for injured wild animals. |
 |
A
hospital for birds.
It’s strange to see sea gulls (Larus canus)
on the foot of Mt. Oyama … |
 |
The
entrance to the petit museum.
This is the year of boar, isn’t it? |
Back
of the office buildings runs another well-paved road for utility of the center.
Crossing it and going down the next valley, we enter another area. First we
meet is a garden for bamboos and sasa-bamboos which are studied for utility
use. They are thriving. From the bamboo garden, we come to the park preserving
natural ecology of the area. The vegetation is of familiar kinds in Yokohama’s
Satoyama, such as Quercus serrata and
Japanese laurel (Aucuba japonica), which
is certainly under a constant pressure for development. The forest surrounds a
marsh land that keeps the structure of rice paddies. Early spring, we can find
frog eggs and pond snails in the pond, which means the place is for fireflies
early summer. The rice paddies are randomly excavated here and there. This is a
sign wild boars wallowed in mud, and sought for crabs (Geothelphusa dehaari) and pond snails for meal. Somewhere, meadow
buntings are calling …
 |
| Please
enter here for the natural park … |
 |
| Going
down … |
 |
| Walking
a bit along a road like this … |
 |
| And we
encounter bamboo nursery. |
 |
| This
is for sasa-bamboos. |
 |
| From
the garden, pass a deer fence, |
 |
| to go
down … |
 |
| to marsh
land. |
 |
| Its
pond hides pond snails … |
 |
| A
stream runs next to the marsh. |
 |
| This one
is not horticultural. |
 |
| Boars
took bath here. |
 |
| Wooden
deck is also provided. |
From
the end of the marsh, we slightly climb up to return to the ridge of the hill.
Whichever trekking road in Japanese zelkovas (Zelkova serrata) we take, we end up at an open space designated as
a picnic point. For one thing, the park does not have picnic tables or the like
except here and in front of the office building. The scientists of the Center
deliberately limit the picnic space in order to minimize the damage casual
visitors could bring to the nature. Let’s take their advice, and have lunch here.
The place is quiet with nice views of the forests of Tanzawa 丹沢 …
 |
| Going
up from the valley. |
 |
The
place is a mixture of planted coniferous trees
and wild zelkovas. |
 |
Chrysosplenium grayanum maxim,
aka “Nekonome-soh” in Japanese.
Direct translation is “Cat’s eye grass.”
Don’t you think they are cute? |
 |
| The
picnic field on the top. |
From
the picnic field, it is another garden this time for many broad-leaved trees
some of which are familiar in our front garden. The garden is another nice
place to respond to our curiosity. The explanation boards say several
ubiquitous trees in suburbs are not found in the wild in Kanagawa, but brought
from the west of Japan, like Kansai Area 関西地方, for utility. I did not know
Cape jasmine (Gardenia jasminoides),
which is a good food coloring for yellow, was “imported” from the west of
Hakone Mountains 箱根. We soon return to the paved road we’ve crossed before. From the
arboretum to the Office, both sides of the road are experimental field for
botanists. The left is a farm to nurture pollen-less, or lower-pollen cedars
and cypresses. The right is afforested cedar forest whose floor has
installations of white nets and instrument screen. This is the main observation
field for Kanagawa Prefecture to count number of pollens daily, and to alert
weather reports for hay fever risks. Could you please avoid disturbing the
place? We are dependent on their info for our health during spring … Achoo!
 |
| We are
now in an arboretum. |
 |
They
have a gazebo.
It seems to me it’s OK to have a meal in the gazebo as well. |
 |
This
is a large Fragrant orange-colored olive
(Osmanthus
fragrans Lour). |
 |
| An
experimental field for pollen-less cedars. |
 |
They
control fertilization
in order to harvest seeds for pollen-less trees. |
 |
| Counting
pollens … |
All in
all, the park of the Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center is an
interesting place where we can stimulate our intellectual curiosity and relish
a relaxed nature walk in one-go. 5 minutes or so drive from there is Nanasawa Spa 七沢温泉. There are several day-spa facilities. After
enjoying a lazy ramble, we can visit the spa before returning to rat race in
downtown. Enjoy your weekend. Next week would be a party time under cherry
blossoms!
If you find an environmental issues
in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center
神奈川県自然環境保全センター
657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121 〒243－0121 厚木市七沢657
Phone: 046-248-0323
No comments:
Post a Comment