Forest is Longing for the Sea 3: and it relies on river to be connected with the lover

 

Kanagawa Prefecture is a sort of lucky for procuring water. Provided Mt. Fuji does not erupt, the snow falls on the highest peak of Japan melts and pours into aquifers on the foot of the mountain that are the ultimate water source for Sagami 相模川 and Sakawa Rivers 酒匂川, i.e. Kanagawa’s water source. Mt. Fuji is reliably snow-capped during winter. Kanagawa can stay relaxed about water availability. We don’t have to negotiate water supply with the other prefectures. That is a huge difference from, say, Tokyo or Chiba prefectures with similarly huge population. Though if these water sources were deteriorated by, for example, pollution and/or deforestation, we’ll have trouble. In order to secure water, the Prefectural Government has a program named the General Principles for Water Source Environment Conservation and Regeneration Policy かながわ水源環境保全・再生施策大綱. Based on this, the local office draws up “5-Year Plan” since 2007 for actual projects to materialize the idea. The Prefecture also collects tax called Water Source Environment Conservation Tax which is specifically earmarked for the 5-year Plans. The activities we Kanagawa Forest Instructors do in the forests of Kanagawa are often funded by this money.

Yap, we instructors do some public relations activities for the people of Kanagawa Prefecture to appreciate green environments in Kanagawa’s forests. Forest is what keeps aquifers healthy. Meanwhile somebody should keep an eye on the water seeping out from the forest and becoming rivers. Of course, waterworks bureaus in each city of Kanagawa do it professionally. But, even Kanagawa Prefecture is relatively small, checking numerous points of rivers regularly by the public workers has limitation. Yeah, lots of taxes are paid by us for water source preservation. (Oh, have you recalled Yokohama has Green Tax since 2009, and the National Government from 2024 is going to levy Forest Environment Tax on anybody living on this archipelago? We’re paying theeeeeeese!!!!) Yet, that’s not enough to hire troops of scientists monitoring the rivers of Kanagawa for safe water. Then, it comes the idea of mobilizing citizen volunteers to help such monitoring. The volunteer monitoring of Kanagawa’s rivers started from the beginning of the first 5-year Plan for 2007-2012. Annually, the Prefecture enrolls volunteers, trains them how to research the river, lends necessary equipment for the study, and compiles the field data collected by the volunteers. The results of such citizen science can be retrieved from here (or, an executive summary is here; sorry all are in Japanese). In 2022, the Plan is in final year for the 3rd phase. This year, I joined the troop.

Sagami River

I guess anybody who has a will to do the research in Kanagawa’s water source rivers, i.e. Sagami and Sakawa river systems can join the program. (Though all instructions et al are in Japanese. So, at least high-school level of Japanese proficiency is the MUST.) As a Kanagawa Forest Instructor, I regularly visit Yadoriki Water Source Forest and do field studies in Yadoriki Stream. It’s not special for me to be a member of river monitoring volunteers. But this time I’ve met professional scientists different from those active on land, er, … in forests, I mean. The prefectural scientists in charge of citizen river monitoring are water people, of course. They know the mechanism of relations between forests and river, but more interested in water and water creatures, like fishes. I’m having a fresh experience to learn their perspective. From this week for several posts, I will report you my adventure in the water running through Kanagawa’s forests.

After every storm, Yadoriki Stream changes its course ...

Forest is Longing for the Sea, for sure. And what connects forests to the sea is river. Some people say SDGs have too many goals to achieve any … but really some goals are physically attached each other, which makes very difficult to ignore one to accomplish another. For Kanagawa’s water, “Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6),” “Life below Water (SDG 14),” and “Life on Land (SDG 15)” are inseparable. Oh, yeah. Let‘s start.

Dragon flies are a part of the family of aquatic life.

If you find 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

You can send an enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/