Harvesting chestnuts in Niinaru

In Niiharu, the last weekend of August is the start of collecting chestnuts. So, in sweltering weather, we entered the old chestnut orchard and looked down to find chestnuts in burrs. The place was once a property of local farming family, but the current patriarch is now old and could not find the way to take care of it. He transferred the deed of the place to the City of Yokohama, in exchange for tax concession. Sure enough, the trees of 30 or more years old are growing on a very steep hill … It would be difficult for a senior citizen owner alone to collect fallen chestnuts. Niiharu Lovers are in charge of managing the place including harvesting. So, we collect chestnuts there. Telling you the truth, I’ve never done serious chestnuts harvesting in my life before. It was a fun!

The place is this steep.

A Niiharu Lover is operating down there.

First, we looked around to find burrs. I learned when a burr did not have an opening, even when I pried it open, inside did not have chestnuts mature enough to be collected. So, we had to find the burrs whose mouth was open. Sometimes, when it fell off nicely, the matured chestnuts popped out from the burr and scattered around leaving the burr empty. Otherwise, we widen the opening of the burr with foot, and raked out the chestnuts from the burr. “Careful! Spikes of burrs are really prickly. Better using the pig-skin working gloves.” My seniors advised me. Usually, long metal tongs are to collect the chestnuts, but “Using biggish screw driver is easier for amateurs, you know.” It was a delicate task to be performed in a steep slope of bushy hill. We soon became very quiet and concentrate for finding good chestnuts. “Look carefully. Some have worm-hole. The blackened skin is a sign that part is damaged. Better to leave them in the forest.” “Well, I don’t think so. They are edible if you just cut the damaged part off. The place produces chestnuts certainly organic!” According to the senior Niiharu Lovers, this year’s harvests are “wow, big.” We collected about 100kg of chestnuts in just 1 hour operation. The forest of Niiharu was generous.

Hello!

Lots of chestnuts! There are normally 3 nuts in a burr.
It was difficult to find a burr containing all 3 matured nuts
… many had one huge nut and 2 flat siblings in a burr …

Then, a week later,
we could find many siblings of fat 3 nuts.
I was amazed to see what a week could do.
A burr has a 3-layered structure.
The outermost part is spikes,
then, there is a kind of skin similar to a bark of a tree.
The inner part is for chestnuts.

Some burrs are in two-toned.
When we opened it,
the nut under the browned burr is fully matured,
but the nuts behind the green burr are not at all matured.

“Hmmm, those trees are too tall for commercial cultivation of chestnuts.” “Yes, normally they are 3m high at most. But here …” “The previous owner did not manage the growth well.” I asked if it is possible to coppice chestnuts. “No. If you cut the trunk, that’s the end of the tree. Here, as the ground is too steep. We cannot bring mechanized tools to dig out the large roots. So, if we cut these old trees here, we have to leave the roots.” “Yes, the management of the ground is tricky.” “And too much pruning will kill the trees.” “Yes, yes.” “No wonder the previous owner took the deal with the City.” “Actually, cultivating chestnuts is a demanding job.” I see … I imagined our ancestors in Japan who started to plant chestnut trees around their settlement some 10,000 years ago. Properly taking care of trees is not a piece-of-cake. Collecting the nuts out of the spiky burrs sometimes hurts us. Even though, the archeological remains, such as San’nai-maruyama Remains of Aomori Prefecture 三内丸山遺跡, keeps the evidence Japanese already nurtured huge chestnuts forests in some 5500-4000 years ago. And now, some chestnuts orchards are under the management of the municipality due to maintenance issues. The relationship between the forest and us is … not simple.

Carrying one of the crates of chestnuts

A bounty!

But with sub-par nuts.
Those with wrinkles, with worm-holes,
with blackened skins were thrown in the “outlet bag.”
I brought some less-bad nuts from the bag,
and peeled the skins.
Sure enough,
I had to cut rather big damaged chunks off before cooking.

Anyway, the chestnuts from Niiharu became chestnuts pilaf next day for our family. Yammy. 😋

If you find a problem in the Niiharu Forest, please make a contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North 北部公園緑地事務所

Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau 横浜市環境創造局

Phone: 045-311-2016 (I guess in Japanese only)

FAX: 045-316-8420 (I hope there is somebody who can read English …)

Niiharu Administrative Office / Satoyama Exchange Center 新治管理事務所・里山交流センター

Phone: 045-931-4947

Fax: 045-937-0898

Email: info@niiharu.jp

http://www.niiharu.jp/

Sit Thee down upon This Flowery Bed … while it lasts, mate

Spring! During April, I’ve joined once-a-week activity of Lovers of Niiharu. Every weekend morning, the same route, but the different scenery. First the pale pinks and whites of cherry blossoms over there, then the forest became pale green, a bit brighter green, bright pink of peaches, brilliant yellow of kerria japonicas … the burst of colors everywhere! The air is clean and Niiharu changes its hues every weekend. Spring has come!

So, it’s fit to have a volunteer training class this time of the year in Niiharu. In the middle of April, the city of Yokohama held the annual spring one-day training class for registered volunteers. The title, “30 Spring Flowers in the Forests of Yokohama, for beginners.” (In this post, the photos of flowers with “#” are in the list.) The instructor was Ms. Yoshiko Kitagawa, a former botanist for University of Tokyo, who was born in Yokohama and knew the ecology of Niiharu inside-out. Ms. Kitagawa was assisted by another botanist, Ms. Ookuma, who is studying Niiharu since 1990. The ladies were like veteran spring fairies who were so familiar with Niiharu Forest. Ms. Kitagawa was one of the members who drafted the Yokohama Citizen Forestry Guideline and Conservation /Management Plan 横浜市森づくりガイドラインと保全管理計画.

A crab is also living in Niiharu.
Could you see, it’s in the middle, under the log?

The structure of the class was similar to that for the birds in February. First, in Okutsu House, we had a lecture about ecology of forests in Yokohama, then Ms. Kitagawa introduced us how to “read” the feature of plants to identify each with forms of flowers, leaves, etc. After this quick “plant observation 101” (and lunch), we went into Niiharu Forest to learn the actual plants in situ. About 3 hours of walk for plants, and then we returned to Okutsu House to review our observation. I didn’t know the difference between monoplane and compound leaf, and the usefulness to know such anatomy of plants to distinguish them in the wild. … I’m a so ignorant city rat …

Calanthe Discolor, near threatened species,
at the gate of Okutsu House in April.
Of course, it’s not wild.

Ms. Kitagawa said last year she surveyed 20 ha ag lands in Tochigi Prefecture, and found 450 kinds of plants. In contrast, about 2,000 m² of Asahi Yato in Niiharu has at least 300 varieties. This is something. Though, the situation is still critical … According to Ms Kitagawa, reviewing scientific records since the mid 19^th century we know Yokohama has had 2,052 kinds of plants. As of 2001, 594 of them are extinct / near-extinct, and 677 are alien, and quite often invasive, species. Take dandelion. Niiharu has 3 kinds of dandelions. One is native Kanto dandelions. Another is white dandelions which are a cousin of Kanto dandelions brought in at the middle of the last century by a bride who came from Kyushu for one of the landlords (; Kyushu’s native dandelion is white … I’m praying for Kumamoto now). The third one is ferociously invasive European dandelions which are expanding their territory at the expense of natives. The reason is simple. Kanto dandelions are easygoing local bunch, which flower only once in spring. They need another plant to produce seeds that require spending a hot summer of Japan dormant and sprout in autumn. In contrast, vigorous Europeans found Japanese climate warmer than their native land, and comfortable to flower continuously for more than 6 months. In addition, they do not need another plant to bear effective seeds that sprout immediately after they find a soil to settle. Before babies of Kanto dandelions begin their life, the game is over. The land is taken by the Europeans. Yokohama is an international port city, often a first gate of entry. Similar stories are happening for the other species, Ms. Kitagawa said.

In Niiharu.
Kanto dandelions (taraxacum platycarpum; #6)
whose involucre is curling in.

In Niiharu.
European dandelions (taraxacum officinale)
whose involucre is warping outside.

In Niiharu. White dandelions (taraxacum albidum).

I first thought it may be a regular xenophobic thing in Japan. But Ms. Kitagawa’s logic made sense to me. She said these days when she went to the other Asian countries, especially hotter places like Indian Subcontinent, ASEAN cities, or mega-cities in southern China, she found the vegetation is becoming more and more uniform. The biodiversity is decreasing region-wide. Japan could take the same route if we let aliens occupy the land. Those countries in the north, like the UK, had originally small biodiversity so that warmer climate makes them able to host “exotic” fauna and flora, AND their biodiversity increases at least numerically. They can say their land is open for “foreigners.” Japan is different. It’s an archipelago with a unique and very diverse local ecology. If we allow our environment to be identical to the “world standard,” maybe Shanghai?, the math for the biodiversity of the earth yields smaller number of fauna and flora in the entire planet. It is a loss, and so Japan is in color red at the site of Conservation International. More protection efforts required.

A colony of Delphinium anthriscifolium in Niiharu.
It was first introduced from China to Koishikawa Botanical Garden
of Tokyo University in the 19^th century.
 It escaped from the “cage,”
and is now spreading around Tokyo,
expelling locals like Corydalis incisa.

In Niiharu. Corydalis incisa (#27).

I didn’t know the current common garden variety of lilies, roses, and hydrangeas world-wide have ancestors taken from Satoyama in Kanagawa Prefecture in the 19^th century. Ms. Kitagawa and Ms. Ookuma told us the wild specimens of them were shipped from the port of Yokohama to make the root of the gorgeous roses in Victorian gardens, the stems more robust for lilies decorating cathedrals in France, and the hydrangeas in New York. Ms. Ookuma is doing fixed-point observations every 5 years in Niiharu. The latest one was just last year, and she found many places once her team could study are now roads, often asphalted where Euphorbia helioscopia are profusely sprouting from the edge. They are coming from somewhere outside of the island. Where are the original residents now? Hmmmmm.

Euphorbia helioscopia at the edge of Niiharu Forest.
Well, certainly,
the road is easy to walk now thanks to the paving …

In Niiharu.
Lilium auratum, prefectural flower for Kanagawa,
and Polygonatum odoratum (angular Solomon’s seal, #2).

When Satoyama was a field for subsistence rice agriculture, the ecology of Niiharu was sustained by regular maintenance jobs by farmers. The roads criss-crossed Yato-da rice paddies were hand-mowed max 5 times from April to October so that the height of the typical plants was short, like Mazus miquelii. Though, it was the place only farmers used. The soil was not compacted … Now, nostalgic city dwellers walk the road heavily, which makes the soil difficult for the plants to sprout … Before, the community had a tacit consent to cut trees and grass on slopes surrounding Yato-da paddies without the consent of the landlords. Normally, this job was done twice a year before rice planting in late spring and rice harvesting early fall, in order to make the space for the planting and harvesting tasks. It let the area around the Yato-da paddies forest edge with lots of sunshine and air circulation where varieties of plants, tall and short, thrived.

Could you figure out the difference
in the height of grasses on the banks of the paddies,
and slopes surrounding Asahi-yato?

In Niiharu.
Lxeris japonica (#5) and Mazus miquelii (#28).

This farmland was before Yato-da rice paddies.
The landlords found it difficult to maintain and
reclaimed the place for vegetable farming.
However, the structure of surrounding slope remains.
My seniors of Lovers told me they did heavy mowing
and thinning of Sasaella ramose and
overgrown Zelkova Serrata there more than 10 years ago.
The scenery is recovering from the neglect
to the memory of Yato-da slope.

In Niiharu.
Euphorbia sieboldiana (#18)
on the slope around Yato-da paddies.

I recalled the description in Niiharu Conservation and Management Plan about the surrounding area of Asahi-yato before 2009. It said the slopes had tall grasses due to the neglect. According to Ms Kitagawa, certainly dormant seeds can sprout with enough sunshine. But their ability has a limit. When the seeds are kept underground, the rate of germination is 70% after 10 years, 50% for 20 years, and drops to 20% after 30 years of abandonment. Here comes the motivation to draft the Yokohama Citizen Forestry Guideline and Conservation / Management Plan. It seems to me, Ms. Kitagawa chose to compromise the ideal Satoyama maintenance of 24/7 work with the practical volunteer-based conservation strategy of about 1-2 times a week activities by urbanites. She said the how-to part of the Guideline and Plan is written for maximizing the benefit of once a week volunteering for the urgent need of Satoyama ecology. If we consider 2010 was the year when the Guideline and Plan became full-swing in Yokohama, 1980 was the last year when the neglected but possibly resuscitated seeds on the ground were buried. For Niiharu, JR Tohkaichiba station opened in April 1979, which was the time demand for residential developments reached Niiharu Forest from Tokyo. If we think Niiharu in the historic perspective, Yokohama Green Up Plan was a kind of close call to protect the last stand of the nature in Yokohama … I’m now listening interesting stories about this from my senior volunteers and people who volunteer in another Citizen Forests. I’ll report it to you later. J

In Niiharu.
This coppiced Quercus acutissima is ready
for choosing the most vigorous sucker.

In Niiharu. Female of Helwingia japonica (#21).

In Niiharu. Male of Helwingia japonica (#21).

Here is the list of 30 Spring Flowers for the class. We could find all of them in Niiharu of one April afternoon. They are indicator species we volunteers should watch … phew!

#1 Viola phalacrocarpa

#2 Polygonatum odoratum (angular Solomon’s seal)

#3 Polystichum polyblepharum

#4 Lonicera gracilipes var. glabru

#5 Lxeris japonica

#7 Potentilla fragarioides var. major

#8 Lycoris sanguinea

#9 Stachyurus praecox

#10 Ajuga decumbens

#11 Ranunculus cantoniensis

#12 Rubus hirsutus

#13 Chaenomeles japonica                          

#14 Cymbidium goeringii

#15 Viola grypoceras

#16 Viola verecunda A. Gray

#17 Valeriana flaccidissima

#18 Euphorbia sieboldiana

#19 Anemone flaccida

#20 Cirsium japonicum

#21 Helwingia japonica

#22 Disporum sessile

#23 Lithospermum zollingeri

#24 Viola phalacrocarpa

#25 Staphylea bumalda  DC.

#26 Polygonatum lasianthum

#27 Corydalis incisa

#28 Mazus miquelii

#29 Rubus palmatus var. coptophyllus

#30 Arachniodes standishii

In Niiharu.
The forest of Cryptomeria japonica where
many Arachniodes standishii (#30) thrive underneath.
However, the ridge of this area is right next to
the Kirigaoka residential area,
and the forest edge has been heavily mowed
to accommodate the request of the residents.
It created a corridor of winds into the forest
which could affect the moisture level in the valley.
Winds would harm the ecology suitable for ferns.
We must be vigilant for the situation.

By the way, Anemone flaccida (#19)
have come out a lot in the place where
we mowed Sasaella ramose last fall
during the Forest Volunteering 101. Yayyyyyy!

If you find a problem in the Niiharu Forest, please make a contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North 北部公園緑地事務所

Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau 横浜市環境創造局

Phone: 045-311-2016 (I guess in Japanese only)

FAX: 045-316-8420 (I hope there is somebody who can read English …)

Niiharu Administrative Office / Satoyama Exchange Center 新治管理事務所・里山交流センター

Phone: 045-931-4947

Fax: 045-937-0898

Email: info@niiharu.jp

http://www.niiharu.jp/

Perpetual Summer, in a forest: the Niiharu Conservation and Management Plan 新治保全管理計画

According to the Yokohama Citizen Forestry Guideline and Conservation / Management Plan 横浜市森づくりガイドラインと保全管理計画, the Niiharu Citizen Forest was unique from the beginning. Yokohama had many volunteer organizations with the name “Lovers of Forest” 森林愛護会. The majority of them were mainly consisted of landlords of the place. The composition of the Lovers of Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森愛護会 was opposite: the number of landlords in the organization was smaller than that of the volunteers who simply loved to take care of the Niiharu Forest. Moreover, the Lovers was not the only organization who had activities in Niiharu Forest. There were the Organization for Promoting Niiharu Satoyama Community 新治里山「わ」を広げる会, the Association for Niiharu Bounty Community 新治恵みの里準備会, the Council for Fun Learning along Umeda River 梅田川水辺の楽校協議会, and the Lovers of Waterside of Ipponbashi Bridge Medaka Plaza 一本橋めだか広場水辺愛護会. i.e. The current members of the Niiharu Council. Many people understood for some time the Niiharu is the focal point of the north forests of Yokohama. Already before the first Green Up Plan, the demand was growing among them to establish a guideline for coordinating activities in Niiharu. When the Plan was actually started in 2009, the volunteers for Niiharu Forest saw a chance to coordinate the activities by drafting the Niiharu Conservation and Management Plan 新治保全管理計画 (Niiharu CMP). From the inception, the Plan considered the forest as a continuous environment from the remnants of agricultural Satoyama to the Citizen Forest. 

To make a CMP, the city supported the activity of these volunteers who later became the members of the regular Niiharu Council. Not only the Office for the Park Greeneries in the North, but also the offices who were in charge of planning coordination for the Green Up Plan and the department for agricultural policy joined. The CMP drafting council was officially inaugurated in 2010 with the members of the embryonic Niiharu Council, technocrats from the city, academia, and a consultant with whom the city contracted for administrative coordination. First, they had several workshops and a symposium to decide the contents of the CMP. The process included open field survey meetings with the public, whose results were reported in newsletters distributed among the volunteers and the neighborhood communities. The participants of the discussion agreed to conserve Niiharu as a wholesome environment of Satoyama that consists of rice paddies in yato valleys climbing up to hills with trees and grass fields in-between. So, the zoning in the Niiharu CMP was based on Asahi Yato 旭谷戸 (for Zone A), Yato-da 谷戸田 (for Zone B) and yato valleys south of Kamadachi 鎌立 and Mujina むじな Yatos (for Zone C). The indicator species for each of sub-zones were strategically chosen to represent the connection within an ecosystem so that birds of prey such as buteo japonicas and lanius bucephalus are regulars in many zones.

Yato-da

Joken Yato 常見谷戸 in Zone C

During the field surveys, the technical experts noticed there were several places where too much mowing made the ridge of the forest ecologically unstable. … My “a-ha” after observing enthusiasm of freshman forest volunteers about chainsaws. J Line census for wild birds and researches of fireflies were also a part of the surveys that revealed the timing of volunteer activities was not right to produce the maximum impact for improving the Niiharu’s biodiversity. These lessons learned created the detailed forest practice guide according to the vegetation in the actual forest. The Niiharu CMP explains not only the target ecology of each sub-zone but also the timing, the optimal man-power, the methodology, how to process the debris …etc.  Niiharu’s CMP experience also let the Green Up Plan include training programs for forest volunteers to learn ecology of animals and plants that would help volunteering being more careful and effective. The bird watching training I attended last February was a part of the scheme. Next week, I’ll report you what I’ve learned in the spring training about wildflowers. J

Moreover, the discussion produced a concrete agenda for the Niiharu Council meeting. The people who made the CMP decided to meet about once a month to coordinate each activity, to know the result of follow-up researches in Niiharu, to harmonize scientific studies in the Forest proposed by academia, and to share the concerns and solutions about the problems such as garbage damping, arson (oh, yeah), manners of visitors, and complains from surrounding residential areas (e.g. the issues of fallen leaves in the neighboring houses). Have you noticed the internet version of Niiharu CMP does not show the entire pages of “Direction of Conservation and Management Plan for each sub-zone”? It explains the points of B-2 sub-zone only. There is a reason. As the CMP is a working guide for volunteers, it has meticulous data of ecology in each zone where some fauna and flora can be a fortune through e-Bay or YouTube. Niiharu is located within 5km from the Yokohama Exit of Tomei Freeway which is 20 min from Shibuya especially after midnight. The Niiharu Forest is the nearest biodiverse place from the downtown Tokyo. Thieves come. 2 years ago, the volunteers found an entire colony of a wildflower was taken away overnight. The vegetation hosted caterpillars of certain butterfly near-extinct in the Kanto Region. Then, within 24 hours, the flower with a caterpillar appeared in an internet auction site. The police involved, but the lost flower bed and babies of butterfly did not return. Or take accipiter getilis fujiyamae in Niiharu. It’s a near-threatened species that survives on the borderline of the Red List. Several overly enthusiastic videographers tried inserting their cameras in the known nest in the Forest. The bird is very sensitive, and they never return to a nest where they find a human intrusion. But where can they go to nurture their babies? The information of such incidences has been shared among the Council members promptly, and the necessary actions were taken with the consensus. Blacked-out part of the internet version of the CMP is one of them.

In the recent activity morning,
the volunteers found one of the open spaces was trashed,
with a mark of fires.
The incident was alerted for all the members of the Council.

The Niiharu CMP and the regular Niiharu Council became operational in 2011. At the same time, the city started to offer free follow-up trainings for volunteers to upgrade their skills such as for ecology monitoring, rope-work techniques, and the usage of logs and other materials collected after forestry works. In 2013, the Green Up Plan has entered in its second phase, and the volunteer-work in the Niiharu Citizen Forest continues according to the CMP. 2014 activity report for Lovers of Niiharu Citizen Forest lists the things the volunteers did in that year.

• Patrols in the Forest at least once a week to check the safety of trekking roads. “Is there any dangling branch over the route?” “Is that cliff stays OK for hikers after the storm?” “Is there any spot trashed?” …
• Forest management through thinning, coppicing, mowing invasive undergrowth, and maintaining the wet lands with controlled reaping of reeds. Recording the progress of ecology at the site of volunteer activities.
• Monitoring of the ecology of several Yato valleys and coppiced forests for the restoration of Satoyama.
• Management of the border areas between the Forest and the farmland of the Bounty Community members.
• Recycling the harvested logs and bamboos into kitchen utensils, fashion accessories, and picnic benches in the Forest.
• Organizing and participating educational events in the neighborhood and the downtown near the Port for forest ecology and traditional Satoyama life. Supporting biology classes in the neighborhood schools and boy/girl scouts.
• Night watch of the Forest with the nearby communities to prevent arson and theft.

All were identified as a part of national project, Promotion of Multi-functionality in Forestsand Mountain Villages 森林・山村 多面的機能発揮対策交付金制度 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. So, for 2014-2016 Lovers’ activity is receiving a national grant from the Ministry, in addition to the fund from Green Up Plan budget. After learning these, I’ve a kind of understood why my senior Lovers’ volunteers are so knowledgeable and having atmosphere of fun and camaraderie … They’ve been volunteering in the Niiharu’s pure and calm air for many years + receiving (often free) help from professionals to hone their skills. Niiharu Citizen Forest is like an eternal weekend college campus for volunteers, with scholarship. Phew.

If you find a problem in the Niiharu Forest, please make a contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North 北部公園緑地事務所

Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau 横浜市環境創造局

Phone: 045-311-2016 (I guess in Japanese only)

FAX: 045-316-8420 (I hope there is somebody who can read English …)

Niiharu Administrative Office / Satoyama Exchange Center 新治管理事務所・里山交流センター

Phone: 045-931-4947

Fax: 045-937-0898

Email: info@niiharu.jp

http://www.niiharu.jp/

Thinning (BMI) in Niiharu

Every activity day morning, the volunteers of Lovers of Niiharu Citizen Forest gather at Ikebuchi Hiroba where the to-do list of the day is on display in a small blackboard. Using the Niiharu Conservation and Management Plan 新治保全管理計画and considering the discussions at the Niiharu Council 新治保全管理協議会, the weekly menu is decided by the annually elected executive members of the Lovers. The first thing each volunteer should do when we arrive at Ikebuchi Hiroba is, to write our name in the attendee list (for insurance purpose), and to choose which activity we are going to do out of the list. No order or request will be issued from anybody. If you find no activity is attractive, you can leave the place without saying goodbye. (Well, no one would do so, after venturing into the Forest this far.) The regular activity in the list is “Patrol.” When we patrol, we pick up trashes along the trekking roads, and check if the routes are safe for visitors. Volunteers are encouraged to join a patrol group once in 3 months at least, and prepare a written report about the point where we find a work is necessary. The executive board collects the information and plans the next activity to list in the menu. As Lovers meet at least once in a week and the information of morning patrol can be utilized in the afternoon in some cases, the maintenance work of the trekking road in Niiharu is very quick and probably more efficient than reporting the problem to the City. One thing the lecturers of the Forest Volunteering 101 emphasized last fall was the power of volunteers who could take care of the forest in a careful and effective way. Patrolling and maintaining the trekking route is one example for that. One way to maintain the road safe is to remove protruding branches and unstable trees close to the public access. The leader of the Lovers of Niiharu Citizen Forest, Mr. Ohkawa, emphasizes every morning meeting of an activity day that careful pruning and thinning along the trekking roads are the priority in order to keep the Forest safe.

Plat du jour

We do “Radio Work Out” every time before starting forestry.

Patrolling

According to Niiharu Conservation and Management Plan, winter is the best time to thin trees. Vegetation is dormant so that cutting gives the forest the least stress. Hence, the volunteers for Lovers of Niiharu Forest are very busy from December to February with chainsaws. The Lovers for Niiharu has (really) an army of chainsaw wielding amateurs. In Japan, it is illegal to operate chainsaws without license whose basic level requires more than 10 hours of lectures and labs + the final exam presided by accredited organizations at the cost of min 12,000 yen. Though the Lovers organization subsidizes the cost partially (“thank you Green Tax!”), acquiring and advancing the skill is not at all cheap. The existence of chainsaw troop is a proof how much the volunteers are enthusiastic ... of course for improving the biodiversity in our city, not just to cut trees! ;)

Our dear chainsaws …

After joining the Lovers a couple of months ago, I’ve already witnessed many thinning. Last month, I’ve posted my experience during the Winter Kids’ Festival in a bamboo forests in Mukaiyama, near C-2 and C-3. Mukaiyama is in Zone A whose mission is to provide educational experience for traditional co-habitation of nature and humans in Japan. So, the forest was chosen for kids’ playground. Yeah, it was a kind of cute job, but it made a serious sense. About 20 groups of kids cut one bamboo each in about 5,000 m² forest. According to the Plan, the optimal distribution of bamboos is one tree per approx. 4 m² so that that this particular bamboo forest can have 1,250 bamboos. 20 bamboos thinned during the Festival are about 2% of the optimal number. Too little? Well, the festival was on the first Sunday of February, and the optimal thinning season for bamboos is December and January. Unlike the other kinds of forest, bamboos require annual thinning and the Lovers already did some work beforehand this season. Actually the kids provided a final touch for the annual job.

Every hand counts!

Lovers of Niiharu thin and prune in the Forest according to the Niiharu Plan. The reason of the work is not contained simply to restore the Satoyama forest. A-6 point is called Maruyama which is in Zone A whose mission defined in the Plan is to popularize Satoyama concept. It was once a garden of Mr. Okutsu who installed many fun things in the area including his own hand-curved sculpture. The place is in the middle of the popular promenade connecting Ikebuchi Hiroba 池ぶち広場 (A-7) and Miharashi Hiroba みはらし広場 (A-4). i.e. Many people come. Probably unintentionally, Mr. Okutsu left several wires connecting trees in the area. Now the trees in Maruyama are large and the wires were dangerously pulling the trees each other at a very high place. Luckily, the trees in Maruyama are broad-leaved trees that requires once in 10-15 years coppicing. So, this year Lovers volunteers cut these trunks with wires before a serious incident happens.

Maruyama with the woodwork
by the late Mr. Okutsu

Before coppicing.
The trunks with blue tape were coppiced
for the safety of visitors.

In February, the volunteers pruned the plum boughs in an orchard in Mukaiyama that can be admired from the Okutsu House. Unlike peach, cherry or almond, plums have branches that grow towards the trunk, which creates geometrical beauty. Moreover, plum is so vigorous that its branches shoot out a lot in every spring and summer. Messing the timing and volume of pruning, we’ll have a sorry plum tree with jumbled branches with few flowers and fruits. Annual pruning season for plums is after the rainy season, in July, when we should cut the branches aggressively by leaving about 10 pencil-sized new branches from a bough. Next spring, the plum flowers will come a lot only on these branches at about 10-20 cm from the bough.  In addition, after several years of the standard treatment, we need to thin large boughs during winter in order to lessen the stress on a tree. This year ladies of the Lovers enjoyed hand pruning of plum boughs with lots of flower buds with noble scent. Many brought home the pruned branches for flower arrangement. Come to think of it, there are lots of Ukiyoes for plum blossoming party of ladies ...

Plum tree orchard after pruning

And here comes the important fact of thinning / pruning / clearing forest. After the cutting there will be literally tons of woods, obviously. What should we do with them? Utilizing lumber for woodworks … harvesting logs for fuels of stoves … flower arrangement? It seems to me this is the most difficult part of Niiharu volunteering. The Plan said we should not clear the ground completely anytime. Some remnants of the trees / grasses must be left since they can provide something (shelter, nutrition …) for the other living creatures, and could contribute to the maintenance of bogs by creating the corridor of soil movement from the hills. But when we leave all the cut woods to be rotten, they covered the ground completely and the new growth of dormant seeds underneath is deterred, or worse when the woods host plant diseases. We must take them, the majority of them, out. Oh, by the way, this being in a protected Forest, the work must be done without gasoline engines. A-mano, OK?

Carrying branches from the field

The mountain of cut branches
after the ladies kept the bounty

The pruned plum branches were gathered and transported to a designated field near the Visitor Center where the specialized garbage collector will come to pick them up. The City has a green recycle plant next to Zoorasia. It produces wood chips from pruned and thinned trees harvested mainly in the municipal parks. We loaded the plum branches on a small truck, and the car run 2 round trips to the collection point to complete the job. I guess the plum branches were brought to the recycle plant. The mission accomplished. (Applause.)

Plum brunches were cute, honestly.

Thinning could be a part of collaboration with another organization at the Niiharu Council. Many members of the Association for Niiharu Bounty Community新治恵みの里準備会are elderly folks. Although they are active enough to plough their land for commercial agriculture, their business is often a single senior citizen operation. Their land is every so often surrounded by a private forest of coniferous trees which were planted in the 1940s. More than 70 years of neglect has made those trees huge, with invasive undergrowth. The farmland is not only deprived of sufficient sunshine, but also threatened by spread of shrubs. From Niiharu Citizen Forest’s point of view, even if the problem forest may not be within the border of the Citizen Forest, the situation is happening at the perimeter that will soon bring degradation to the Citizen Forest. The elderly Association cannot treat the problem by themselves, and here comes the Lovers for rescue.

Everybody loves sunshine.

Early March this year, the Lovers volunteers cleared a part of the south facing slope of Mukebara that is next to Zone C where the mission of the Forest is to preserve the natural ecosystem. The place was on the edge of a forest of quercus serrata and a forest of chamaecyparis obtuse / Japanese cedara cryptomeria. Before the work, the slope was populated by Japanese cypresses with 60cm+ of diameter and 30m+ tall. They were planted more than 70 years ago for commercial purpose. Many years have passed since domestic lumbers became uncompetitive against imported woods, and the trees in Mukebara were left uncared that made the trees less and less valuable. Then, the landlord of the farmland at the top of the slope became seriously ill, and no longer able to till the place, or to plan for the work of the cypresses. He rented the place to his neighbor who is now an abuelita in her 70s. She found herself taking care of the land with increasingly scarce sunshine and encroaching bamboo grass. She called help. Lovers with chainsaws were thrilled, of course. They cleared the slope of approx. 50m wide. The objectives of the operation were

• To restore the sunshine and the space for the farmland of the abuelita;
• To utilize the wood harvested from the slope;
• To prepare the slope for hosting mantle vegetation that will protect Zone C. 

And woods? How about woods after cutting? … 30m freshly cut cypresses with 60cm diameter to be pulled from the valley by hands?

Mukebara area seen from A-2 to the south.
It is a typical Satoyama scenery of Niiharu
with the surrounding forest.
The trees immediately next to the farmland
stand outside the boundary of the Citizen Forest,
but it continues to the protected Forest without any barrier.
So, ecologically they are a part of Niiharu Citizen Forest.

The machines are unloaded from the truck. Let’s work!

Cleared slope

The tree was unattended for so many years
and its core is rotten,
which made the tree not commercially valuable.

A cypress without pruning became gnarling.
Volunteers agreed it would be a useful material for artists,
but a junk in construction business …
besides, who knows if it keeps its aesthetic form after drying?

This one will be processed for lumbers
to remake picnic benches in Niiharu Citizen Forest.
By the way, Mr. Ohkawa taught me
the skin of cypress like this would have been
a very good material for the base of roof tiles
covering traditional Japanese houses.
Now, no one bothers. *sigh*

Beautiful … it will be a good bath-tub!

For your information, they are HEAVY.

It took 2 whole days to bring half the cypress woods out of the valley, and as of March 20 the other half is still lying on the slope. What we did was

1. on the slope, slicing huge woods into about 2 to 3 meters long,
2. putting  2-3 ropes around the trunk, secured, aaaaaaaand,
3. pulling the trunk by hand.

The work will be continued until the field above the slope is cleared and some of these woods are turned into tables and picnic chairs. Please stay tuned how the volunteers manage this project …

Equipment for human cranes

The thinner parts of cypresses were brought up first
and were moved near to the road
for making a space to larger trunks.
All by hands, of course.

Slicing the log

Rope it, then …

The human power

It comes this far!

Job half done

After today’s job,
the tune-up must be followed for chainsaws,
even if you are exhausted.

If you plan to spend money for using equipment in a gym, think again, and join our Lovers’ activity. The weight we had to pull was NOT a joke. We thinned the forest, and I believed I thinned my BMI. Unfortunately, the weight scale of mine very coldly notified I lost only 100g on that day. *sigh* 

Phoosticks in Umeda River

If you find a problem in the Niiharu Forest, please make a contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North 北部公園緑地事務所

Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau 横浜市環境創造局

Phone: 045-311-2016 (I guess in Japanese only)

FAX: 045-316-8420 (I hope there is somebody who can read English …)

Niiharu Administrative Office / Satoyama Exchange Center 新治管理事務所・里山交流センター

Phone: 045-931-4947

Fax: 045-937-0898

Email: info@niiharu.jp

http://www.niiharu.jp/