Where Water People Congregates: Kanagawa Water Source Monitoring Volunteers 1

 

First, let me explain the application process to be a volunteer for water source monitoring in Kanagawa, in case some of you’re interested in. Every early April, Kanagawa Prefecture announces an opening of applications for river monitor. The announcement is at their HP (here), and in PR brochure called “Letter from Kanagawa Prefecture 県のたより” which is available townhalls and libraries everywhere in Kanagawa Prefecture. Application is online only (from here); the page will be active when the application period is open between the last week of April and the third week of May. They recruit 100 volunteers. When more than 100 people apply, the lottery system is taken for choosing the monitors. You can send your application if you live / work / study / etc. in Kanagawa Prefecture. (Hey, it’s funded by local tax!) … Er, basically, all the documentation is in Japanese. I’m sure the scholars engaging in this project manage English, but everything for the project is done in Japanese. So, if you try to be a volunteer, at least school-kids level of Japanese proficiency is the must. Why school-kids? Several elementary schools of the Prefecture join the effort, and use the research opportunities for their science classes.

Kids love to watch these tiny creatures from Kanagawa’s river.

The office in charge of this project is Kanagawa Environmental Research Center 神奈川県環境科学センター. At the end of each post of this blog, I tell you the point of contact for environmental issues in Kanagawa is Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター. I’ve noticed there is a sort of division of duties between these two centers. Natural Environment Conservation Center is more concentrated on the nature of National and Quasi-national Parks and their surrounding areas of Kanagawa Prefecture. Research Center covers urban areas and sea by monitoring air, water, and soil pollutions of Kanagawa. The Research Center also acts as a hub for data analysis and policy suggestion for Climate Change Adaptation within the Prefecture. Origin of each center aside ( … I guess there were surrogate turf wars between Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Ministry of Environment …), such division has created an interesting difference in clusters of PhD scientists. Conservation Center has lots of researchers covering land-based creatures, such as trees, deer, cicadas, … Research Center houses many researchers for water-loving creatures, like fishes, dragonflies, water plants …

After we receive an OK notice from the Prefecture for becoming the volunteer monitor, we’re given several opportunities to sit for training sessions presided by these scientists. The first one was introduction of the water monitoring projects by citizen science. It was flowed by basic classes for structure of rivers and their peculiar nature of habitat. A brownie point for becoming a water monitoring volunteer is we can have an up-to-date briefing from the frontline researchers for aquatic habitats. It is indeed a new experience for me! Take Sakawa River 酒匂川. Its tributaries start from deep mountains of Western Tanzawa 西丹沢 and Hakone 箱根, Yadoriki Water Source Forest やどりき水源林 included. They become more or less one flow at the southern tip of Matsuda Town 松田町, then pours to Sagami Bay 相模湾 in Odawara City 小田原市. So, the river starts from Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park 富士箱根伊豆国立公園 and Tanzawa-Oyama Quasi-national Park 丹沢大山国定公園. It then runs through countryside with lots of rice paddies and farmland and ends in urban area. The way water flows differs at each stage of the river, of course. Yadoriki Stream is “stream,” i.e. narrow, rapid, and normally cold. In Matsuda Town, it still flows relatively quickly, but the river itself is already far wider than Yadoriki Stream. At the end to the sea, the water is surely flowing but sea tide can come in as countercurrent. The way the river erodes the tierra differs at each point, which in turn creates different habitats for living things. I think I knew such things as a notion. But experiencing the difference is a sort of eye-opener.

A beginning of Yadoriki stream

The things river monitoring volunteers do are (1) to learn the basic science of river habitat in classroom, (2) actually to go to water for collecting living things from waterbeds (yup, not only river, but there are ponds and small streams which are a part of river system), (3) to identify our catches at species level, and (4) to calculate “score” of the observation point based on the species classified and to report the result to the Research Center. You may know similar projects in other parts of the planet, like the one in UK. Ours is a Japanese version. According to the lead scientist for Kanagawa’s project, Dr. Yuta Hasebe, thanks to the earmarked tax Kanagawa Prefecture’s project is one of the “first penguins” in Japanese environmental monitoring by citizens. The program is continuing to the 4^th Phase from FY2023. Accumulating long-term data itself is very important for considering climate change, Dr. Hasebe said. Hmmmmmm …

Volunteers are collecting specimens in
 one of the water source for a tributary of Sagami River.

The prefectural office lends us research tools, such as landing nets, plastic vats, specimen bottles, etc. for field study. We’re also able to use stereo microscopes in Research Center when we classify our catch from the field ( … er, I mean, water). The Center also gives us training sessions how to collect the specimen in rivers, and what to see when identifying the creatures under the microscope. For microscope-sessions, there is a textbook for searching aquatic creatures. In April 2022, the Prefecture updated it, downloadable from here. My seniors of Forest Instructors unanimously agreed this version is very good for classifying the lives in rivers. Some say it’s more user-friendly than the one issued by Ministry of Environment (retrievable from here). Although they are only in Japanese, if you’re interested in such things, please check it. I also think the latest version is superb for actual use with microscopes.

A microscopic session at the Research Centre

Next week, I’ll tell you my adventure for collecting the creatures from water. Please stay tuned. 😊

So, in this case, if you find environmental issues in waters of Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa Environmental Research Center 神奈川県環境科学センター

1-3-39 Shinomiya, Hiratsuka City, 254-0014
〒254-0014平塚市四之宮1-3-39
Phone: 0463-24-3311
FAX: 0463-24-3300

k-center@k-erc.pref.kanagawa.jp
https://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/docs/b4f/index.html

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/

A Bucket Falling into a Well: Autumn is progressing fast in Yokohama’s forest

 

In Japanese proverb, we say “Autumn sun sets as quickly as a bucket dropping into a well 秋の日は釣瓶落とし (Aki no hi wa tsurube-otoshi).“ In this site of Weather News, surely the dusk for September and October in Tokyo lasts only 85 minutes which is the shortest in a year. The longest is for June when we can enjoy dim sunlight for 109 minutes after sunset. In addition, in August the twilight lasts 92 minutes. 7 minutes longer than now. No wonder we feel night begins fairly promptly in October. Maybe, those days of 30°C is over for 2022 … I noticed bugs, or the like, feel the same as I do.

Zizeeria maha

The reason I found this? Yeah, it becomes easier to take a photo of butterflies and moss. They are poikilotherm (“cold-blooded” animal). For them to move quickly under cooler weather, it takes certain determination because of cold blood. In Yokohama during summer we can take photo of them only for early morning. It’s cooler, and the bugs are still sleepy with cold blood. Now in October they allow us a close-up even afternoon. Reptiles, another poikilotherm, like Far Eastern Skink (Plestiodon finitimus) takes a nap in front of my camera peacefully.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz …

Maybe, that’s the sign of forest for the end of summer … They say this year due to La Niña we should expect colder winter in metropolitan Tokyo area ...

Ourapteryx obtusicauda

Damora sagana

Argyreus hyperbius

If you find a problem in the greenery of north-half of Yokohama, 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 

FAX: 045-316-8420

Stray Palm: Trachycarpus and Yokohama’s Forest

 

So, Youko Kiga stripped hairy parts of Trachycarpus for her 2022 installation, Meaning of Boundaries. The denuded palm looked like okapi (forest giraffe), one of the stars in Zoorasia. She was amused by this new discovery. “I didn’t intend to have that. But the tree turned into a cute animal-like something. I just left several leaves at the top … By the way, why is that tree so hairy?” Good question. I had a same question from 5th graders last year. They were almost secluded in classroom without any chance of expedition because of COVID-fear. So, they did their field study of science class in their school yard. They had a Trachycarpus tree in a shady corner near the rear entrance of the school building. Despite of such handicapped location, the tree looked thriving. They found it very interesting. They asked me, a forest instructor, “Naomi, why are these trees so hairy?”

A school tree

I brought back this homework and did a little Google search. I found an answer from Professor Hirokazu Tsukaya of Tokyo University, saying “We don’t know.” Trachycarpus (Shuro, in Japanese) is in a family of palm tree. It can survive even in snowy climate of Hokkaidoh. It is not choosy for sunshine it can have, as long as the soil is well-drained. It endures heat of wildfire, or occasional flood of ocean tide. In short, it’s a strong tree. It seems to us Trachycarpus does not need hairy “skin” for protecting itself. Even though, Prof. Tsukaya wrote as their hair covers the base of leafstalks, there would be some function for their shagginess. For humans, their skin has utility value. The fiber is flexible, hard to be rotten, and capable of withstanding damp weather of Japanese climate. It can be a good broom or scrubbing brush. We can make good ropes for gardening, or shoe-brush mat from the skin of Trachycarpus. Traditionally, Japanese found the tree highly useful for housekeeping. That’s one of the reasons Trachycarpus was one of the common garden trees in Japan.

Okapi, nay, Trachycarpus de-barked

Still, in many parts of Japan, this tree is not endemic species. Until about 400 years or so ago, Trachycarpus was found only in the forests of southern Kyushu Island (Trachycarpus fortune). Japanese Trachycarpus can grow tall for more than 10m high. A tree has tens of large fan-shaped leaves. The hairy skin covers the base of these leaves. Maybe due to their size and weight, the leaves of Japanese Shuro often droop form its base or in the middle of fan. Then there was a vogue for planting Trachycarpus imported from China (Trachycarpus watnerianus) for the 17th century gardens of feudal warlords. Chinese version has more compact size in many respects. Their leaves can sustain upright form longer than their Japanese cousin. It is said that feudal lords loved such “straight, sword-like” presentation. The plant became fashionable. Gradually, non-samurais, including rich merchants in cities introduced Japanese and Chinese version for their gardens. OK, so far this is a story of gardening trend some hundreds’ years ago. Now, the behavior of old fashionistas is affecting the 21st century forest maintenance in Yokohama.

It grows in such a congested environment.

Trachycarpus is dioecious. They have yellow bubbly flowers, lots of them, early summer and female Trachycarpus bear small dark blue fruits, lots of them, in autumn. The fruit is berry, though it contains lonicerin, cymaroside, and dioscin, i.e. not suitable for human consumption. Never mind for birds. They eat lots of them and disperse pips as they poop. As long as the soil has above average drainage, pips of Trachycarpus, lots of them, can sprout. Moreover, Japanese and Chinese Trachycarpus can interbreed. Many gardening Trachycarpus, Chinese, Japanese, or interbreeded, have spread their seeds all over Japan, out of garden. They were given names “Stray Palm.” When people found skins of Trachycarpus convenient for daily uses, ubiquitous stray palms were not problem. People harvested wild stray palms as they like. But once their usage was replaced by plastic brooms or scrubs, they, lots of them, were left alone. Trachycarpus are evergreens. Once they become big, their fan-shaped leaves cover the canopy of forest and keep the sunlight away from forest floor. Without sun not many seeds on the forest ground can sprout, except the likes as Trachycarpus. Trachycarpus is getting the moniker “public enemy for forest biodiversity.” National Institute of Environmental Studies designate Trachycarpus “invasive species.”

This stray palm has indeed 10m or so high.

So, we Niiharu Lovers do forestry periodically to “weed” Trachycarpus in the forest. Their once-so-useful hairy skin rejects the usage of chainsaw. Please DO NOT TRY MACHINE WHEN YOU CUT TRACHYCARPUS! It’s so dangerous as their strong hairs will get entangled with the high-speed blades and you lose the control of the machine quickly. When we deal with Trachycarpus, we use handsaw. It still does not solve the problem of hair-imbroglio. Frankly, it’s a hard work. “Gee, now’s the time of dealing with Trachycarpus …” Last year for quite some time, we culled the palm along the ridgeway of Niiharu Citizen Forest. At that time, we praised our work for more sunshine reaching to the cleared ground. Now, in that part of the forest baby Trachycarpus are sprouting already.

Hello, hello, dark forest!

How much congested the ground was,
the seed of stray palm can sprout anyway.

Saving grace is, this palm tree is slow to grow. We are uprooting the seedlings whenever we find a one. We know it’s a never-ending task ... Youko’s installation this year may be a sign there could be another approach for the conversation with Trachycarpus in Yokohama’s forest. For this age of SDGs, the value of bushy coat of Trachycarpus tree should be “re-discovered.” Brooms of Trachycarpus are good for sweeping tatami-mats and wood floors … Oh, by the way, if you have a chance to visit Yokohama Chinatown, there is a nice specialty shop for brushes and brooms, including those made of Trachycarpus hairs. Maybe starting with daily room cleaning with a broom is a start …

I think one of our brooms is made of Trachycarpus …

If you find a problem in the greenery of north-half of Yokohama, 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
FAX: 045-316-8420