Pay back time: Kanagawa’s 50 Year Plan for Regeneration of Forests かながわ森林再生50年構想

Replying to the changes in national policy for forest management, Kanagawa Prefecture devised a plan to manage forests of the 21^st century. In 1997, the office started a program called “Nurturing Water Source Forests in Kanagawa Prefecture 水源の森林づくり事業.” Kanagawa has 95000 ha of forests which is 39% of our prefecture. Out of these, 11% is owned by the national government, 27% is by the prefectural office, and 3% is for municipalities. The rest, 59%, is private property. Because of market condition of logs and wood products, and aging population, this 59% has been neglected for some time. By the end of the 20^th century, they reached to be hazardous enough for land failure. So, the prefecture started to subsidize forestry activity especially for private forests surrounding 3 dams, Shiroyama 城山, Miyagase 宮ケ瀬, and Miho 三保, which are water source for tap water in Kanagawa. i.e. “Nurturing.” The help the Office devised is roughly consisted of 3 kids of policies. First, landlords or cooperatives contracted with landlords receive monetary support for their management activity. Second, the Prefecture makes a contract with landlords and engages in forestry directly. In this case, when available, the profit earned from the job is of the landlords. The third policy is land purchasing which often occurs as a methodology of inheritance taxes. When we walk in a forest near a dam for Kanagawa, we often encounter with sign boards explaining “This forest is defined as a water source forest, and under a prefectural contract of such-a-such for management.” They are in a part of this program.

The board stating the forest here is in Nurturing
 Water Source Forests in Kanagawa Prefecture program.
 The place is near Shiroyama Dam.

This forest is like this.

At the same time, the office and the academia decided to have a baseline for implementing the policy of Kyoto Protocol (COP3) in Tanzawa-Oyama area. Why Tanzawa-Oyama? Hakone 箱根 is a National Park so that office in charge of managing the place is the national government, i.e. out of the reach of prefectural office. Tanzawa-Oyama Quasi-national Park 丹沢大山国定公園 is under the management of prefectural government. Moreover, the area has been a play-ground for university professors in Megalopolis Tokyo for more than a century. It was a familiar place for researchers. From 1994, they comprehensively studied Tanzawa-Oyama area once more and in 1999 published “Conservation Plan forTanzawa-Oyama 丹沢大山保全計画.“ The plan was based on scientific findings and stated current condition of the area, overall objective of the prefectural conservation plan, and the target to be achieved after the completion of proposed projects. It defined the objective of the policy for the area to enhance biodiversity, and advocated mobilization of civil society and scientific monitoring.

In 2006, these two approaches of prefectural policy converged into a general plan, called “50 Year Plan for Regeneration of Forests in Kanagawa Prefecture かながわ森林再生50年構想.” Well, the validity of this plan is supposed to be until 2056. OK. The plan took zoning approach, and defined 3 kinds of forests in Tanzaw-Oyama area, Hakone, and water source forests around the dams. One is the forests of ASL 800m and up majority of which are in national and quasi-national parks. This is the area where overpopulation of deer ravaged natural vegetation + damages of acid rains observed some 30 years ago. Consequently, as of 2006, there, wild Japanese beeches (Fagus crenata) and Japanese firs (Abies firma) were dying and their seedlings were devoured by deer. In order to stop further deterioration and then to make the area more biodiverse, the plan started to build deer fences and intentionally introduce seedlings nurtured from the seeds harvested from the area. From 2012, the Prefecture hired wild-life rangers who specialize in hunting around the peaks of Tanzawa mountains. Do you remember trekking route around the peak of Mt. Oyama 大山 (ASL 1252m)? There are lots of deer fences and grating floors in order to stop deer enter the area to eat firs and beeches. They are examples of the policy based on the 50 Year Plan.

Deer fence protecting baby trees inside,
 along a trekking route
 from Kohtakji Temple 広沢寺 to Mt. Oyama

Grating floors cover trekking route for Mt. Oyama.

The second area is between 300m to 800m ASL where water source forests dominate. This is the area in which massive afforestation was done by the early 1970s. They are now emitting pollens every spring for hay fever among city folks in metropolis. Prefecture decided to categorize the area in two parts. One is 200m inside from the both sides of forestry roads, and another is the rest. The forests along forestry roads are kept for forestry. Since around 2010 the afforested cedars and cypresses planted 70 years ago are reaching to the age of harvesting so that the prefecture supports commercial logging, or engaging in it directly, as a continuation of nurturing water source forests policy. After deforesting the area to harvest, they plant seedlings of pollen-less or lower pollen cedars and cypresses as a cycle of sustainable forestry. The afforested forests beyond 200m from forestry roads are thinned and introduced seedlings of broad-leaved trees encircled by deer fences. The aim is to create biodiverse forests with both coniferous and broad-leaved trees of rich forest floors receiving sufficient sunshine thanks to the thinning. The actual works to achieve the target are Forests of Growing 成長の森 project and activities of volunteer groups, including Kanagawa Association of Forest Instructors, for forest managements in the area.

A job site for forestry along Hadano Forestry Road 秦野峠林道

Forests of Growing in Yadoriki Water Source Forest やどりき水源林.
 10 years ago, the prefecture deforested cypresses
 and planted broad-leaved deciduous trees within the deer fence,
 with funding from families of new-born babies.
 The trees inside are teenagers now, and growing.

The third area is below ASL 300m where human communities engage in agriculture, and housing development occur, i.e. Satoyama area 里山. Er … Yokohama’s Citizen Forests are program managed by the City of Yokohama, a national ordinance-designated city whose independence from prefectural government is guaranteed. So, management of, say, Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森 which is, I would say, the finest example of Satoyama Forest of Yokohama is not directly covered by this 50 Years Plan … but scientifically established targets and methodology for biodiversity in Satoyama forest is the same both for Niiharu and for rural areas in Kanagawa prefecture. Volunteers from neighbors engage in thinning, mowing, pruning, planting, and monitoring forests located next to agricultural fields and rice paddies to restore and develop biodiversity, and to provide nice relaxing place for communities. The nature parks near city centers of Kanagawa are often in this category (; I’ll report them later this year 😄).

A scenery of Satoyama forest in Atsugi City 厚木

The prefectural office coordinates marketing of logs harvested from any of these 3 areas as a part of industrial policy for sustainable forestry. One day one of prefectural officers told us “You see, Kanagawa Prefecture is the second largest market of wood products in Japan, next to Tokyo. Considering the transportation costs for logs from mountains, Kanagawa’s forest in our backyard has definite advantage. If done well, we can create sustainable forest management in the long run.” He has a point. The forests covered in the 50 Year Plan are also scientifically and systematically monitored by groups of academics and civil society organizations to measure the effect of policy execution. They form Committee for Rejuvenation of Tanzawa-Oyama 丹沢大山再生委員会 (whose office is in Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center) to engage in civil society involvement of forest management, monitoring of the program, and spreading information in the progress of the 50 Year Plan. Funding-wise, especially for the management of water source forests, Kanagawa prefecture established in 2007 an ear-marked taxation, named “Tax for Conserving the Environment of Water Source 水源環境保全税.” For dwellers of Yokohama, it means we pay (1) Green tax みどり税 for the City, and (2) Water Source Tax for the Prefecture. From 2024, national government will charge Forest Environment Tax 森林環境税 for every tax payer = roughly 3000 yen (=$30; 1000 yen each) per year in order to manage forests in Japan.

One scenery during a 2018 forum
 presenting civil society monitoring results
 of the 50 Year Plan.

Whether this is too much taxation could be a matter of opinion. Recalling for almost 70 years we’ve deforested forests world-wide to build home-sweet-homes in suburbs of Tokyo while neglecting the backyard forests in our prefecture, current taxes might simply say “There’s no free lunch in our life, mate.” Nonetheless, during the process of legislation, those politicians sent from cities to the Diet (Japanese national legislation) pushed back the rural demand, and established legally bound condition in the usage of budget endorsed by Forest Environment Tax. Thanks to their pressure, the national government shall distribute money according to the size of population. i.e. Large cities with far less forest acreage receive the biggest budget allocation from Forest Environment Tax. We Lovers of Niiharu Citizen Forest in Yokohama could simply glee for the arrangement, but those volunteer organizations do thinning and pruning around ASL 600m ASL Tanzawa mountains have complicated opinion about this. Sure, it’s better than nothing to have a new funding for activities, but … So far, downtowns are planning to use the new budget, which is started to be distributed from 2020, earlier than the actual taxation, for purchasing woods harvested domestically. This is one of the allowed usages of the fund, and expected to stimulate forestry activity of the private sector that is now under heavy subsidies, like by the 50 Year Plan of Kanagawa Prefecture. New national tax is in the end an industrial policy to resurrect market for domestic woods, I suppose. Will it be enough to guarantee the original motivation of the 50 Year Plan, the spirit of COP5 of Kyoto Protocol?

I think those woods here are
 imported from somewhere …

In this regard, Kanagawa Prefecture has Kanagawa Plan for Biodiversity かながわ生物多様性計画. Since 2016, the policy covers the entire river basins of the prefecture, city forests of population centers, and Miura Peninsula 三浦半島, in addition to the original target area of the 50 Year Plan. These days, the activities of Committee for Rejuvenation of Tanzawa-Oyama are sometimes mentioned in this context. The 50 Year Plan itself may be evolving into something different from the initial idea of 2006 … Hmmm … 50 years are long, but it’s minimum for a cedar in Kanagawa to be sizable enough as a good building material. Keynes is damned right to say in the long run we’re all dead, but human’s long run is a short run for a forest. Who knows in the “long” run the result of possible changes in Japanese consumption behavior for woods thanks to new national tax for forest management. At least we try to think about forests in 50 years’ span, beyond our Keynes’ standard. Probably that’s something for humans who’ll be dead sooner or later before a forest takes a new shape we hope to see. Don’t you think?

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

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

Trying: a bit of introduction for national policy to the forests in Japan

We are here. 70% of Japanese territory is covered by forest. World’s Forests Map by ESA.

So, in Japanese forests, landlords are struggling to keep their property healthy and sustainable. Institutionally, Japanese government, local and national, also attempts to help as this is the age of COP and SDGs. According to a professor for Tokyo University this February, “The budget for taking care of the forests is allocated abundantly. Problem is, Japanese forests cannot digest such generous offerings due to man-power problems.” Hmmmmmmmmm. At least, we are trying. Let me tell you the story.

Until (roughly) the 1980s, Japanese policy regarding forests was for forestry business. Due to population expansion, successive wars and economic growth, there was a massive demand for woods for energy (until coal, then oil, dominated the economy) and for construction. Especially after 1952, Japanese market for woods was overheated, which made increase in prices for wood products far outpaced the general inflation. Japanese government scrambled to tackle the issue. They gave generous subsidies for landlords to log and plant seedlings massively for cedars and cypresses that could grow straight (i.e. suitable as construction materials) and relatively quick. In addition, in 1964, the year for the first Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, the government completely liberalized imports of woods and wood products to satisfy the demand. It seems to me they optimistically thought once one-off monetary incentive let them afforest, private business would take care of the forest for 50 years until the next crop is ready. They also did not expect during the subsequent 50 years wages in cities became easily available and far better for rural kids who once stayed for their birth-forest and took care of the ancestral land, but now moved to Tokyo for, first factory, and, now sales jobs. Worse, the government underestimated the power of comparative advantage imported woods had: they were far cheaper even with global transportation costs. By the time Tokyo will host the 2^nd Olympics and Paralympics Game of 2020, Japanese forestry has been decimated. Mr. Junji Ino’ue 井上淳治 of Nishikawa Forestry Area 西川林業 (my post last week 😉) self-deprecatingly said, “You see, we Japanese foresters count our heads about 45 thousand as of 2015. The estimated number of Japanese serow was about 100 thousand in the early 1980s when crop damage by them could be ignored. Now, many fields next to forests all over Japan regularly report destruction by the animal, and they are legally protected as a ‘special natural monument.’ Who’s in the danger of extinction!?”

By 1971, Japanese forestry business rapidly became rare, even with liberal subsidy. Thank God, before that time bold mountain was scarce in Japan, which was good. Roughly half of Japanese forests were now of afforested coniferous trees. But Japanese forests that had lost the battle to cheap imports could not expect proper management any more. No mowing, thinning, or pruning was done. At the turn of the century, cedar and cypress seedlings planted packed turned into congested forests of lanky trees. Not enough sunshine reached to the forest floor. It made the ground below the canopy bared. Instead, rain dropped directly to the soil without cushions of grasses. When it poured in steep Japanese mountains, the rain immediately transformed into rapid streams that washed away the top soil. The entire forests were unstable. Landslides and devastation of check dams showed up in dangerous frequency for this earthquake-prone archipelago. Meanwhile, people started reacting positively to “environmentally conscientious” messages. After 1992 UNFCCC and 1997 COP3 in Kyoto, opinion polls showed people got to think of forests not as places for industrial materials, but for CO2 sink, recreational space, and clean air. Till then, Japanese policy for forests was a part of national industrial policy. Responding to the changes in circumstances, during the 1990s the government changed the direction for nation’s forest management radically. First, in 1998, they quit central commando mentality for forests, and transferred the role of planning and supervision to local governments. In 2001, strict regulation over forestry activity, defined by Americans during 1945-1952 occupation era, was abolished and the 3^rd parties were allowed to plan and execute forestry based on business contract with landlords. It opened the gate for volunteer organizations to engage in serious forest management activities. Local and national governments, together with landlords, were expected to devise long-term management plans for forests in each locale to achieve land conservation, cohabitation of forests and human society, and sustainable forestry. In 2008, mowing, thinning, and pruning were defined as a part of methodology to maximize CO2 absorption by forests … That’s something when we recall the start was simple “chop to build cities for business.”

Actually, history of Lovers Association of Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森 reflects such changes in national policy. Niiharu Citizen Forest was opened in March 2000 as the 22^nd Citizen Forest of the City of Yokohama. Our Niiharu Forest had almost unique characteristics. From the beginning, it was the largest Citizen Forest in Yokohama. It means lots of landlords existed (and exist even now) for the forest. Until then, management of each Citizen Forest of Yokohama was almost exclusively done by landlords and their very close friends. The only exception was Araizawa Citizen Forest 荒井沢市民の森 opened in May 1998, where landlords could not find enough helping hands from their acquaintances and consequently asked their neighborhood associations to mobilize the people. Niiharu Forest with lots of landlords would not have had such problem so that it might have been possible for them to follow so-far-standard approach to exclude volunteers. Even though, the founding “fathers” and “mothers” of Niiharu Citizen Forest did not do that. The first pals of Lovers Association were neighbors many of whom happened to move in Yokohama from far and found the magic of Niiharu Forest in their new neighborhood. They were really “volunteers.” That was impossible if the law General MacArthur gave effective monopoly of forestry activity to landlords. Then, after the 2001 change in the law for forestry planning, Niiharu Lovers Association had lots of study sessions and created “Conservation and Management Plan for Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森管理保全計画” that is consisted of detailed project managements plans with zoning. (More to Niiharu’s 20 years in my later post.) In 2015 Niiharu Forest was designated as one of the 500 “Important Satochi-Satoyama to Maintain Biodiversity in Japan” by the Ministry of Environment. Indeed Niiharu Forest now protects several endangered species in the middle of uber-urban Megalopolis Tokyo. Japanese policy change after UNFCCC is achieving its goals so far.

Parking for visitors to Niiharu Citizen Forest is here!

To some extent, Kanagawa Prefecture has a leg-up to respond national policy changes. For one thing, we are a part of Tokyo area where lots of possible volunteers live. Historically, mountains and forests of Kanagawa have been a research field for geologists, civil engineers of water and mountains, botanists, zoologists, and dendrologists in many universities of the capital city. In Kanagawa Prefecture, it was not so hard not only to make planning for the forests but also for timely execution of it. Next week, I introduce you 50 Year Plan of Kanagawa Prefecture for our forests.

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

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