A STUDY ON SIMPLE METHOD OF THE WOOD TRACEABILITY

Demonstration in 4 areas of the Japanese Alps

Abstract

 Japan has rich forest resources, however, these resources have not been effectively utilized. It is therefore necessary to promote the utilization of forest resources in order to maintain multiple functions of forests and to sustainably manage the forests.
 The enactment of “The Act on the Promotion of the Utilization of Wood in Public Buildings” and widespread popularity of pre-cut wood has resulted in a growing demand for quality wood. Therefore, in order to promote the use of domestic timber, it is necessary to distribute timber whose qualities such as area of production and strength have been revealed. For that reason, it is necessary to develop a wood traceability system.
 The wood traceability system was tested in 8 areas in Japan, and the method and effectiveness of the system were clarified. However, due to its low cost-effectiveness, the wood traceability system has not been widely used.
 In this study, in order to improve the method of the wood traceability system, we conducted tests in 4 areas; Neba Village and Shinano Town in Nagano Prefecture, Kamo City in Niigata Prefecture and Takayama City in Gifu Prefecture. Furthermore, we conducted hearing survey at each distribution process in order to extract the necessary information about the wood. From the tests, we verified that the electronic tag labels are useful in wood traceability, because there is no need to replace the tag in the process of producing timber. In addition, through the hearing survey, we obtained the necessary information about the wood that is required by forestry cooperatives N and H, lumber market H, and sawmill N.
 The forestry cooperatives required accurate information on amount of forest resources such as a diameter at breast height, tree height, and forest management history. It is advisable to grasp such information by linking it with the geographical information. The lumber market required information on the tree species, owner of the timber, legality of the timber, and area of production when receiving the timber and , tip-end diameters, length, blemish on the timber, bending on the timber when shipping the timber. The saw-mills required information on tree species, tip-end diameters, length, blemishes, bending, and production areas when receiving timber logs. The information required by the saw-mills before shipping timber included; timber dimensions, moisture content, strength, area of production, and aesthetics on the timber surface. The necessary information required when dealing with traceability is mostly on the area of production and legality of timber.
 We considered a simple method of the wood traceability system based on the results obtained from the tests and hearing survey. Adopting the method of managing the timber in batches and tracking the wood from the lumber market to the intermediate lumber yard makes the wood traceability system simple and reduces the workload. Therefore, adopting the simple method would facilitate the proof of origin and legality of the timber.