Abstract
Coppices in the urban fringe, decreasing in number mostly because of urbanization, are thought to be an important factor in the conservation of wildlife and amenities in such an area. The aims of this paper are I) to analyze how the functions of coppices are evaluated, and 2) to examine how this evaluation is affected by changes in the distribution and conditions of coppices.
For the first aim, we conducted a questionnaire and found that such functions of coppices as soil, wildlife and landscape conservation are highly evaluated. For the second aim, we first divided coppices into 7 types according to their conditions, and used a questionnaire to see how people's evaluations are related to each of the 7 types. We then related these results to the results from the analysis of changes inthe distribution and conditions of coppices, and obtained 2 types of correspondences as follows;
1. Gradual decrease of coppices-which associates with the appreciation of the coppices' functions
2. Rapid destruction of coppices-which has almost no correspondence with the evaluation
The results show that to secure conservation functions could be one of the strategies against the gradual decrease of coppices and that rapid destruction should be controlled by legal actions, such as designation of nature conservancy areas.
