抄録
In Japan, 10,000,000 ha of artificial forests, including national forests, have been developed as the result of the post-World War II expansion of afforestation. Since the 1980s, however, an increasing number of forests have been insufficiently maintained due to the forest owners not having the capability to manage then amid progressive deterioration in forest management performance and great changes in the employment structures of forestry household members. In this report, the status and the conditions for successful forest management through long-term consignment of operation will be discussed by analyzing the characteristics of consignors and the status of forest operation practices of the Tatsuyama Village Forest Owners' Association (Tatsuyama Village FOA), a typical consignee in the business of long-term consignment of operation for private forests. At Tatsuyama Village, the forest owners who sustain forest management as a main or extra source of income all own artificial forests in the high age class. These forest owners engage in uninterrupted forest practices by reinvesting the income from log sales. Many of the small-scale forest owners who make up the majority of the consignors are running deficits in the tens of thousands of yen each year. To further expand consignment of operations from small-scale forest owners, the subsidiary programs need to be improved.
