Abstract
Local residents have traditionally managed semi-natural grasslands by mean of grazing, mowing, and prescribed burning. However, over the last century, many semi-natural grasslands have been reduced or are no longer managed. The purpose of this study is to clarify the factors associated with the interest in grasslands by local residents. A questionnaire survey was conducted on residents who lived in Shibokusa district, Oshino-village, Yamanashi Prefecture. Of the respondents, 37.9％ are currently use or manage the grassland or have used or managed it in the past. More than 80％ of the respondents answered that the grassland was important to them mainly as a cultural symbol, and their intention to continue its maintenance was strong. It was considered that the
residents easily recognized that they indirectly used the grassland; thus it affected their interests even if their direct use was low. When analyzing factors affecting their intention to maintain the grassland using binomial logistic regression, we found that birth place was the most important factor. Just as the sense of belonging to the region was cultivated, the consciousness of the grassland as inherited from the ancestors was also cultivated. However, fewer people think that the grassland can be maintained in the future.
