2006 Volume 12 Issue 2 Pages 59-64
Approximately 80% of Japan's wood demand is currently met with imported wood. Although private forestry is the most important factor in domestic wood production, more and more private forest landowners have reduced their management activity, resulting in a general deterioration of the private plantation forests in Japan and heavy pressure on the forest resources of supplier countries. An integrated private forest management planning system is needed to reinvigorate private forestry in Japan. This research assessed the information management of forest owners' associations and some of the negative effects of parcelization on landowners' forest management activities. The research was done to provide answers to the question of how such an integrated private forest management system might be organized. We learned through questionnaires that the majority of the associations in Nagano Prefecture, who could be the foundation of an integrated management system, do not have the necessary information about their members' forest resources and management activity. Comprehensive directives are needed to establish standards for the associations on how to collect, maintain and update such information. On the other hand, the results of our investigation of forest landowners' behavior suggests that, without the right incentives for the landowners to implement cooperative forest management, an integrated planning system probably will not be successful. It appears that the current level of silvicultural activity and the proportion of owners having a management plan tend to be higher on larger forest properties. We also found that timber production was more likely to be a primary goal of ownership for owners of larger tracts. Cooperative forest management may provide a way to ameliorate the problem associated with small-scale ownerships and reduce the costs of management. Combined with more competitive prices, such cooperation could help Japanese private forestry reduce the country's reliance on imported timber.
