2013 Volume 47 Issue 2 Pages 55-81
This study elucidated the spatio-temporal characteristics of harvesting edible wild plants/mushrooms in snowy communities in Tadami town, western Fukushima prefecture in northeastern Japan. Questionnaire surveys for each household and family member and two-year daily records of harvesting by a total of 17 dwellers were conducted to elucidate their harvesting activities in detail. Mosaic vegetation in the snowy mountains such as snow avalanche scrub and meadow, riparian forest, beech, oak and pine forests were seasonally used at different frequencies after snowmelt in spring (late April) until snowfall in late autumn (early November) to harvest nearly 40 different species by changing sites. The amount of species harvested was estimated by multiplying the average harvesting frequency and harvested weight per species each month. An economic valuation was further conducted by multiplying the retail price of each species, both in the local market and via Internet shopping. We found that the economic value of a few to several tens of million yen was generated annually in the local market, which would be increased two or three times via Internet shopping. Since most harvesters consider the importance for both food and fun, this indicates that the value with cultural services would be higher. Although harvesting activities have been consistently declining over the past half century, they still have large potential in snowy mountains.
