2026 Volume 108 Issue 4 Pages 85-92
The introduction of the Private Forest Management Entrustment System and the Forest Environment Transfer Tax in 2019 has increased expectations for the municipal forest administration. Additionally, the excessive workload of the municipal forest administration has been highlighted, which can potentially be solved by establishing public forest trust projects. However, few studies have investigated these cases comprehensively. This study aims to clarify the current state of public forest trusts and consider their significance and problems. We conduct on-site interviews and analyze materials related to the Mitake Town forest in Gifu Prefecture, which is entrusted to the Kamo forest owner's cooperative. The results show that in the town-owned forests contracted in the trust, the performance of forest management practices and roundwood production improves without any financial burden of the town, while the work and cost of the town administration associated with the trust-contracted forest decreased. The significance of public forest trust projects is as follows: 1) they enable the construction of a system in which the forest owner's cooperative manages specialized work, thus reducing the workload of administrative staff; 2) they enable the management practices of public forests without the administration bearing the costs, thereby reducing the financial burden. However, forests subject to the trust are limited to those that can generate income from the viewpoint of continuity.
