Abstract
Issues of recent discussion on hardwood resource utilization are criticized from the viewpoints of silviculture and forest ecology. The discussion is not a viable argument for sustainable management because it collectively treats the forests under discussion, which actually vary in structure and maintenance mechanisms, as hardwoods or broadleaf forests. The theory that harvesting and rejuvenating will conserve woodlands is a valid understanding for the coppice of Quercus serrata in Satoyama woodlands. However, the uncritical extension of this theory to hardwood forests in general has turned it into a predetermined harmonic theory that lacks evidence. Currently, sustainable management techniques for many types of hardwood forests have not yet been developed, so that the harvest recommended by the predetermined-harmonic theory may end up being extractive forestry. Further, careless logging would also degrade the species diversity of the remaining hardwood forests, closing off the future possibility of developing a diverse forest management and forestry industry in the region.
