Soshi Aiba, Saki Nishikado, Kazuhiro Harada: Current Status of Forest Management and Stakeholder Relations in Kotohira-gu Shrine, Kagawa Prefecture. Ap. For. Sci.

This study focused on the current status of forest management and the involvement of stakeholders in shrines, using Kotohira-gu shrine in Kagawa Prefecture as a case study. During the Edo period, Konpira temple (now known as Kotohira-gu shrine) managed and regulated forest use. The forest was maintained as shrine property throughout the Meiji and Showa periods, and the shrine's forestry department conducted regular patrols and management of the area. However, the number of staff involved in forest management had been decreasing due to the downsizing of the shrine organization in recent years. Governments relied on the owner (shrine) for forest management policies, so the shrine had hoped for support from them. The majority of the local residents agreed that forests should be managed as necessary and few suggested that shrines or government should take the initiative in managing the forests. On the other hand, some respondents did not specify the entity that promotes management. Further research revealed that interest in the Kotohira-gu shrine itself was not low, it did not extend to an interest in the forest. The above-mentioned information led to the conclusion that shrine forests have been neglected because the key actors in forest administration lack visibility. Raising public awareness of forests through the related institution would be effective in eliminating the neglect of forests.

Ren Taniuchi, Wakana Azuma, Takahiko Yoshioka, Keiko Kuroda: Utilization of qualitative and quantitative information of individual standing trees in satoyama secondary forest using NFC tags.

Although a large amount of biomass is accumulated in secondary forests in satoyama, sustainable management of these forests has not progressed due to the lack of expected profits from their utilization. In order to distribute timber from abandoned satoyama, we proposed and demonstrated the use of near field communication (NFC) tag to manage individual trees before harvesting. We conducted a survey of a deciduous broad-leaved forest dominated by Quercus crispula in Tobetsu, Ishikari, Hokkaido; forests dominated by Quercus serrata and evergreen broad-leaved trees in Tambasasayama and Kobe, Hyogo; a deciduous broadleaf forest dominated by Castanea crenata in Takashima, Shiga: and a deciduous broad-leaved forest dominated by Quercus crispula in Taira and Miasa, Omachi, Nagano. We attached NFC tags to individual trees for potential use as timber and associated them with data on tree species, diameter, straight trunk length, and photographs to store information to accumulated the abundance and size distribution of each species as well as information indicating tree shapes that are effective for use as timber. This not only facilitates the sharing of biomass and size distribution by species among forest owners, intermediaries, and purchasers, but also allows for the aggregation of tag information from neighboring forests, making it possible to use even small amounts of many species of trees. Since available tree species and biomass vary depending on the stand structure of the study area, it is necessary to accumulate knowledge on the availability of wood from satoyama in each region.