Despite the fact that proper forest management does not result in destruction of forest environments, some people still consider the forestry industry to be responsible for environmental destruction. In this study we examined the differences between forestry technicians and the general public (elementary school children and senior high school students) in the selection of their favorite forest trees using a video camera mounted on the subject's head to investigate the direction of eye gaze. We found that forestry technicians examined the entire tree when making their selection. However, the final selection by both forestry technicians and the public was that of trees which are of greatest value for timber production. This suggests that there is no great difference between forestry technicians and the general public in the way of looking at forest trees. Thus it appears that there is some possibility of promoting forest environmental education through friendly dialogue between forestry technicians and the general public.

View full abstract

Using the forestry information system which includes the geographic information system (G.I.S.) technology, the differences in profit with the thinning method were compared. Spur road establishment costs and thinning profits were also taken into consideration. The thinning area of the 47th territorial joint forest management at the Kuma Village in Kumamoto Prefecture in the 1990 fiscal year was studied. Thinning was carried out within a 100-meter range on either side of the spur road. A higher profit was obtained by group thinning than by individual thinning. The profit was higher with the mobile yarder than with the standard yarder. It was also noted that the spur road establishment enterprise costs were higher than the profit on thinning. Therefore, some financial support is necessary for the spur road establishment.

View full abstract

The RICHARDS distribution function was fitted to the diameter distribution data of selection cutting stands. Estimated values of parameters m and k were examined. The effectiveness was assessed because 73.8% of object stands had a standard error of estimate of less than 10%. The observed correlation coefficient between the mean diameter and parameter m was -0.2617 and that between diameter variance and parameter m was -0.2723. The mean diameter showed a high linea correlation with diameter variance and parameter k and their logarithmic values showed a higher linear correlation.

View full abstract

For nearly two decades, the US Forest Service has struggled to prepare participatory Land and Resource Management Plans. Many precious lessons were learned in the process, and finally the revised planning rule were proposed at federal register last year. This article reviews how the public participated and how their comments were incorporated in the Tahoe National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan in California, which took 11 years since the federal registration until its approval. Two important relevant movements ; broadscale analysis called Sierra Nevada Framework (SNF) and the community-led movement by the Quincy Library Group are also mentioned. Although this example is considered to be a difficult case for consensus-building due to the urban-setting of the Forest with various conflicting demands, the final plan was successfully drawn without any lawsuits. It is considered that this owes much to the fact that the public comments were substantially incorporated into the final plan. On the other hand, there are problems such as lack of participation in the middle stage of the planning such as alternative formulation, caused many appeals. Broadscale analysis, as done by SNF, is essential for considering problems such as the management of the habitat of spotted owl, and the QLG is a good example of a local community-led movement for constructing a solution for securing health of both ecosystem and economy, etc and moving the government to consider and adopt it.

View full abstract