This study surveyed the utilization of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) for forest owners' cooperatives. Issues of some other sources of forest information, such as forest registers and forest planning maps, were also discussed. According to forest owners' cooperatives in this study, especially the cooperatives which cadastral survey has not been completed, poorly-demarcated boundaries between forest owners are serious problems. On the cooperatives, boundaries between forest owners are generally surveyed with GPS, and the resulting data on boundaries are managed with GIS. Forest registers and forest planning maps managed by prefectural government, are the basis of the forest information in Japan. The information managed by prefectural government is intended to assist cooperatives in drawing up forest management planning for forest owners. Information on boundaries and on forest conditions in forest sectors, based on the information managed by prefectural government, was corrected with GPS and managed with GIS on each cooperative. It is to be hoped that the forest information, corrected in the field, is fed back systematically to the information management system of the prefectural government, although this is not mandatory.

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