In the 1980s and 1990s, the number of mountain bikers in Japan who rode in forests and on trails in forests and mountains increased remarkably. Thus, bikers are now stakeholders who enjoy multiple benefits from the forests. However, they have become alienated from local societies of forest owners and hikers, mainly because their freewheeling rides sometimes cause severe soil erosion or accidents, and some areas have begun to bar them from the trails. Aware of this social isolation, in the 21st century, some mountain bikers have begun projects to set up and maintain their trails through working with local societies. This paper explores these challenges through case studies on five projects; B.C. Porter, Associates of Mountain Bikers in the Nishi-Tama Area, Trail Cutter, Old Trail Recovery Project in the Nishi-Izu Area (Yamabushi Trail Tour), and Self Discovery Adventure in Otaki Village. This research confirms that bikers have energetically pursued joint operations with recreational parks, consensus-building with local communities and forest owners, and collaboration with local governments. In a few projects, bikers have even become participants in local forest management. The local communities and governments seem to approve of the bikers' efforts, especially in mountain areas plagued by “underuse" of forests and a declining population. These projects, having achieved harmony among the local societies, also have the potential to maximize forest use in relation to human needs, reconciling conflicts among users.

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To examining forestry and forest education at vocational high schools, we analyzed that the history of changes in the purpose and contents of subjects related to “Forest Science" including silviculture. We analyzed forestry and forest education during the postwar period, based on the Ministry's official guidelines for school teaching and textbooks. The names of the subjects in the guidelines have changed: at first “Forestry Products", then “Silviculture", and now “Forest Science". As a result, the purpose of the subjects was to learn skills and knowledge for forestation, and the aims of forestation have gradually changed: “raising forest productivity" from the 1950s to the 1970s, to which was added “recognition of various functions and forest protection" in the 1980s, and then “forest conservation and multiple uses" in the 2000s. The contents of the subjects were classified into four fields and ten elements: “general remarks" includes the role of forests and silviculture, “forest environments" includes forest ecology, characteristics and growth conditions of forest trees, “forest nurture" includes nursing, breeding, forestation, tending and preservation, and “the relationship between forests and societies" includes rearing trees for minor forest products, scenery, multiple use of forests. A similar tendency of change has appeared in the subject of “Forest Management" There is some overlap, so it is necessary to examine the revision of these subjects by examining concerning forestry careers.

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Stem tilting and survival in large (> 160 cm tall) cuttings of potted sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) were compared with and without staking poles during the first year of planting. Cuttings were supported by one or three staking poles, or they were free-standing. Stem tilting in free-standing cuttings was a maximum at two months after planting. By the end of the study, the stem tilt of 70% of the free-standing cuttings had recovered to less than 30°. One- and three-staked cuttings tilted slightly over the course of the study, with stem tilt maintained to within 30° in 83 and 95% of the cuttings, respectively. The stems of free-standing cuttings tended to tilt more heavily as the stem length-to-diameter ratio (L/D₀) increased. More than half of the free-standing cuttings withL/D₀ ratios > 120 tilted more than 60°, albeit temporarily. The survival rate of free-standing cuttings was 83%, as some of the heavy tilted cuttings became entangled by weeds and died before the end of the year. However, more than 93% of staked cuttings survived until the end of the year. Thus, staking large cuttings to prevent them from tilting is useful for improving survival. Alternately, the need for staking can be avoided when using large cuttings with low L/D₀ ratios.

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We tested the hypothesis that masting of a beech species, Fagus crenata, leads to satiation of a nut predator, the dominant micromoth, Pseudopammene fagivora, in a beech forest near the Pacific Ocean, Japan. We used three indices that could reflect the annual variation in P. fagivora: number of P. fagivora larvae per pre-dispersal fruit, proportion of pre-dispersal fruits infested by P. fagivora larvae, and proportion of annual fallen nuts infested by insects. The number of P. fagivora larvae and proportion of pre-dispersal fruits infested by P. fagivora larvae were obtained from pre-dispersal fruits collected from tree crowns over five years (2008-2012). Masting data and the proportion of annual fallen nuts infested by insects were obtained by using seed traps placed in the forest. Annual variation in the three indices was similar, and these indices were negatively correlated with the ratio of the numbers of annual fallen nuts produced in the current year to the previous year. These results indicate that masting of the beech species resulted in P. fagivora satiation.

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The upper limits on silviculture cost that will allow a forest manager to produce a profit under the optimized controllable variables of given profit models can be defined as the allowable upper limits. A simple calculation method for determining these limits will be useful for designing a subsidy system and examining its validity. In this paper, we derived a simple calculation method with the following simplifications: only rotation age is the only controllable variable; thinning profits and upkeep costs are ignored. The formula can be applied in cases where either the both soil expectation value (SEV) or net present value of the yields (NPV) is defined as the management criterion of the forest. The formula is derived from a hypothesis that the net profit at clear cutting grows according to a Richards or Gompertz function. If the following conditions are met, the formula can be applied: the height of dominant trees grows according to these functions (Richards or Gompertz), the relationship between the height of dominant trees and yield volume per area is exponential, and the net profit per volume at clear cutting is constant. Using the formula, the upper limits on the silviculture cost for four major species planted sites of each quality at Nagano Prefecture were calculated. The calculation shows that the silviculture cost should be controlled at less than 1 million yen/ha except for Hinoki and Sugi at the best quality site, and the subsidy for silviculture rate should be more than 50% except for Japanese larch at the best quality site.

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We reviewed and categorized the organizational reforms of state forest managements in Germany. In addition to the review of the current management organizational forms, we captured the characteristics of the two new organizational forms, namely the Landesbetrieb (State Corporation, literally translated) and the Anstalt des öffentlichen Rechts (Institution under Public Law, literally translated). As the result, (1) organizational changes since 2000 starting from limited number of states have expanded to overall states with accounting system similar to private enterprises, (2) general structural reforms at the states are accountable for such changes, (3) the new forms are either Landesbetrieb and the Anstalt des öffentlichen Rechts and none of the states chose to completely privatize, and (4) the organizational forms were not linked with adoption of the Einheitsforstverwaltung (Unified Forest Administration, literally translated).

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