The areas that Forest Owning Cooperatives (FOCs) (Seisan Shinrin Kumiai) manage range from less than 20 ha to over 1,000 ha, and the scope of forestry activities seems to differ with the area managed. However, the published tables of the Annual Survey of Forest Ownersʼ Co-operative Associations show only the total for each survey item classified by prefecture; these are not broken down by the area managed. Here, using microdata from the 2011 Survey of Forest Ownersʼ Co-operative Associations, we determined the percentages of FOCs, according to the area managed, where forest practices were conducted or forest products sold. The main results were as follows. As managed areas increased in size, the percentages of FOCs increased where planting, tending, thinning, and final cutting were conducted during the 2011 business year, and where standing trees, logs, and mushrooms were sold during the 2011 business year. The percentage of FOCs where any forest practices were conducted or any forest products were sold was 13.3% and 47.7% for forests < 20 ha and ≥ 500 ha in size, respectively. The total managed forest area includes forest owned by the FOC, forest managed but not owned by the FOC (including profit-shared forest), and forest owned by the FOC but managed by other forestry entities such as the Prefectural Forestry Corporation (including profit-shared forest). Forests were classified separately by management type (i.e., holding forest, profit-shared forest, and others) and forest type (i.e., planted, natural, and others) in the survey; therefore, the results did not show a clear relationship between management area and survey items such as forestry practices or forest product sales.
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