New 'Green Corridor' to be Established in FY2004

The Tohoku and the Kanto Regional Forest Offices of Japan's national Forestry Agency have ended deliberations regarding the establishment of the "Chokaiasahi - Iideazuma Green Corridor. " Following further discussions, this green corridor will become official starting in April 2004.

Green corridors are specific forest areas that have been designated by the Forest Agency starting in 1999 to effectively conserve and protect forest ecosystems over broader areas under national forest management based on the priniciple of linking existing protected forests through green corridors. Such corridors are expected to help improve habitat for wildlife by encouraging exchanges between habitat areas and greater habitat continuity. So far, a total of 17 sites have been designated as green corridors, totaling 1,290 kilometers in length and 310,000 hectares in area.

The targeted area this time is 260 kilometers in length and an average of 2.5 kilometers wide, totaling 64,000 hectares of mountain forest between Mt. Kamuro and Mt. Zao via Mt. Chokai, Mt. Gassan, Mt. Iide, etc. By establishing this area as a new corridor, forests in the Kanto district will be connected to forests in the Ou Mountains of the Tohoku district.

After establishing the new corridor, the regional forest offices will monitor wildlife and reflect the monitoring results in the future measures. The offices also plan to promote this initiative more broadly through the Internet and leaflets.



Posted: 2004/02/23 09:08:54 AM
Japanese version